Ethnic group of elderly people - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages The research aims to collect data from an ethnic group of elderly people highlighted the cultural patterns among which they were living their life. The methodology employed was participant observation and interview method by the researcher and the mode of research was ethnographic research method. The researcher had to take informed consent and establish rapport with the participants of the study to undertake the research process. The data collected from the researcher showed the type of life spent by the subject in the old home and their values, beliefs and life styles. It was found out that they were strongly attached with each other and had a good sense of belonging with spending their life according to their religious and cultural background. The research gives a valuable insight into the life of elderly people which can be used to study the cultural patterns of this ethnic group. It is expected that the study would prove to be useful for the future researchers as well who would like to study the same topic. The ethnic group chosen for the research is elderly people living in the old homes. The mode of research was participant observation as well as in-depth interviews were also being conducted to obtain additional information about the subjects of the study. The topic chosen for the ethnographic research is the nature of life spent at old homes by elderly people. Also the purpose of the research was to gain significant insights about their life styles as manifested by their appearance, interaction with peers and other things. The reason for the selection of this topic was to conduct research in a significant area that was related to a segment of a society that was generally neglected and needed attention. Therefore, the study was focused on elderly people to understand their issues and concerns that they had about the society and also to make their situation better by making themselves heard by others in the community. As the research tools used to collect data were participant observation method and interview method, it was necessary to establish rapport with the subjects of the study firstly before conducting the actual research. Another ethical consideration was taking consent of the participants to use them as subjects of the study which was enabled by asking them about their willingness to take part in the study. The informed consent was taken from the old home’s management staff to use the residents as the participants of the study. The permission was granted and 15 elderly people were used for the research by asking them individually about their willingness to participate in the research process. The ages of elderly people were from 75- 90 and both men and women were included in the research sample. In order to establish rapport with the participants, an effort was done on making them open up and take part in discussion with the researcher who had to meet them frequently and engage in friendly conversation with the aged people. The researcher asked about their general well-being and showed concern for them which made the elderly take the researcher as a friendly person with whom they could share their personal feelings and thoughts. In order to proceed with the research process, the researcher constantly met with the elderly people for a period of two weeks on regular basis. The researcher spent two to three hours with them daily and observed the type of life they spend in old home. The interviews were taken from the participants occasionally to synthesize with the information taken from the participants’ observation. Main Discussion The research was undertaken on elderly ethnic group by means of interview and participant observation method. The concepts of anthropology applied on this research are ethnicity, culture and race. Ethnicity implies a group of people living in the same ...Download file to see next pagesRead More