Ethnography stage 1 primary research

While thinking about what to choose for my field of research, I decided to take into
the fact that Im in a church youth group. Well what is it about the youth group that
makes it special? Or better yet, who in the youth group makes thus group special? I
say this because its always interested me of how a youth leader, the funny guy that
everyone likes, lives life. Do they always look so happy and have it so easy? Why
does everyone trust them so much? For these reasons I decided to conduct an
ethnographical study on my youth leader at the Slavic evangelic church of
Emmanuel.
How am I to do this research? I asked a few friends to find out when during
the week our youth group met together. Apart from Wednesday choir which I
already knew about, they meet on Mondays for two hours from 7:00 to 900. I
decided this would be my perfect opportunity to undergo my investigation. I showed
up to the meeting a good 20 minutes early to not miss a single moment. Of course
the youth leader, by the Name Andrey was already there setting up chairs in the
open gym where we were to have our service. I choose a seat towards the back of
the 20 or so chairs that were set up and was surprised to see how much people
started to show up. I sat towards the back so that I could conduct pretty much a
case study of Andrey without him finding out he was under close surveillance.
Of course I already know Andrey because this is after all my youth group however I
decided to pretend like I was a new person and experience it all over again, except
this time with every detail. I also attempted to leave out as much bias as I could and
also include the other youth leaders I studied in these couple of days.
Now lets talk more about the actual research.
-

From when I first laid my eyes on Andrey (the youth leader), he was already
there 20 minutes early setting up chairs for the service.
Since I was one of the first people to arrive, I happened to be the victim of his
first conversation buddy. He welcomed me like he always does and was very
glad I had finally decided to come to a Monday night service. Little did he
know I was actually there to write his case study, haha!
What I also noticed was he welcomed everyone with a warm heart and a big
smile. You could tell he was very delighted to see everyone.
As people came in I could tell he made light conversation with them from
what I could tell to lighten the mood and get everyone situated to a happy
and welcoming aura.
I noticed how he often said brothers and sisters or we, for example a couple
of his quotes that he mentioned were, Welcome brothers and sisters, or, it
is great how today, WE can get together.
I noticed that he doesnt speak a lot in first person but on the contrary talks
about the youth as a whole. Words like, We, Us, Together, Our, Ourselves and
many more third person related words. Doing so I see he tried to unify
everyone into one so that I guess no one would feel left out.

I noticed that he dressed very properly, in a 2 piece suit grey suit with the top
button of his shirt unbuttoned. Doing so he still dressed his part to provide a
good example of dress wear but at the same time allowed a relaxed casual
mood to fill the air.
I noticed that unlike others he has a very loud voice.
Throughout the service I noticed how he provided a lot of eye contact and
had movement accompaniment to his speech which really brought the crowd
to pay attention even more.
After the service he got up and made announcements that were going to
happen during the week. Like when the next youth service was going to
happen and what time they were going to meet in the park on a Saturday to
have fun and etc.

While at the church, peoples actions and thoughts were all good, warm, and
kindhearted. I didnt hear anyone curse or use foul language. From the looks of it
everyone was really happy to be there and had a big smile on their face. While
investigating I didnt get to catch or see any conflicts amongst the group, however I
did notice something quite interesting. People get to choose were they sit however
when one of the girls didnt get to sit next to their best friend then she no longer
had the same face, or same smile as before. Another thing I noticed was that even
though the youth leader is very loved and very respected amongst the youth, no
one wanted to sit next to him or in a
Foot radius of him. This got me all confused for a second until I realis=zed that they
dont want to sit right next to him because they then wouldnt be able to
periodically check their phone from time to time. Of course there were those that
showed up just to see their friends and have chat session but the youth leader from
what I seen didnt talk to them or treat them any differently than he did his other
members
Other youth leader from Virginia that I seen and quickly investigated.
-tall
- Very respectful and nice
- Loud and authoritative voice
- dress wear very formal but at the same time casual to invoke a cherry and cool
mood.
- spoke in third person a lot
- has a lot of flash back stories and past experiences to relate to and talk about.
- Handsome, always carries a bible, and I never herd him yell at anyone.
- Not much conflicts between the group that Ive seen.

In the end of my investigation I decided to ask Andrey, my youth leader a few

questions.
Andrey, have you become a youth leader, and what motives you to stay one?
What kind of conflicts do you face day to day that question your ability to lead on a
s youth leader, as the Shepard of our little young flock?
What kind of relationships do you form with your students, the ones that come to
you troubled?
All these questions will be answered in my drafts.