Methods

What I will be concerned with is not only the habitual behaviors, occupational practices and demographic composition of the Mountain Guide community, but also the more subjective opinions, beliefs and life stories of individuals interviewed. Qualitative methods will be employed to gather data. These methods will include general immersion into Mountain Guide community life in Canmore, semi-structured, informal, in-depth interviews around town, one or more focus groups with several guides in attendance, and participant observation. The nature of exploratory research calls for a multidimensional approach and open-ended research design. Ethnographic research is iterative-inductive in nature, rather than applying a deductive approach which begins by constructing and testing a hypothesis, as such ethnographic research should remain open and flexible, so to gain new insights (O ʼReilly 2012). Sampling will be an ongoing part of the continual practice of ethnography. Specifically, snowball sampling will be employed. I am familiar with several Mountain Guides who reside in Canmore, Alberta. Using these guides as my initial contacts to generate further contacts, my ethnographic research will continue to accumulate data by generating new interview participants through this sampling method. According to O ʼReilly it is important to consider who might be excluded from snowball sampling because often the initial sample is heterogenous (2012:44). However, given the modest size of the Mountain Guide community within Canmore and the interactive nature of the occupation and its affiliations to a central association, the subject group is rather heterogenous in nature. Therefore, snowball sampling is an appropriate technique. As discussed above, practice theory will be the guiding theoretical approach to my research and in-depth interviews with individuals will be the primary method of data generation. Although my research is focused on the shared characteristics of a community, my data will be collected from individuals. O ʼReilly (2012) argues that practice theory can accommodate the gap between the individual and the collective because practice theory values individual perspectives while shared identities and dispositions. “Practice theory views individuals as knowledgeable, which calls for empirical research to pay attention to their perspectives, thoughts and opinions” (2012:10). Participant observation relates to practice theory in that it deals with embodied activity. According to O ʼReilly, participant observation is “a reflexive practice that must acknowledge our own role in the practice and unfolding of daily life” (2012:99). As such my participant observation will be centered on two aspects. The first aspect will focus on Mountain Guide town life and may include documenting the places in town that Mountain Guides frequent and the activities Mountain Guides practice when they are not working. The second aspect will focus on the Mountain Guide ʼs workplace. This will involve the incorporation of various field sites into the research, however it may be problematic to accompany Mountain Guides on expeditions because the adventure tourism industry requires the implementation of complex risk management programs and liability waivers. My research will primarily take place in the town of Canmore, Alberta. However my research is not limited to a specific place. If possible, I would like to accompany Mountain Guides on expeditions either with co-workers or clients. However, as mentioned above there may be restrictive liability barriers. I chose Canmore for several reasons; it is easy to travel to and an economically viable option for an undergraduate research project, it is home to the ACMG ʼs central office, and as such home to several Mountain Guides. I know this to be the case because many of my instructors at the College of the Rockies lived in Canmore. As well, Canmore is a tourist town situated close to Calgary, which attracts wealthy clients. Canmore is also close to several National Parks and wilderness terrain. Although my research is centered on a single location, given the opportunity, my research may become multi-sited and include the trails and mountain tops in places like Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country. My field site and subject are at once familiar and exotic. I do not believe many Canadians know of ACMG Mountain Guides. This professional recreational occupation is considered by some a form of ʻliving the dream ʼ where work is intertwined with play. Therefore, my subject may in some contexts be considered exotic. Moreover, the field site is very close to my home; however the Canadian Rocky Mountains are world famous for the spectacular scenery they offer. In certain cases this area would be considered exotic as well and may be described as the ʻ Canadian Wildernessʼ. However, I want to have a relative understanding of my field site. Just like any field site is for some home and for others exotic, so too is Canmore. E.L. Cerroni-Long (1995) suggests that the idea that only by being immersed for a prolonged period of time in an alien culture can insights be gained is outdated. To gain true knowledge, Cerroni-Long suggests that the ethnographer must internalize cultural relativism and study one ʼs own culture (1995:2). This requires retraining the anthropological lens to assess a ʻonce taken-for-granted realityʼ. Again, I approach my field site from a relative perspective, it is at once local and far-away for me. However, my research is not focused on place but rather on the community. As Ulf Hannerz states, “social anthropology conceptually, is primarily about social relationships and only derivatively, about places” (2006:29). Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson (1996) note that when studying “home” the field site is de-centered because it becomes more like a stage, it is more of a meeting place for members of the same community rather than the defining characteristic of the community itself. My field site is not limited to just one place or even place in general. I believe Canmore is an appropriate starting point for exploring the occupational identity and lifestyle of Mountain Guides who themselves are often migrants from other parts of Canada. As such my research will reflect a focus on community rather than the “field site”, as suggested by Hannerz (2006) and Gupta and Ferguson (1996). The methods I have chosen will generate data that may provide answers to the preliminary questions I have formulated. This is because individual interviews and participant observation are useful in describing the general characteristics of communities and can help answer the specific questions at issue in my research project. A semi-structured and informal interview is appropriate to capture individual desires, motivations, life stories and outlooks. Focus groups can reveal shared group attributes and common insights that the subjects themselves determine rather than only analyzing individual interviews and drawing out common concepts. Further, “exploratory researchers tend to use qualitative data and not be committed to a specific theory or research question” (Neuman and Robson 2009:15). By adopting an investigative stance that is open and flexible--to reveal the most intimate and accurate account of the Mountain Guide community--I will be able to generate ethnographic data that can capture descriptive insights on a relatively unexplored community. Karen O ʼReilly notes Anthony Giddens important point, “that social life is an historical process: it therefore cannot be studied by taking a snapshot” (2012:6). In line with Giddens, I plan to perform a brief examination of ACMG archival material and examine internet blogs that document communications between guides in the community. There are several blogs and chat forums through which Mountain Guides comment on weather conditions, snowpack conditions and area conditions. The majority of the research on Mountain Guides has focused on the historical progression of this profession rather than contemporary ethnographic work. Therefore, the aim of my research project is to understand Mountain Guides as they are today by keeping in mind the historical transformations that influenced their development. In conclusion, the practice of ethnography involves an in-depth look at the subject in question but a vague idea of the direction of the study so to keep an open perspective to any possible interpretation generated from the data. O ʼReilly notes James Peacock, “ethnography uses a harsh light and a soft focus” (2012:186). While this proposal explores key concepts and methods that will be used to guide my research, I stress that due to the nature of ethnography, these key concepts and methods will not restrict my research. While conducting research, I will have an end product in sight--something I can work towards while making and designing new research questions that will inevitably pop up during the ethnographic process (O ʼReilly 2012:186). This research proposal has highlighted three specific research problems, addressed several key concepts, provided a guiding theoretical approach, and elaborated on several ethnographic methods. This research design, in sum, will allow me to focus on the ʻend productʼ while conducting fieldwork, analyzing data and writing up findings.

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