My Friend is a Palestinian Bedouin: V. Data Collection and Analysis

My Friend is a Palestinian Bedouin: V. Data Collection and Analysis

 

Daniel Weishut, Psy.D.

Following I will present a summary of the way in which the data were collected, analyzed and presented.

Data Collection

Data for this study stemmed from participant observation and self-exploration. However, as suggested by (Tillmann-Healy, 2003) in “friendship as a method”, “our primary procedures are those we use to build and sustain friendship: conversation, everyday involvement, compassion, giving, and vulnerability” (p. 734). The studied friendship, which exists for almost a decade and has become increasingly intense, is made up of innumerable events and situations. It was impossible to register all of these events, even for a limited period, and a selection had to be made. The selection of data was mostly made on base of striking cultural differences, whereas cultural similarities were often disregarded. Data (field notes) were collected and recorded in the period between June 2009 and November 2011. In a few instances, I added historical events; some of which I had put in writing already in earlier years.

Thus, I registered over a hundred observations – the tip of the iceberg. Some of these notes were descriptions of a few lines only whereas others were pages long. Observations were as much as possible recorded soon after they occurred; sometimes in a notebook, and sometimes on a computer. Notes were registered in a computer system and they include information such as date, time of day, place, event description, people involved, quotes and background information.

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About the Author

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Daniel WeishutDaniel J.N. Weishut, born in the Netherlands but living in Jerusalem, is a professional with a diverse background. He holds an MA in Clinical Psychology and an MBA in Integrative Business Administration, both from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a PsyD in Clinical and Organizational Psychology from the Professional School of Psychology (Sacramento). He has about thirty years of experience in consultation and therapy with a wide variety of clients and issues, more than twenty years of practice in group facilitation, and over fifteen years of know-how in governance and management in various organizations.Daniel Weishut offers his services as a "Partner on the Way", while taking a world-view that people are diverse but equal. He works with a variety of clients, but his special interest is in work with those who have found themselves persecuted or otherwise in conflict with their social environment, because of their culture, identity or belief system. For example: migrants, expats, refugees, Holocaust survivors, soldiers, pacifists, and individuals from religious, cultural or sexual minorities. Daniel Weishut is a social activist and in this capacity he volunteers as Chairperson of the Israeli Association of Group Psychotherapy, as Member of the Membership Appeals Committee of Amnesty International and as forensic expert for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. He also is involved in raising awareness about the situation of Bedouins around Jerusalem; awareness which led among others to the writing of his dissertation "My friend is a Palestinian Bedouin: Challenges and opportunities in intercultural friendship".

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