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To Everything There is a Season: A Photoessay of a Farmers' Market
Author(s) -
Heisley Deborah D.,
McGrath Mary Ann,
Sherry John F.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of american culture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1542-734X
pISSN - 0191-1813
DOI - 10.1111/j.1542-734x.1991.1403_53.x
Subject(s) - citation , library science , management , sociology , computer science , economics
Zntroduction and Objective On June 28, 1986, three researchers embarked upon a research Odyssey along a two block strip in a midwestern city, as they spent the first Saturday of the selling season at the Midville Farmers’ Market. This first day of the market was the first step in an ethnographic journey that would last nineteen weeks. They would witness the emergence of a variety of recurring themes, the reinforcement of several theoretic constructs specific to marketing, and the development of relationships with vendors, customers, and city representatives. Using a variety of research methods and media-in particular participant observation, directive and nondirective interviews of customers and vendors, development of key informants, reflective journal entries, audio recordings, photographs and audio/video recordings-the researchers constructed a richly documented natural history of the market. In the course of the study, researchers participated in a variety of activities such as buying and selling products, as well as setting up and packing up produce and booths, in physical environments ranging from warm and sunny, through rainy accompanied by monsoon level winds, to snowy.