learning journal #5

     There was a discussion in class today about recognizing different perspectives, or their view on things, which made me really think how important that is when going into the field.  Sometimes it's easier to just get information from one side of the story, but in reality, how useful is that information going to be if the other side isn't present?  I heard stories about the riot that happened in Nuku'alofa in 2006 but I never heard it from the Chinese point of view.  After all, there are about 500 (or even more) Chinese people that live in Tonga.  I discussed this with my sister at home, and it was so interesting, because neither of us thought to look at their point of view.  They're not Tongan, so they don't really matter in Tonga, right?  Wrong.  That's what I meant, when I said it is easier to get the story from one side.  I don't think I'll have a problem with talking to people in Tonga and getting their opinion on health related things.  I think it would be best to work with the teachers somehow to distribute surveys to their students or something like that. 
     This also made me think that just because I will be observing, or interviewing students that attend Liahona high school on health behaviors, doesn't mean I could conclude that all high school students in Tonga think this certain way.  I think my results or findings from my research could only apply to the people that I have studied, and not the whole general population, because they have different perspectives.  We all do.  I think that would be one of the challenges in the field, is being able to draw out conclusions that could also benefit other people in Tonga. 

Another challenge I think with the field study in general is setting up course contracts.  Most of the health classes I wanted to take don't offer course contracts and must be taken in the classrooms.  One of them was international health.  This made me reflect back on the lecture last Friday when we asked ourselves, why are we going on a field study, and we talked about the things we do in a field study are things we can't just learn in the classroom.  I think I would learn more and want to learn more about international health, out there in the field than in the classroom.  So in the meantime, I have to find alternative health classes that are offered through independent study, and see if they could set up a course contract over spring and summer.  I really hope this works out!