Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the cultural issues and difficulties encountered when conducting ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in Myanmar and to discuss the measures to overcome such challenges. It aims to provide insight for foreign researchers seeking to collect rich, meaningful and reliable data while establishing fruitful relationship with Burmese participants.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on results from a research on cross-cultural dispute resolution in a Chinese-invested enterprise in Myanmar. The authors reflect on their fieldwork experience to present examples of cultural challenges, as well as the strategies used to deal with those challenges.

Findings

This paper finds that when conducting ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in Myanmar, researchers should take into consideration “anade” – an important Burmese social convention, perceived power distance between researchers and Burmese participants, roles of cross-cultural interpreters and possibility of cultural stereotypes, especially in a multicultural site. Measures need to be taken to adjust fieldwork arrangement and interview style, reduce perceived power distance and address the impact of prevalent stereotypes. Furthermore, researchers should properly conduct training and discussion sessions with Burmese interpreters to ensure they provide accurate yet culturally informed interpretation.

Originality/value

The cultural challenges in conducting ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in Myanmar remain under-explored. This paper addresses the knowledge gap and discusses various Myanmar-specific cultural issues that await researchers.

中文翻译：

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“我很害怕”：在缅甸进行人种志田野调查和访谈的文化挑战

目的

本文的目的是强调在缅甸进行民族志田野调查和访谈时遇到的文化问题和困难，并讨论克服此类挑战的措施。它旨在为寻求收集丰富，有意义和可靠数据的外国研究人员提供见解，同时与缅甸参与者建立富有成果的关系。

设计/方法/方法

本文借鉴了对一家缅甸中资企业的跨文化争议解决研究的结果。作者回顾了他们的野外工作经验，以举例说明文化挑战，以及用于应对这些挑战的策略。

发现

本文发现，在缅甸进行人种志田野调查和访谈时，研究人员应考虑“ anade”-一项重要的缅甸社会习俗，研究人员与缅甸参与者之间的感知权力距离，跨文化翻译人员的角色以及文化成见的可能性，特别是在一个多元文化的网站中。需要采取措施来调整实地调查工作的安排和采访方式，减少可察觉的权力距离，并解决普遍定型观念的影响。此外，研究人员应与缅甸口译人员适当地进行培训和讨论，以确保他们提供准确而又具有文化背景的口译服务。

创意/价值

在缅甸进行人种志田野调查和采访时所面临的文化挑战仍未得到充分挖掘。本文解决了知识鸿沟，并讨论了等待研究人员讨论的各种缅甸特定的文化问题。