It is said that the best way to learn is to do. The process of fieldwork for this project has proved the truth in this maxim. In the planning stages, all of us had a clear vision of a very straightforward project. We became interested in Barton Springs pool because we had come to learn that it was once the main segregated pool in Austin. Our stated purpose was to see how this aspect of the pool’s history affects its community. The method we planned was equally straightforward: we would ask a random sampling of people a fixed set of interview questions. One of these questions was “How do you feel about the segregation that occurred here?” At the time it seemed like a question that may generate controversial and interesting answers.
When we began to conduct interviews in this fashion, we got dismal results. “We’re here for a picnic.” “We come a couple times a year.” “It seems pretty diverse.” “Segregation was bad.” It became apparent that our original narrow focus was constraining us. Barton Springs is a dynamic and vibrant part of Austin, and is frequented by many interesting people. In our early interviews we glossed over this aspect of the pool, instead trying to support our hypothesis that historical segregation had affected the community. We decided to change our objective. Instead of building our perception of Barton Springs from a general hypothesis, we decided to build it from the stories and perceptions of individuals and groups. To this end, we made our interviews much less structured and let our conversations flow where they would. We did, however, ask one specific question: what are your thoughts on the divide between the free side of the pool and the pay side? Rather than searching for a divide that stemmed from segregation, we decided to explore a divide that was both clear and present. The first person we interviewed in this style was a Tai Chi practicing regular, name withheld.
He was a man well into middle age, in remarkable shape. He had been going to Barton Springs three times a week for eighteen years, ever since he moved to Austin from New York. It was clear how immersed he was in the pool community, even recognizing some friends by their butts. His ritual of Tai Chi was not simply for the relaxation, he did it for the care of a bad hip. During our conversation, we heard a group of young men and women dressed in black hooting and hollering over on the free side (these are the Juggalos, and are treated in more detail later). We asked him what he thought of them, and of the free side in general. He said he saw the divide between the free side and the pay side as mostly a matter of age, as young people enjoy the less restricted atmosphere of the free side. We asked if he saw any other differences in the community. “Yes”, he said, “compared to the rest of Austin there are not nearly as many Hispanics here at the pool.” Why is this? According to him “they are used to warmer water back where they are from.” Finally, we had some actual honesty and insight into the community. His observation may hint at a possible de-facto segregation beneath the surface of Barton Springs. On the other hand, in my personal opinion, the water temperature explanation for Hispanic under-representation is plausible. Either way, by becoming more flexible in our interviews we gained real insight into the community of Barton Springs. This illustrates a clear lesson that applies to all qualitative research: sometimes the best way to gain information is to let it come to you.
-Jonathan McJunkin
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