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Field Work

Field work involves a complex process of observing and participating in another culture. Unlike the relatively simple act of observing, the union of engaging in local daily life while being observant is at the core of the field work experience. Field workers both observe the activities taking place in the community and participate in them as much as possible and as appropriate. The crafting and use of case studies relies heavily on the experience, description, interpretation, and presentation of field-based research programs.

Conceptual Overview and Historical Background

Field work, as a data collection method, is particularly useful for researchers who wish to involve themselves in collecting and analyzing information about people, such as their activities, beliefs, and attitudes. Since most social scientists are concerned with the study of living people or cultures, researchers need to collect firsthand information, often by living in the societies that they study over lengthy periods of time. The method of field work was developed in anthropology as a result of some of the earliest anthropologists transferring their ecological or natural science training into the science of studying people in their natural environments. An example is Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer, a biologist who traveled in Australia in the late 19th century to study the natural flora and fauna. Through making the acquaintance of Francis James Gillen, an Australian anthropologist/postmaster who lived in the outback, Spencer began to make notes about and study the Australian aboriginal population as he had the plant species of the area. This kind of attention to people in their traditional setting, known as “field work,” became the hallmark method of anthropology. Most graduate students in the discipline complete a period of field work as part of their rite of passage in becoming professionals in the discipline. Field work, therefore, is a highly valued, and sometimes misunderstood, research method.

The monographs resulting from field work are often referred to as case studies. These portraits of cultures are used in teaching from the undergraduate to the graduate level with great success. Since most usually cover a similar host of topics, such as subsistence practices, gender relations, political structures, economy, ideology, and so forth, readers are able to compare and contrast case studies with one another. Other academics have also found such monographs useful for these often draw together streams of inquiry—economic, psychological, historic, and social—in a uniquely cross-cultural format. This breadth lends itself nicely to engaging other researchers' own questions. For the general public, there is always a place for learning about how other cultures live. Margaret Mead found great public success in publishing her account, Coming of Age in Samoa in 1928, which described adolescence in Samoan culture and raised many questions about Western assumptions of this stage of the life course. While the particular focus of each researcher in his or her field site is likely different, the general macrolevel discussions are made possible through field work-based case studies.

Application

Field workers usually live in the community they are studying, sometimes renting a house or a room in someone else's dwelling. It is argued that through this intensive participation the researcher becomes deeply familiar with the group and can understand and explain the society and culture of the group as an insider. Of course, many researchers find being alone in a foreign place where the native linguistic skills and the practices and rhythms of local life are unfamiliar a very stressful experience. The culture shock that can arise in the field work experience is a pertinent issue and as a result very well documented. If a researcher withdraws for too long and finds the field situation too challenging, then he or she may not be able to collect the data necessary to successfully complete the research project. Therefore, merely arriving at a field site in order to participate and observe a bit does not guarantee success. For researchers to continue working on their projects in the midst of culture shock, they must have adequate training so that they can anticipate what may arise in their particular field site and deal with it the best they can. This training may arguably be subtle in comparison to training for other research methods, but it is, nevertheless, critical. Case studies that can train students for field work are critically important tools that can enable individuals to work through various field work scenarios before actually embarking on their own field work.

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