FIELDWORK WITH PEOPLE
Sue Oreszczyn and Dave Scott
U501
2014
Purpose of the session
• Overview of some key issues in doing
fieldwork
• Alert you to the kinds of questions you
need to answer about doing fieldwork
• Enable you to discuss some key concerns
in doing fieldwork with people
• Help you to construct your own fieldwork
plan
Activity 1
5 minutes with a partner
Doing fieldwork with people – what is your
biggest fear?
Before you go into the field
Obtain Ethics approval
• The work should be undertaken in accordance with the
Open University’s Code of Good Practice in Research.
• Work involving human subjects requires approval from
The Open University’s Human Research Ethics Committee.
Fill in form – information and forms found at
http://www.open.ac.uk/research/ethics/index.shtml
Research questions
• What’s driving your research? What is the
problem? What are you trying to explain?
• Why do you need to do fieldwork for your
research?
• Are your fieldwork questions clear/precise
enough to allow you to investigate your
research questions through fieldwork?
Methodology and Methods
Putting into practice what you have learned
What methodological approach underpins your fieldwork?
The quest for objective facts or the social construction of facts
What kinds of methods are you going to use?
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Surveys
Structured interviews
Semi-structured interviews
Unstructured/open-ended interviews/life histories
Focus groups
Observation
Participant observation
Activities/tests/exercises/simulations
Participatory approaches
Activity 2
5 minutes each with a partner
• What questions are you trying to answer
by doing fieldwork?
• What is your proposed methodology?
• What methods do you intend using?
What is your ‘field’?
What/who is the population of your study?
– How many people?
– What are the boundaries (human, social,
organisational, geographical)?
– What are the key characteristics of the people you
will be gathering data from?
– What kind of relationship do you want/need with
them? How will you establish it?
– What other issues will you have to take into
account in designing your fieldwork?
Practical issues
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What time do you have?
What is your budget?
What equipment do you need?
What languages/codes do you need to learn?
How much do you already know about your
‘field’?
• How will you project yourself?
• What risks are there?
Preparation and piloting
• Designing modes of inquiry
– Questionnaire design
– Structuring interviews
– Semi-structured interviews
– Open-ended interviews
– Focus groups
– Observation
– Participant observation
– Activities/tests/exercises/simulations
• Will they work?
• Iterations and triangulation(?) in data collection
In the Field
Recording
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Note-taking
Diaries
Audio-recording
Filming
Electronic records
Maps
Drawings
Diagrams
Photographs
What could go wrong?
• Missing appointments
• Equipment failure
• Being overawed by the occasion – many
causes and many consequences, e.g.
failure to articulate self
• Domination
• Losing data (post-interview)
• Other?
Activity 3
You have collected your data, now how will
go about analysing it?
Analysing
• Quantitative analysis (constructing variables,
creating data outputs etc.)
• Coding and analysing interviews (multiple
methods)
• Using software (think about this before you start)
• Categories, sub-categories, indicators from your
research questions
• Looking at processes, trends, relationships,
patterns, commonalities, differences
Interpretation and explanation
Constructing your story
Relationship between theory and data
– Using theory to frame description
and explanation
– Using fieldwork data to construct
theory: emergent properties from
data
Different stories/conflicting evidence
– Best fit explanations
Drawing up a fieldwork plan
(needed for your probation report)
Time plan • Access to participants
• Ethical approval
• Additional interviews or opportunities not originally
planned for
• Cancellations
• Feedback from supervisors
• Interim reports to participants
• Writing up as you go
Budget plan
• translation/travel/equipment/emergencies
• Return trips
Farmers' understandings of GM crops within local communities
Project diagram
Research questions
Activities
Outputs
Phase 1
What do farmers see as
the pros and cons of new
technologies generally and
what do farmers believe
about GM crops?
For farmers who were
involved in the Farm Scale
Evaluations, what were
their experiences of
growing GM crops?
Extended telephone
interviews with 30 farmers
Thematic analysis
Cognitive maps drawn up
for each interview
Report: ‘What farmers say
about new technologies
and GM crops: a report on
the initial telephone
interviews.’
Project website
Conference paper
Phase 2
Who or what are the
influences on farmers
concerning the
introduction of new
technologies to help farm
business?
To what extent do farmers
engage in learning from
these influences?
Phase 3
What are the models for
social learning amongst
farmers?
What systems will better
support farmers’ decisions
around new technologies?
17 Farm visits,
23 face-to-face interviews
Themes and cognitive
maps developed.
Influence maps and
interviews analysed
Interactive Workshop with
farmers and selected
organisations involved in
their network, or
'community of influence'
Analysis of the Harman
Fans and workshop
discussions
Synthesis of the findings
from each phase
Report: ‘What farmers’
say about influences on
their decisions about
farming, new technologies
and GM crops: a report on
the farm visits.’
2 Conference papers
Report: ‘New technologies
and scientific
developments: exploring
better ways to support
farmers decisions.’
Executive summary for the
project
1 further conference paper
and a journal paper
(further 3 journal papers
being drafted)
End of award report to the
ESRC