Introduction to Fieldwork

Session Leader: Naomi Wells (Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, SAS)

Fieldwork involves a variety of well-defined methods, depending on the discipline: archival research, informal interviews, surveys, participant observation and so on. The quality of results obtained from fieldwork depends on the data gathered, and preparation for a period of fieldwork is essential. This session concentrates not on issues of safety or risk, but on the importance of researchers’ openness to new ideas and unfamiliar customs, and how to understand the forces of culture operating and the ways they modify the lives of the people and things under study.