FIELDWORK AND DATA COLLECTION ABROAD

Conducting field research is a frustrating, depressing, wonderful, rewarding experience that most people would not trade for the world.  Stick with it, know that there are good days and bad days, keep an open mind, and do not be afraid to change the direction of your research.

Finding a field site:

• Go with what interests you and what is feasible

• Consider funding--how can you make you trip financially possible?

  • Contact the Center for Undergraduate Fellowships and Research

  • Talk to the GWU Office for Study Abroad

Positioning yourself in the community:

• Do your research before going into the field

  • This includes not only researching history and cultural norms, but also doing background reading on your general topic and related theories and starting to formulate your research question before going into the field

• Selectively adapt to cultural norms

• Find key informants and make sure they understand your research

Ethics:

• When in doubt, be open and honest

• IRB is here to help, not hinder

  • For help with the IRB process, talk to the GWU Office of Human Research

• Think through possible ethically fuzzy situations before going to the field - have an idea of how you will react (even though it is always different when you are in the field)

• Keep your data safe--work with your advisor and the IRB to find a system that works for your research and keeps your participants safe

Interviewing:

• Structure interviews in a way that works well for your research--generally, if you’re looking for in-depth interviews, do not constrain the interview and rather tailor the questions to your interviewee. If you want easily comparable data, go in with a very specific set of questions.

• Manage your interviews--make your participants comfortable but don’t be afraid to pull them back if they go off on a tangent

• Anthropological rule of thumb: always finish your fieldnotes before you go to sleep

  • If you are doing anthropological fieldwork, it is a great idea to sit down with your field notebook or word processor while the events of the day are still fresh in your mind. 

Surveying:

• Target key groups

• Figure out which style of questions works best for your research and the population you are working with

• Build a network to help with distribution and figure out the cultural context you need to navigate

Good luck!