Smart Class Lecture Fieldwork Methods For the collection

Smart Class Lecture Fieldwork Methods For the collection of data Dr. Sumahan Bandyopadhyay Associate Professor Department of Anthropology Vidyasagar University

Fieldwork and Anthropologist Gulick (1977) in his paper in the edited volume Marginal Natives at Work: Anthropologists in the Field writes that: When the anthropologist is in the field, field work is his total life. He copes with it by using his whole body and personality in the same way that he copes with life when he is not in the field… Life in the field involves the same emotions as life at home: elation, boredom, embarrassment, contentment, anger, joy, anxiety and so on. To these are added, however, the necessity of being continually on the alert (of not taking one’s surroundings and relationships for granted), and the necessity of learning new routines and cues. These necessities are likely to force a heightened awareness of facets of one’s personality of which one had not been aware before. This can be an emotionally devastating experience, but it is by no means inevitably so.

Field methods According to Schatzman and Strauss (1973): “Field method is not an exclusive method in the same sense, say that experimentation is. Field method is more like an umbrella of activity beneath which any technique may be used for gaining the desired information, and for processes of thinking about this information. ” Methods include the actual steps taken when conducting research. Methodology is the technique and a comprehensive analysis of the techniques and steps taken in the field of study. A technique is far more specific than a method and a method is far more specific than the methodology.

Relation between Method and Methodology METHODOLOGY 1. Actual tools or steps taken to conduct the research/collection of data from the field. 2. It involves the experiments, tests and surveys. 1. The comprehensive understanding of what steps / methods to be taken and why. A thorough knowledge on the methods. 2. Explains the methods taken. 3. With the consideration of methodology research begins. 4. It aims to find several ways and their validation of the evidences /solutions to research questions. 3. It entails a culmination of a line of research process when a method is employed. 4. It attempts to find a solution to the questions.

Relation between Methods, Methodology and Techniques � A technique is far more specific than a method and a method is far more specific than the methodology. Methodology is the systematic approach one takes to solve the research question. Method is the collection of steps one takes to solve the research question and technique is one of the specific steps taken to solve the research question. In case of field research: � Methods : Participant Observation, Interview, Case Study etc. � Techniques: Taking of Photographs, recording of interview, using scales etc. A particular technique may be used across the methods. For example, photographic technique may used in observation method as well as in Case study. Cartographic technique may have use in different methods.

Qualitative Research � It is said that the notion of quality is essential to the nature of things. � Quality refers to the what, how, when and where of a thing. � Thus, qualitative research refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics, , symbols and description of things. � Marvasti (2004) writes that the qualitative research provides detail description and analysis of the quality or the substance of human experience.

Quantitative Method � Quantity is elementally an amount of something. � Quantitative research refers to the counts and measures of a thing. � Marvasti (2004) writes that the quantitative research involves the use of methodological techniques that represent the human experience in numerical categories , sometimes referred to as statistics. � In our ethnographic report of fieldwork, we give demographic profile of the people we have studied. The nutritional status of the people is also presented quantitatively.

Mixed Methods � The mixed research combines the qualitative and quantitative techniques. � It is also called the use of multiple methods. � It has been defined as : “The combining of different methods within the same study design. The purpose of such a combination may be additive, with different methods addressing different sub-topics (often sequentially), or interactive, with the same sub-topic being approached from different angles. ” In our field report, we take up a mixed method for the study.

Macro and micro level study � � � Micro-level study involves the observation and fieldwork in small-scale, face-to-face interaction system. When we conduct the fieldwork in a particular village, it is an example of micro-level study. The ethnographic fieldwork is traditionally a micro level study. The macro-level studies involve large –scale social system. For example, Durkheim’s study of Suicide is an example of such study. With the wake of study of global system, a macro-level approach is gaining ground in anthropology. It has a number of implications with regard to the study of globalization in anthropology. In our present fieldwork, we may try to understand the impact of global agencies on the life of the people of village.

Courtesy/Acknowledgements � https: //medium. com/@setsindia/method-vs- methodology-44 cb 894 a 262 d � Qualitative Research Methods for Social Sciences- B. L. Berg, 2001 � Qualitative Research in Sociology – A. B. Marvasti, 2004 � Key words in Qualitative Research – M. Bloor and F. Wood, 2006 � Research Method in Anthropology – H. R. Bernard, 2006