Field research

This article is about the scientific method. For the military term, see Fortification.

"Fieldwork" redirects here. For the novel, see Fieldwork (novel).

Field research (also known as field work or field study) is the collection of raw data in natural settings. It helps to reveal the habits and habitats of various organisms present in their natural surroundings. The term is mainly used in the natural and social sciences studies, such as in anthropology, folkloristics, archaeology, biology, ecology, environmental science, ethnomusicology, geography, geology, geophysics, linguistics, paleontology, and sociology, although it is also used in other subjects, such as in auditing. The term "field research", is also used by many industries as a generic reference to collecting or creating new information outside of a laboratory or typical workplace.

Field research is less technically known as field work, a term originating in farm and plantation labor, and a term sometimes used to refer to the temporary fortifications constructed prior to battle. Field work, which is conducted in situ, can be contrasted with laboratory or experimental research which is conducted in a quasi-controlled environment. In survey research, field work refers to face-to-face or telephone interviewing. Field work can also include methods such as sociometry.

The interviewing or observation of people to learn their languages, folklore, and social structures constitutes field work. Especially when humans themselves are the subject of study, protocols must be devised to reduce the risk of observer bias and the acquisition of too theoretical or idealized explanations of the actual workings of a culture. Participant observation, data collection, and survey research are examples of field research, in contrast to what is often called experimental or lab research.

History

Field research has a long history. Cultural anthropologists have long used field research to study other cultures. Although the cultures do not have to be different, this has often been the case in the past with the study of so called primitive cultures, and even in sociology the cultural differences have been ones of class. The work is done... in "'Fields' that is circumscribed areas of study which have been the subject of social research". Fields could be education, industrial settings, or Amazonian rain forests. Likewise field research could be done by zoologists such as Jane Goodal. Radcliff-Brown[1910] and Malinowski[1922] were early cultural anthropologists who set the stage for future work.

Business use of field research is an applied form of anthropology and is as likely to be advised by sociologists or statisticians in the case of surveys.

Consumer marketing field research is the primary marketing technique used by businesses to research their target market.

Methods

Field research involves the collection of primary data or information that is new. This is collected through surveys and questionnaires that are made out specifically for a purpose.

In biology, field research typically involves studying of free-living wild animals in which the subjects are observed in their natural habitat, without changing, harming, or materially altering the setting or behavior of the animals under study. Field research is an indispensable part of biological science.

In public health the use of the term field work refers to epidemiology or the study of epidemics through the gathering of data about the epidemic (such as the pathogen and vector(s) as well as social or sexual contacts, depending upon the situation).

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantages of field research are that people are closer to real world conditions and that the business can design the research in the best way to discover the particular information required. Business can also be sure that the information gathered is up to date.

Disadvantages of field research are that it takes time for the business to gather the information and that it is likely to be of a small sample size due to the high costs and time it takes.

Famous field-workers

In anthropology

• Georg Forster - ethnographer (1772–1775) to Captain James Cook
• Renato Rosaldo
• Victor Turner
• Margaret Mead
• Colin Turnbull
• Clifford Geertz
• Bronislaw Malinowski
• Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown
• W.H.R. Rivers
• Alfred Cort Haddon

In music

• Alan Lomax
• John Peel (with his Peel Sessions)
• Vincent Moon (with his Take-Away Shows)

See also

• Field experiment
• Participant observation
• Public Health Advisor
• Wildlife observation