Field Research

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Research Methods I

• Field Research

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What is Field Research?

• Direct observation of people or animals as they
  reside. in the field
• Attempting to understand behavior as it occurs in
  naturalistic situations.
• Naturalistic observation
• Can be used to study many, many phenomena in
  real-world situations.
• Can be both quantitative and qualitative

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Topics of Field Research

• Just about anything that can be directly
  observed.
• 1. practices habitual behaviors, rituals.
• Ex. Fraternity hazing, driving habits
• 2. Episodes specific moments in peoples lives.
• Ex. Reaction to loss of loved one
• 3. Encounters interactions among individuals
• Ex. Helping behavior, Punkd
• 4. Roles, relationships group dynamics
• Ex. Real life reality TV

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• 5. Groups and organizations
• Ex. KKK behavior
• 6. Settlements, social worlds neighborhoods,
  communities
• Ex. Oklahomas reaction to OKC bombing
• 7. Lifestyles, subcultures
• Ex. Tea-room trade, gang behavior, MMORPG
• 8. Occupations
• Medical students, wait staff, police officers
• 9. Animal behavior mating patterns, social
  interactions, etc.
• Ex. Play behavior in Komodo dragons, making war
  in chimpanzees, mating strategies in elephant
  seals.

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Short history of Field Research

• Probably been around since Roman times.
• Field research in biology has been going on for
  centuries
• Charles Darwin
• Lorenz and Tinbergen ethology the biological
  study of animal behavior
• Naturalistic observation of animal species
• Example Herring-gull chicks

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• Field research in social sciences began with
  anthropology
• Sociology
• Study people in their natural settings.
• Study people by directly interacting with them.
• Gain an understanding of the social world and
  make theoretical statements about members
  perspective.

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• Several varieties of field research (not
  necessarily mutually exclusive.)
• 1. Participant-Observation
• 2. Ethnography
• 3. Photography
• 4. Ethnomethodology
• 5. Natural Experiment

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Participant-observation

• Synonymous with field research
• involvement of researcher active participant in
  the research.
• Immersion into the topic of interest
• Researcher often works undercover
• Researcher never shows true identity
• Not good for studying crime, but for criminal
  subcultures
• Ex. Gangs, hate groups, prostitutes

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• Role of the researcher
• Complete participation
• Complete observation
• Somewhere in between
• Ethical considerations

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Ethnography

• Type of Field research focusing on culture and
  understanding behaviors that differ from our way
  of life.
• Describing a culture from the native point of
  view
• Why do they do the things they do?
• Why do we do the things we do?
• Example understanding fraternity party behavior
• Not just for studying explicit behavior, but also
  unwritten laws

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• Explicit knowledge declarative knowledge
  information that can be described by the
  individual
• Ex. What is a keg stand?
• Tacit knowledge unwritten rules of the culture
• Ex. social space
• Ethnography utilizes massive amounts of
  observation and note taking
• Geertz thick description a rich, detailed
  description of specifics
• Not a summary, but explicit events and behaviors
• For about every half hour of observation, an
  ethnographic researcher would write notes for
  about two hours.

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• Photography and filmmaking. Detailed videos of
  cultural phenomena.
• Natural Geographic style
• Can be a documentary longer with less editing
• Reality television (without contrived situations)
• Some hesitancy in using this approach as opposed
  to oral or written field research.
• Privacy issues?
• Taken over field research with animals

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Ethnomethodology

• The study of commonsense knowledge
• Analysis of micro-situations
• Assumes social meaning is fragile and fluid.
  Meaning is constantly being created and
  recreated.
• More active role of the researcher
• Break up the normal routine of individuals and
  see how they respond.
• Breaching purposefully violate a tacit social
  norm.

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• Ex. Looking up at the ceiling in a crowded
  elevator
• Ex. Mistake customers for sales clerks
• How do people respond?
• Focus on conversation analysis sociolinguistics
• Example Rosenhan On being sane in insane
  places

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• What does it mean to be insane?
• How much does labeling have to do with treatment
  of mentally ill?
• What is the role of expectancy?
• Eight pseudopatients got themselves admitted into
  a mental institution.
• Complained that they had been hearing voices.
• "empty," "hollow," and "thud."
• The voices were unfamiliar and were of the same
  sex as the pseudopatient.
• Once admitted, pseudopatients acted completely
  normal.

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• Observation and notetaking were carried out by
  the researchers
• Even out in the open
• Pseudopatients were never detected by staff
• Other patients recognized them as frauds
• Labeling leads to expectation. Expectation
  changes our perception.
• Confirmation bias.
• Some results

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• One pseudopatient reported had a close
  relationship with his mother but was rather
  remote from his father during his early
  childhood. During adolescence and beyond,
  however, his father became a close friend, while
  his relationship with his mother cooled. His
  present relationship with his wife was
  characteristically close and warm. Apart from
  occasional angry exchanges, friction was minimal.
  The children had rarely been spanked.

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• This white 39-year-old male . . . manifests a
  long history of considerable ambivalence in close
  relationships, which began in early childhood. A
  warm relationship with his mother cools during
  his adolescence. A distant relationship to his
  father is described as becoming very intense.
  Affective stability is absent. His attempts to
  control emotionality with his wife and children
  are punctuated by angry outbursts and, in the
  case of the children, spankings. And while he
  says that he has several good friends, one senses
  considerable ambivalence embedded in those
  relationships also.

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• Ex One nurse found a pseudopatient pacing the
  long hospital corridors. "Nervous, Mr. X?" she
  asked. "No, bored," he said.
• Labeling could not be overcome.
• Admitted for schizophrenia
• Discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenia "in
  remission."

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Field Experiments

• Experiments in the field different than field
  research.
• Just like a lab experiment
• IV
• DV
• Etc.
• Something is manipulated
• Examples
• Confederate fakes a heart attack
• Change blindness
• Social comfort in a bathroom

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• Advantages of field experiments
• Naturalistic setting
• Can lead to higher external validity
• Some topics are much more conducive to field
  experiments
• Disadvantages
• Control
• Often difficult to have random assignment
• Manipulating IV can be difficult
• Recording must be unobtrusive
• Ethical considerations
• Informed consent
• Unintentional harm
• Privacy
• Debriefing

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Steps in Field Research

• Must have flexibility
• Be creative as the situation requires
• Like a detective
• Initial organization
• Cannot start out haphazardly
• Understand the literature
• Understand what you are studying
• Ex. Behavior of lemurs
• Potential pitfalls
• Practice observation

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• Typically, field researchers do not have specific
  hypotheses, broader topics
• Especially qualitative research
• Try to enter process with an open mind, without
  expectations.
• Defocusing take a step back take on a
  different role
• Like the 3-D pictures
• Is this possible?
• Be prepared for adverse situations

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Selecting a field site

• Where to observe?
• Not an easy decision to make
• Consider
• Richness of data some sites will give better
  information than others
• Unfamiliarity Some recommend a site that it
  completely unfamiliar
• Suitability is it possible to get inside?
• KKK
• Gangs

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• Getting in one of the central problems to field
  investigators
• Access to some sites is not allowed or is limited
• E.g., military, mental institutions, etc
• Access is constantly being assessed throughout
  the research process
• Gatekeeper person with the authority to control
  access to the field site.
• Person to negotiate with

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• It is not what you know, but who you know
• Must develop relationships
• Develop research bargains make arrangements
  that can be beneficial to subjects - negotiation
• Locate a guide or informant
• Snowball sampling start with one individual and
  snowball from there
• The first respondent refers a friend who refers a
  friend, etc.
• Sometimes need some luck.

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• Overt vs. covert entrance
• Should the researcher reveal him/herself to the
  people being studied?
• Depends on questions being asked
• If at all possible, the nature of the study
  should be made available to subjects
• Often, this will not work
• Hawthorne effect people behave differently if
  they know they are being watched
• Defeats the purpose of doing field research

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• Ethical concerns
• Major parts of APA code of ethics
• Informed consent
• Debriefing
• No physical or psychological harm
• Anonymity / confidentiality
• Often a lack of informed consent in field
  research.
• Jeopardizes purpose of study e.g., Hawthorne
  effect
• Anonymity / confidentiality is a must NIH
  certificate of confidentiality
• Involvement with deviants

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Observing and collecting data

• What to observe detail!
• Contextual details / physical setting
• good starting point
• Get familiar with site
• Make maps
• Physical appearances
• Nonverbal behavior
• Actual behavior
• Implied motivation

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• Key is organization
• Video recording helps tremendously
• Develop routines for observing and recording
• Tracking follow a guide around
• Eavesdropping
• Asking questions must be done appropriately
• Study the social relations
• Identify the stars the charismatic leaders of
  the group
• Identify subgroups

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Taking notes

• Very detailed
• 40 pages of typed notes for every hour of
  observation
• Mental notes mnemonic strategies can be useful
• Jotted notes brief reminder notes that can be
  elaborated later.
• Sometimes need to be cryptic
• Direct observation notes made as soon as
  possible

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• Remembering specific events and descriptions can
  be problematic
• Human memory sucks
• Strategies for improving quality of work
• Record key words and phrases while in the field
• Provide organization for remembering sequence of
  events, etc.
• Limit the amount of time in the field at any one
  time.
• Write the full notes immediately after exiting
  the field
• Do not speak to anyone about the day until it has
  been completely written
• Effects of post-event information