Fieldwork Experience Research Articles

Maternal exposure to violence and early child behavioural development in Tirana, Albania: Methods, challenges, and fieldwork reflections

This article delineates the methods of the author's PhD in Criminology, carried out at the University of Cambridge from 2019 to 2023. The main aim of the PhD was to explore the pathways between maternal exposure to violence and the behavioural development of two-to-three-year-old children in Tirana, Albania. To achieve this, the author spent 10 months in Tirana collecting data from a sample of 328 mothers and 59 nursery teachers in eight diverse socio-economic research sites. The purpose of this article is to reveal the details of the methodological approach, the meticulous planning, as well as the obstacles faced when implementing the PhD project. It provides a thorough description of the research design, sampling strategy, measurement tools, ethical considerations, data collection challenges, and fieldwork experiences.

Charming the generals: the study of Africa’s security elites

ABSTRACT While it has been largely omitted from the broader literature of research ethics, the study of Africa’s state militaries presents a set of marked challenges. This article highlights the tensions that emerge in the field between ethics, security management, and methodology in studying Africa’s security elites. It engages dominant assumptions that the risks associated with ‘the field’ come from working in active conflict zones and that protecting research subjects refers to violence-affected civilian populations. Studying the ‘legitimate’ wielders of violence in Africa takes place in, more often than not, a political context where the field of subjects is restricted to a relatively small group of elites. In such environments, researchers must contend with different modes of positionality and reflexivity where status asymmetries and strict chains of command make it difficult to mediate power dynamics, as security elites tend to be robust gatekeepers of information that follow official narratives. This article is based upon a survey of secondary literature on research ethics and interviews with scholars of African militaries that augment the fieldwork experiences of the authors.

Community-Based Digital Initiatives: Challenges and Opportunities for LIS Education

The integration of experiential learning with community service is a prevalent pedagogical approach in Library and Information Science (LIS) education, particularly in courses like digital collections and fieldwork experiences. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities associated with community-based digitization projects within an LIS program, drawing upon anecdotal evidence from various instances of faculty and student involvement. Through reflective analysis, the author identifies key themes such as community needs and barriers, the practicality of hands-on learning, and the complexity of collaboration. The paper proposes a framework for potential interinstitutional and cross-community collaboration, aiming to bridge the gap between LIS education and practical applications. By delineating essential resources and potential avenues for support, the framework seeks to facilitate the sustainability and success of community-based digital initiatives. However, uncertainties regarding funding accessibility and institutional policies pose significant challenges, highlighting the need for ongoing research and collaboration in this field.

Disability and postsecondary fieldwork experiences in the natural sciences: A systematic review

AbstractWe present a systematic review of 29 empirical studies on disability and fieldwork in natural science, postsecondary educational settings. Undergraduate students with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM, and disciplines requiring major field components are some of the least diverse, at least in part because fieldwork has been traditionally viewed as hard, physical, and masculine. Disability Studies in Education (DSE) frames the research questions, inclusion criteria and results. Studies were coded by disability model used, barriers and strategies to accessibility in field science, and meaningful involvement of persons with disabilities in research on fieldwork education. Although most studies asserted a view of disability as a social, cultural, and political phenomenon, some deficit language and interpretations persisted. Few studies included author positionality, and even fewer disclosed author disability status. The main instructional recommendations emphasize flexibility and adaptability, presuming student competence and making small‐scale changes consistently over time. Multiple studies emphasize the need for proactive planning, including robust contingency plans, and explaining how these plans can negate the need for complex modification. Twenty‐four additional non‐empirical studies are identified as resources for discipline‐specific guides and checklists for inclusive fieldwork. We conclude that important steps are being taken to investigate and critique barriers to fieldwork participation for students with disabilities, but there is still much work to be done in addressing systemic barriers beyond the control of individual instructors.

Exile and fieldwork as liminal conditions: Leonore Kosswig’s life and research in Turkey, 1937–1973

ABSTRACT This paper looks into the life and ethnographic work of Leonore Kosswig (1904–1973), who lived in Turkey as a German exile from 1937 until her death in 1973. While her husband, Curt Kosswig was invited to Istanbul University as a full professor, Leonore had no institutional affiliation. However, she traveled with her husband around Anatolia and joined his fieldwork, during which she developed an interest in local customs and the daily life of villagers and nomadic tribes. Leonore decided to stay in Turkey after Curt’s return to Germany in 1955. Her excellent command of Turkish and former experience in fieldwork allowed her to become one of the first women to conduct ethnographic research in Turkey. Until her death, she pursued several pioneering research projects on wedding customs, tablet weaving, nomadic life, and ownership signs. Relying on her research publications and ego-documents, we employ a biographical approach to articulate upon her liminal existence in exile. In dialogue with research on twentieth century forced migrations that engage with the concepts of in-betweenness and liminality, we address Leonore’s liminal existences on the edge of two worlds on numerous planes. In particular, we argue that Kosswig’s liminality was reflected on her exilic existence in Istanbul as a foreign woman; her ethnographic research agenda into liminal geographic locations, marginalized communities, and disappearing cultural artifacts; and her gendered navigation of foreignness and nativeness.

Introduction: research on Japan in (post-) COVID times

From today’s perspective, the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic appears as one of several recent events that have profoundly impacted our personal and professional lives. This impact was especially severe in areas related to ethnographic research. Given the personal involvement required for this methodological approach, how did the pandemic affect researchers’ ability to conduct fieldwork? How did they change their understanding of the notion of “field” in their ethnographic activity? And what were the implications and consequences of remote or digital ethnography for their work? In short, how has the pandemic affected and been reflected in their research projects? Drawing on their fieldwork experiences, the contributing authors to this special issue—resulting from an international conference on the Anthropology of Japan in post-COVID-19 times—discuss the challenges and opportunities of conducting anthropological research (both in-person and/or online) in/on Japan during the pandemic. They explore the difficulties encountered, as well as the new opportunities that emerged at both methodological and analytical levels, in a scenario where restrictions on international mobility forced them to rethink the core element of ethnographic research: “being there.”

Roots, Rootlessness, and Uprooting: Personal, Ethnographic, and Folkloric Reflections on a Theme

Abstract This address examines the theme, “Roots, Rootlessness, and Uprooting,” of the 2023 American Folklore Society (AFS) Annual Meeting. I explore parts of my own journey as a folklorist by considering my professional origin story; ethnographic fieldwork experiences with my own family, the Buraku of Japan, and the people of Little Cayman; membership in various folklore communities, including the Association of African and African American Folklorists; and some of the history of American Folklore Society.

Conducting online interviews with hard-to-reach hospitality industry participants

Face-to-face interviews have long been a cornerstone of qualitative research methods, yet they can face hindrances, such as long geographical distances and budget limitations for travel to research sites. An alternative solution is the use of online interview techniques. Although studies have discussed issues related to conducting online interviews, challenges in interviewing hard-to-reach participants are still unexplored. In the context of this article, these participants are difficult to reach because they lack the technology required to conduct online interviews and/or their contact information is unavailable. Additionally, there are also issues associated with conducting online interviews that make researchers doubt its ability to produce high-quality data. Based on fieldwork experiences, this research note discusses challenges that occurred during a series of online interviews with hard-to-reach participants in the hospitality industry. This study highlights that even though issues can occur, rich and meaningful data can still be generated from online interviews.

Employment Decisions of Newly Graduated Occupational Therapists.

Introduction. Employment decision-making is essential for understanding workforce trends. Current occupational therapy workforce research describes distribution disparities of occupational therapists within geographic locations, services such as acute care or community health, and private or public sectors. New graduates of occupational therapy programs are critical to meeting the demand and distribution disparities of occupational therapy services in British Columbia. However, recent employment decision-making of new occupational therapy graduates has not been well studied. Purpose. This study aimed to examine factors that influence newly graduated occupational therapists' employment decisions. Methods. This descriptive study sampled 122 occupational therapists who were registered in one province and graduated from a Canadian occupational therapy program between 2017 and 2022. Data was collected through an online survey about intrinsic factors, extrinsic factors, and past fieldwork experiences that affected participants' employment decision-making. Descriptive data analysis was used to organize participants' responses. Findings. Results identified that work-life balance and mentorship were the highest rated factors that influenced participants' current and first employment respectively. Participants agreed that the variety and number of placements they had as students were more influential to their employment decisions than the length of the fieldwork education. Conclusion. This study identified the intrinsic and extrinsic factors in employment choices that may influence recruitment, retention, and workplace planning of new graduates.

Uncovering myths

In recent years, there has been a shift in heritage policies towards incorporating heritage communities and encouraging participatory practices. However, the concept of ‘community’ often possesses a romantic appeal, leading cultural workers to adopt the notion uncritically. The practice of engaging with communities should not be taken for granted. This contribution explores the very premise of community engagement, offering a critical reflection of the meanings we attach to the concepts of ‘community’ and ‘participation’. Drawing from my field work experience in a Rotterdam community, the article evaluates my own rights and wrongs, exposing the necessity to broaden the understandings of 'community' and 'participation'. In order to foster a more socially engaged practice, it is essential to challenge one’s own assumptions and biases as cultural workers.

On being a ‘passive observer’: The corporeal and affective dimensions of power in observational research on trafficked women in criminal proceedings

In this article, I analyse the methodological issues that arise when I accept a judge's invitation to observe her hear women testify in criminal proceedings against their traffickers at the district courthouse in X, Germany. I develop a theoretical framework using Pierre Bourdieu's theory of embodied power and his methods of epistemic reflexivity and participant objectivation, and feminist engagements with affect theory. I use my fieldwork experience with a judicial gatekeeper and in conducting ethnographic observational research ‘behind the scenes of formal law’ to interrogate how bodies, emotions and affects inform power in the spaces of criminal law. Specifically, I approach bodies, emotions and affects as conceptual tools with which to interrogate how power transmits when I ‘enter’ and ‘read’ the field, and make claims to ‘know’ the subject under study. Core to my analysis is a critical process of self-reflection, through which I challenge the assumptions that underpin my assessment of my research participants’ ability to consent to participate in my study.

Exercises in ethically engaged work in biological anthropology.

An ethical paradigm shift currently taking place within biological anthropology is pushing scholars to envisage and develop paths toward more ethical futures. Drawing from case studies in our own teaching, research, and fieldwork experience, we reflect on the complex, diverse, and dynamic nature of ethical considerations in our field. We discuss the acquisition and institutional narrative of a human osteological teaching collection at the University of Louisville as an embodiment of structural apathy turned structural violence, and the need for professional guidance in the potential retirement of deceased individuals from our classrooms. In documented collections (i.e., the Robert J. Terry Collection), we share our process and scholarly reemphasis of the humanity of a deceased individual through contextualized analysis (i.e., osteobiography and archival history) and postmortem agentive acts. Lastly, we present an archeological site in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which poses ethical concerns as biocultural bioarcheologists and archeologists attempt to negotiate the possible wishes of the deceased with the cultural value of reconstructing the community's otherwise undocumented past, all amidst the immediate threat of anthropogenic climate change. We offer these exercises and discussion in ethically engaged projects transparently and with an overarching admission that none are models for replication. Rather, at various stages in our careers and engagement with ethics, we acknowledge that progress is worthwhile, albeit challenging, and that proceeding forward collectively as biological anthropologists should be deliberate, reflexive, and compassionate for deceased individuals and their descendant communities, as well as among and between colleagues.

But where's the body? Bodies, time, money, and the political economy of post-pandemic field research

Since the pandemic, field work has been transformed by shifts in the political economy affecting the material conditions underpinning research. In this research note, a research team considers their challenges and learning in completing field studies conducted in 2022, including intensified strains on time, money, researchers’ bodies, and risks associated with illness and infection spread. We argue that a neoliberal “research super-hero” norm operates within the research community, rooted in a conception of high productivity that mingles uneasily, for many researchers, with feminist, anti-racist, and anti-colonial social justice aims and responsibilities. Our 2022 fieldwork experience led us to notice how this norm has circulated within our explicitly feminist research team and nudged us to challenge it, while raising questions about how a “research-worker” norm can best be supported.

Research Adaptivity in Times of Disruption: Zig-Zagging Your Way through the Field During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT This study reflects on the field research interruptions that occurred around the world with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on my experience of in-person and remote fieldwork with vulnerable populations and sensitive research topics during this time, I introduce a “zig-zagging approach” that can be used as a research adaptivity strategy in times of disruption. I argue that “zig-zagging your way through the field” is a legitimate strategy as long as researchers acknowledge that changing from in-person to remote fieldwork (and vice versa) will alter various aspects of their relationship with the field including;(1) perception of positionality and authenticity; (2) processes of trust building and security challenges; and (3) experience of ethnographic immersion and observation. I offer mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of change and also discuss aspects that cannot be mitigated when working with vulnerable populations or sensitive research topics. I conclude on why going back—and forth (i.e., zig-zagging)—should become a practical solution when all else fails.

Recreational Therapy Students’ Class Time Fieldwork Experiences: A Phenomenological Qualitative Analysis

With the recent call to advance fieldwork across recreational therapy (RT) curriculum, better understanding of the students’ perspectives on their processing, reflecting, and learning during fieldwork experiences is needed. Therefore, the purpose of this manuscript was to explore students’ reflections from class time fieldwork experience (CTFE) in a recreational therapy class when serving a community partner. Using a retrospective, phenomenological qualitative analysis of 111 RT students’ reflections, four themes and six subthemes emerged. Implications for educators for applying these findings to students’ CTFEs are detailed. Future research recommendations are discussed to advance best practice fieldwork for the profession.

Photovoice: Visualizing Student Experiences During an International Level I Fieldwork in Tanzania

Abstract Date Presented 03/23/24 Through use of Photovoice, results of this study illuminated students’ meaningful experiences and perceptions of learning during a short-term international fieldwork experience in Tanzania. Primary Author and Speaker: Brittany N. Saviers Additional Authors and Speakers: George C. Shirima

Navigating Credibility and Approachability in Conflict Zones: Insights from Fieldwork in Nigerian Communities Facing Eco-Violence

This article contributes to the literature by proposing an expanded “framework for credibility and approachability,” extending the framework’s applicability in conflict-affected societies. The credibility and approachability framework aids researchers in comprehending and evaluating their fieldwork experiences, enabling them to articulate their experiences clearly and insightfully. Drawing on the reflexive experiences of a diaspora-based researcher who used this framework to prepare for fieldwork in Nigeria, the article illustrates the framework’s components plus the added “bearability” component. The experiences were borne out of a study with 54 participants across focus groups in communities affected by eco-violence in the Nigerian Middle Belt. The researcher’s positionality of “betweenness” is also discussed, highlighting the complexities of conducting research as an academic “homecomer” in communities located in conflict-affected areas.

The ‘Secret Killings’ in Assam: Counterinsurgency and Censoring Perpetrator Information

In the late 1990s, a protracted armed conflict between the Indian government and the insurgent organization, United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in the Northeast Indian state of Assam escalated to include ‘secret killings’ of family members, close aides, and sympathizers of ULFA among its many violent manifestations. The killers primarily targeted insurgents’ families to persuade their underground kin to surrender, and to create fear among community members who sympathized with the movement or sheltered its cadres. The 2007 report of the Justice K. N. Saikia Commission pointed out the role of the surrendered insurgents, and the state police behind the secret killings, where the army was kept in the loop in some cases. Surprisingly, over 300 people were killed between 1998 and 2001 under common circumstances but no one was convicted. This article describes the challenges I faced in conducting ethnographic fieldwork on this sensitive event, which continues to draw political and media attention in the region. I focus on the challenges of interviewing survivors, families of victims, and police officers about the secret killings in Assam. I particularly reflect on my fieldwork experience of what to ask, what to write and what to censor about my participants, and consider the ethical dimension of making those decisions. I argue that these decisions were often made spontaneously in response to emergent situations and my ethical principles. I let the responses of my participants guide me in the field, and did not carry any predetermined strategies to guide the interviews.

The Impact of the Internship Programme on Students in A Selected Public Higher Institution in The Eastern Cape, South Africa

It is important to note from the outset that the duty of preparing students for careers rests with the educational community. Internship before graduation appears to offer students experiential learning, better opportunities for employment and better knowledge of real work environments. The institutions benefit by obtaining more resources at a lower expense as well as a chance to assess whether the intern will fit in well with the team and the role. The majority of students graduate from university or college and struggle to find jobs due to lack of experience and exposure to the working environment. The study sought to assess the effect of internship on students in public institutions. The study used a qualitative research approach, through semi-structured interviews, and respondents were approached through purposive sampling technique. The results of the study show that internships are favourable to students, universities, organisations and result in more job offers and quicker employability of interns. It further states that internships involve some investigation into the characteristics of students who will be employed by institutions in future through internship programmes. Finally, the study revealed that internships provide better opportunities for graduates and unemployed students by exposing them to their chosen field, either in unpaid or paid internship programmes. The study recommends that universities must create more internships to ensure that students are equipped with skills and gain positive and required experience in field work.

초등 교사들의 초등임용 영어시험과 준비 경험에 대한 인식

This study aimed to explore the elementary teachers’ perceptions about preparing and taking the English Test for Elementary Teacher Certification Examination. This study also collected ideas from teachers for improving the test. To achieve the purpose of the study, 10 interviewees were selected. Their narrated experience of the test preparation and test taking was recorded in the form of in-depth interviews. The recorded data was analyzed according to the six-step processes of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) proposed by Smith et al(2009). The analysis led to the following findings: First, the 1st English test and preparation process was effective in some respects for those who had taken it, helping them to teach English and other subjects. However, the majority of interviewees also reported that the test preparation process was physically and mentally demanding. Because they could not obtain information easily, they had to purchase an internet lecture to prepare for the exam. Second, the 2nd test (English In-depth Interview, English demonstration lesson) and preparation process are designed to help teacher candidates prepare to teach English. However, when reflecting on their own elementary school fieldwork experience, some respondents felt that there was less of a connection between the fieldwork and the English demo-lesson in the test. In conclusion, the experience is meaningful to teachers, however there are gaps between the test and the fieldwork. So, we have to consider how to renovate the exam for a more reasonable teacher recruitment and training.