Fieldwork Experience Research Articles

Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Education: Value and Purpose.

The purpose of fieldwork education is to propel each generation of occupational therapy practitioners from the role of student to that of practitioner. Through the fieldwork experience, future occupational therapy practitioners achieve competence in applying the occupational therapy process and using evidence-based interventions to meet the occupational needs of a diverse client population. Fieldwork experiences may occur in a variety of practice settings, including medical, educational, research, administrative, and community-based programs. Moreover, fieldwork placements also present the opportunity to introduce occupational therapy services to new and emerging practice environments.

Women in Conflict and Post-conflict Situations: An Anthology of Cases from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Other Countries

Women in Conflict and Post-conflict Situations: An Anthology of Cases from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Other Countries

Not just muddy and not always gleeful? Thinking about the physicality of fieldwork, mental health, and marginality

AbstractThis paper acknowledges that geographical fieldwork and fieldtrips can be deeply stressful, anxiety‐inducing, troubling, miserable, hard and exclusionary for many colleagues, students and pupils. Building on the critical insights of Bracken and Mawdsley's (Area, 36, 2004) ‘Muddy Glee’ we empirically extend disciplinary reflections on fieldwork, drawing on qualitative data from research with UK university‐based Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) academics who self‐identify as having mental health conditions which substantially affect their daily lives. These data prompt reflection on the nature and experience of fieldwork in two ways. First, they require acknowledgment of fieldwork as not just ‘muddy’, widening disciplinary imaginaries of fieldwork accessibility to encompass marginalities in/of Human Geography fieldwork practice. Second, contrary to pervasive disciplinary idealisations, these data demand recognition that fieldwork and fieldtrips are not necessarily gleeful but can be sites of intense latent anxiety and intersectional marginality. They evidence how fieldwork can often be experienced as sites of anxiety, isolation, marginalisation, and often silent or hidden distress. These data are not easy to read, and we argue that they require us to widen our disciplinary senses of what fieldwork is like. In conclusion we offer some prompts for reflection to think‐with this unease.

Dodo dilemmas: Conflicting ethical loyalties in conservation social science research

AbstractIn a time of deepening social and ecological crises, the question of research ethics is more pertinent than ever. Our intervention grapples with the specific personal, ethical, and methodological challenges that arise at the interface of conservation and social science. We expose these challenges through the figure of Chris, a fictional anonymised composite of our fraught diverse fieldwork experiences in Australia, Burma, Indonesian Borneo, Namibia, and Vanuatu. Fundamentally, we explore fieldwork as a series of contested loyalties: loyalties to our different human and non‐human research participants, to our commitments to academic rigour, and to the project of wildlife conservation itself, while reckoning with conservation's spotted (neo)colonial past. Our struggles and reflections illustrate, first, that practical research ethics do not predetermine forms of reciprocity. Second, while we need to choose our concealments carefully and follow the principle of not doing harm, we also have the responsibility to reveal social and environmental injustices. Third, we must acknowledge that as researchers we are complicit in the practices of human and non‐human violence and exclusion that suffuse conservation. Finally, given how these responsibilities move the researcher beyond a position of innocence or neutrality, academic institutions should adjust their ethics support. This intervention highlights the need for greater openness about research challenges emerging from conflicting personal, ethical, and disciplinary loyalties, in order to facilitate greater cross‐disciplinary understanding. Active engagement with these ethical questions through collaborative dialogue‐based fora, both before and after fieldwork, would enable learning and consequently transform research practices.

Stuck in the mud? Finding the glee in all fieldworking bodies

AbstractThis paper is an invited response to Bracken and Mawdsley's 2004 paper ‘“Muddy glee”: Rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork’. It offers a personal account of fieldwork experiences with particular emphasis on embodied gendered experiences of a Disabled geographer. It calls for a holistic approach to access and inclusion in fieldwork.

„Mér nem mondod magyarul?” Diaszporizáció és nyelvi ideológiák

The field of research on linguistic ideologies goes back more than four decades. However, research on language ideologies, which has pointed to the mediating link between forms of social existence and forms of speech, has only recently begun to address the issue of diasporization. My ethnographically informed critical sociolinguistic research combines these two research themes. In this paper, therefore, I explore the linguistic ideologies that permeate the processes and practices of diasporization. To do so, I draw on my doctoral research among Hungarians in Catalonia and its fieldwork experiences. Sociolinguistic research on migration and diasporization traces the dynamic and local processes through which diasporic identities are constructed, asserted and even transformed in particular interactions. Thus, I look at ideologies and identities (including diasporic identities) from a social constructivist perspective, i.e. I focus on how they become relevant and salient in a given interaction, and how they are endowed with additional meanings in the perspectives of speakers, rather than on their given characteristics. In this paper, I analyze an excerpt from a conversation in which participants construct different ideological positions and identities along the lines of nationality, regionality, language, age and gender. In this conversation, the two research participants met each other for the first time, and such interactions help the researcher to adjust to what are the language issues that really matter to the speakers, as here the participants engage in different negotiations to construct and maintain their speaker roles. On the basis of this analysis, I argue that speakers are simultaneously surrounded by multiple linguistic ideologies that become reflected to different degrees, but a linguistic analysis that is sensitive to social functions cannot ignore these. This also requires the researchers-fieldworkers to take account of their own role in the data generation processes.

Portraits, Gifts and Exchange Valuation in Xlendi Bay, Malta

This article explores gift exchange and valuation based on a fieldwork experience in Xlendi Bay, Malta, during which the author gave strangers portrait drawings of themselves for free. Participants systematically gave back more than what was expected (money, drinks, etc.). What does this case study say about the valuation and performativity of (portrait) gifts? By subjecting classic anthropological theories of valuation and gift exchange to an experimental methodology and ethnographic data, this short article shows that monetary value is constructed through a series of aspects specific to each social interaction. In this social setting, several components play a role: (1) the creation of intimacy through timing, corporeal positioning, the author's gaze and the act of giving itself; (2) the potential of identification in the portrait; (3) the visibility of the act of production and the subjective valuation of the gift receiver; (4) the blurred boundaries between commodity and gift; and (5) positionality.

From ‘Muddy glee’ to muddy reflections on fieldwork and writing

Abstract‘Muddy glee’ by Bracken and Mawdsley made an important contribution to highlighting gender discrimination in fieldwork and the heterogeneity of fieldwork experiences. In the past couple of years, the ability of many researchers to engage in fieldwork has also changed dramatically due to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Here, we reflect on Bracken and Mawdsley's paper and our own experiences and perspectives of fieldwork in recent years. We discuss a previous paper we co‐authored (entitled ‘Pushing the limits’: experiences of women in tropical peatland research), and the benefits that these papers (e.g., ‘Muddy glee’ and ‘Pushing the limits’) may provide. We highlight the value of sharing personal experiences in science (which is often seen as an ‘objective’ space), and how writing for ourselves can be an empowering and community‐building act.

Ethical challenges in genetic research among Philippine Indigenous Peoples: Insights from fieldwork in Zamboanga and the Sulu Archipelago.

The Philippines, with the recent discovery of an archaic hominin in Luzon and an extensive ethnolinguistic diversity of more than 100 Indigenous peoples, is crucial to understanding human evolution and population history in Island Southeast Asia. Advances in DNA sequencing technologies enable the rapid generation of genomic data to robustly address questions about origins, relatedness, and population movements. With the increased genetic sampling in the country, especially by international scientists, it is vital to revisit ethical rules and guidelines relevant to conducting research among Indigenous peoples. Our team led fieldwork expeditions between 2019 and February 2020 in Zamboanga and the Sulu Archipelago, a chain of islands connecting the Mindanao and Borneo landmasses. The trips concluded with a collection of 2,149 DNA samples from 104 field sites. We present our fieldwork experience among the mostly sea-oriented Sama-Bajaw and Tausug-speaking communities and propose recommendations to address the ethical challenges of conducting such research. This work contributes toward building an enabling research environment in the Philippines that respects the rights and autonomy of Indigenous peoples, who are the rightful owners of their DNA and all genetic information contained therein.

ASSISTANCE OF ENGLISH TEACHERS IN TOEIC TEST PREPARATION FOR 12TH CLASS STUDENTS WITH ONLINE LEARNING STRATEGIES

To improve the competence of vocational students, the Ministry of Education and Culture provides free TOEIC test facilities for vocational students through the SMK ENGLISH CHALLENGE program: FACILITATION OF INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES WITH TOEIC FOR SMK STUDENTS. SMKN 1 Kadipaten is one of the schools in Majalengka Regency that utilizes facilities from the Ministry of Education and Culture. To improve students' competence in order to obtain satisfactory TOEIC scores, English teachers at SMKN 1 Kadipaten are committed to implementing various mentoring methods for test-taking students. However, the test faced at least two obstacles, namely, coincided with school holidays and also the implementation of field work experience program so that direct guidance through face-to-face became impossible. This is certainly a problem that requires a good solution. This PKM program aims to assist English teachers at SMKN 1 Kadipaten to find effective ways to increase the TOEIC scores achieved by students. The method of implementing this program is carried out with a Forum Group Discussion approach to English teachers and is applied to students by utilizing social media and the online meeting application, Google Meet. At the end of the program, students are able to prepare themselves optimally both from a technical point of view, motivation and knowledge of the TOEIC test.

Inclusive policies and practices in university education; Institutionalization for Sustainability: The Center for Inclusive Education and Social Responsibility at Cadi Ayyad University as a model

In this research paper entitled Inclusive Policies and Practices in University Education; Institutionalization for Sustainability: The Center for Inclusive Education and Social Responsibility at Cadi Ayyad University as a model We will present a fieldwork experience of the Center for Inclusive Education and Social Responsibility “CEIRS” at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech, in the context of exchanging and reviewing fieldwork experiences in education, which sought to enable students in special situations and students with disabilities to have their right to higher education in appropriate conditions, By simplifying their access, ensuring their integration and facilitating their success; triggering mechanisms to follow up with them. And working to reform the pedagogical and administrative frameworks to receive and accompany them and to develop methods of teaching and assessment appropriate to their needs while continuing to create pathways for training and development of research projects in this field. Key words: students with disabilities, inclusive education, social responsibility.

Poetry Writing as Transgressive Ethnography

AbstractPoetry writing can be a useful and effective tool in managing the challenging experiences of fieldwork, performing, writing, and teaching. As an act of creation, writing poetry transgresses the sense that legitimate ethnographic work must be rendered as prose. Instead, poetry serves as a powerful way to understand the self and one's experiences in context, particularly as part of the exploratory liminal stage between experience and publication. Poetry writing also complicates the idea that one's fieldwork (or teaching) is linear, objective, sequential, and falls neatly into a specific format when we try to render it in writing. In this article, examples of memory, fieldwork, and teaching all connect to moments of creation and, in turn, closer understanding.

From the Editor

From the Editor

Giving back and the moral logics of economic relations

This paper uses David Graeber’s work on the moral grounds of economic relations as a vantage point from which to reflect on the ethics of giving back in field research, drawing on my own fieldwork experiences in Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka as well as examples from existing literature. I argue that Graeber’s exposition of different moral logics for economic relations – hierarchy, exchange and communism – provides a valuable set of conceptual distinctions for thinking through what is owed by, and to, researchers in different research interactions. In addition to a recognition of the incommensurability of what is often being exchanged, this approach responds to the danger of researchers setting the terms of ethical interaction, through distant institutional processes and practices built on logics of exchange, in ways that might constrain the ability of interlocutors to meaningfully articulate their own positions in fieldwork relations.

Early childhood practicum students’ perceptions and experiences of a remote directed fieldwork course during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Early childhood (EC) education has usually involved in-person teaching and learning. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed remote teaching on EC practitioners and complicated practicum students’ fieldwork experiences. This study explored EC practicum students’ fieldwork experiences in the U.S. during the pandemic and their preparedness for online teaching and technology employment and integration. Participants included 28 students enrolled in Directed Field Experience in Spring 2021. A mixed-methods approach incorporating multiple sources of data, including reflection papers, interviews, and questionnaires, was used. The findings showed that the EC practicum students changed their perceptions of and attitudes toward a remote field experience course and online teaching with young children over the semester. Additionally, EC practicum students’ challenges and professional and academic growth were evident in their reporting. These findings have implications for the development of effective strategies for alleviating EC practicum students’ challenges, facilitating their professional growth, and providing resources to integrate digital technology in their teaching in developmentally appropriate ways.

Preservice Music Educators’ Perceptions of Online Synchronous Fieldwork: A Case Study

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to examine preservice music educators’ perceptions of teaching voice lessons to elementary and secondary students during an online synchronous fieldwork experience. I used Garrison et al.’s Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework to analyze the participants’ perceptions of cognitive presence (i.e., triggering events, exploration, integration, and resolution), social presence (i.e., emotional expression, open communication, and group cohesion), and teaching presence (i.e., structure and design of the fieldwork experience). During initial lessons, participants cited mostly triggering events and exploration, which occurred alongside indicators of social presence. Participants cited technological challenges associated with online synchronous learning (i.e., teaching presence) may have hindered instances of integration and resolution. Music teacher educators may consider using the CoI framework to structure collaborative and supportive online synchronous fieldwork experiences.

Out in the field

AbstractThis commentary expands upon Bracken & Mawdsley's (2004) paper, ‘Muddy glee: rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork’ to consider the experiences of LGBTQI+ people. Reflecting on our own fieldwork experiences between the early 1990s and today, we provide personal insight into some of the challenges faced by LGBTQI+ field scientists. Although the nature of our personal challenges differs through time, space and our own specific identities and intersectionalities, we concur that exclusion of LGBTQI+ people is a widespread problem in fieldwork. This is true of many different modes of physical fieldwork, suggesting that redefining what fieldwork looks like does not automatically remove barriers to entry for marginalised groups. Instead, we argue that inclusivity should be championed across all types of field activities, and that discipline‐wide effort is required to ensure safe strategies are developed for all at‐risk individuals.

The possibilities of studying affect to illuminate women’s contributions to peace

ABSTRACT It has become widely acknowledged by scholars and practitioners that women’s participation in peace-building is essential to building sustainable, inclusive peace. The question remains, however, what is ‘women’s participation’ in practical terms? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Following feminist scholarship that has argued for attention to the politics of emotion in International Relations, I call for an emotion-aware approach to thinking about women’s participation in peace-building and the recognition that emotion has real, material effects on how women participate and the impact of their participation. Drawing on fieldwork experience in Burma and on the Thailand-Burma border I reflect on the process of asking such questions and the possibilities of taking affect seriously in the study of peace. What emerges from this reflection is a methodological consideration that centres emotion and recognises it as simultaneously politically meaningful and gendered. Exploration of the challenges of such an approach grounds this contribution in the realities of data collection and interpretation in the field, while also demonstrating the richness that emerges from such inquiry.

Digital Approach towards Community-Based Activities with Culture and Heritage during COVID-19: Knowledge Transfer A Narrative Experience

Culture and heritage activities have always relied heavily on assembling a group of people to bring the event to life. However, during the pandemic COVID-19, these events cannot be held due to the restrictions and the danger it could bring in spreading the diseases. As a result, new options should be made available to ensure that cultural and heritage activities can continue in the face of adversity. This study describes the researcher’s experience in a knowledge transfer project on the long-term sustainability and conservation of community-based cultural and heritage activities during the COVID-19 epidemic. To preserve and sustain cultural activities, the article suggests a digital approach to culture and heritage activities. The research is based on the researcher’s observations and fieldwork experience. The result indicated that Lambo Sari and the research team kept track of each participant’s progress during the monitoring phase, which was the fourth step of this effort. In addition, the WhatsApp messaging service was used to track the project leader’s core communication with the participants. Apart from the monitoring phase, the fifth phase consists of a webinar delivered by the researcher and team to the general public and participants to increase awareness about the importance of cultural and historical preservation. In conclusion, cultural heritage conservation has been rendered extremely difficult due to the epidemic. If physical preservation of cultural heritage was done back then, revolutionization is required to stay up with the present period and make use of new technologies.

Online Fieldwork Program for Occupational Therapy Students in the Era of COVID-19 : A Pilot Study

This preliminary study explored the potential effectiveness and efficacy of the online fieldwork program as an alternative to on-site fieldwork placement for occupational therapy students. Eight-week online fieldwork program consisting of diverse topics were provided to enrolled students via the Zoom. Eighteen occupational therapists from five rehabilitation hospitals along with a fieldwork program director led the online program. Students were expected to attend to the program for 7.5 hours (an hour of student presentation, an hour of lecture, and 4.5 hours of group work or study sessions), 5 days a week. Clinical competency, self-efficacy, and motivation for learning were examined. Additionally, reports on favorable part of the program and possible complaints were collected. A total of 82 students participated in survey after the online program. There were no significant differences in clinical competency, self-efficacy, and motivation for learning among students with varying prior fieldwork experiences. Students reported high satisfaction of the overall program and noted satisfaction with the organization of the program, quality of clinical instructors, variety of assignments, convenience of attending, and ease of communication through online platform. However, barriers such as technological problems and lack of hands-on experience were noted. The possibility of providing an online fieldwork program in place of in-person fieldwork was explored. Future research regarding online fieldwork programs need to be explored for more robust statistical investigation.