Fieldwork Methodology Research Articles

Multimodal Hong Kong: Documenting soundscape and smellscape at places of intangible cultural heritage

The sensory cultural heritage creates identity and cohesion in a community. The Multimodal Hong Kong (MMHK) started in January 2023 and aims to build a database of soundscape and smellscape at culturally significant sites. This paper will introduce the project and its objectives, present results from a pilot survey, and describe the development of a field work methodology. Data collection methods include Ambisonics audio, 360 video, and 'smellprints', together with on-site observations based on the Soundscape Indices survey protocol and the Dravnieks-McGinley-Zarzo 'smell atlas'. Currently having data from 20 sites, MMHK aims to reach 100 within the project's duration, as well as conduct outreach such as sensory walks, interviews, and workshops with stakeholders. The overall goal is to produce in-depth knowledge of how information, via multiple sensory modalities, constitute the perceived quality of places, and thence, how an intangible cultural heritage emerges in Hong Kong. This knowledge will enable future research and applications in urban spatial design, experiencescape, and virtual tourism.

Creative writing as critical fieldwork methodology

This article examines creative writing (CW) as a place-based methodology for doing and analysing fieldwork. Drawing insights from CW scholarship and workshops as part of a collaborative project, we contribute new empirically-informed insights from peer researchers about the significance of leveraging emotional connections, detailed attention to lived experiences, and the researcher's experiences in executing and reporting fieldwork. While attending to tensions between ‘academic’ and ‘creative’ writing, we examine how adopting different and alternative writing approaches can express diverse complexities of the field research process. We contribute to an understanding of CW as a dialectical catalyst, serving as a mode for reflecting on the relationships between the researcher and the researched within the field as well as a mode for analysing and disseminating fieldwork findings. By doing so, our study presents opportunities and limitations of CW as a critical methodology for generating situated knowledges about the field and for reimagining fieldwork.

Multi-Contextual Revival, Hidden Inheritance Cycle, and Fieldwork Methodology Behind the Case of Dongpu Bamboo Horse in Guangdong

This paper specifically focuses on a specific type of long-term fieldwork that is closely linked to the inheritance cycle. This study employs a historical and longitudinal approach to investigate the history and two instances of revival that took place in 2016 and 2021 of the Bamboo Horse in Dongpu village, situated in the Hailufeng region of Guangdong province. The two revivals occurred for distinct purposes: one was to participate in the ceremony in 2016, while the other was for the Intangible Cultural Heritage project in 2021. This study identified and examined the pattern of inheritance and conducted a comparative analysis to identify the variations and similarities across different periods of replay. The significance of this paper lies in its extensive and ongoing fieldwork, which involves continuous observation and contemplation of a specific subject. Over time, this research sheds light on how our perception and comprehension of this particular type of drama evolve. Furthermore, the consistent performance and status of Bamboo Horse are closely intertwined with the intrinsic nature of this ritualistic form of drama, and the change of the function of the drama in different contexts.

PIGMENTS AS A MASS MATERIAL: DISCUSSION OF THE METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH IN RESEARCH

Archaeological and natural science studies of Paleolithic paint pigments (ocher) date back more than 100 years. However, until recently, the vast majority of studies were focused on the study of individual samples, not the whole corpus of this category of materials - mineral paint raw materials (in the broad sense of the term). The description of the theoretical approach and the available results obtained in the course of testing the method of the fixation of field data and laboratory processing of ocher samples, which come in different shapes, sizes and differ in consistency, clearly demonstrate that it is fundamentally important to conduct an archaeological study of colorful pigments as a mass material prior to the natural science stage of the study. In the opposite case even goal-setting for subsequent interdisciplinary research will be virtually impossible, and its results will be extremely limited. A multifactorial study of paint materials can demonstrate a great variety of sample characteristics, both among different layers of archaeological material and artifacts from the same site, and among different sites. When approaching pigments as a mass material, statistical processing of the findings is necessary to form meaningful conclusions about the use of pigments on sites. The afore-said methodological approach reveals systemic differences, which opens up opportunities for comparison based on the methods of mathematical statistics. To obtain relevant data, such an approach requires the accumulation of a statistically significant number of pigment samples, suitable from the point of view of field algorithms. Consequently, it is only the study of a maximum available array of specimens (including a maximum of small grains) of ocher from different artifacts of the cultural layer, individual layers and different sites that makes it possible to obtain information about the cultural similarities and differences in this part of the life strategies of Upper Paleolithic groups, including the identification of the main stages of production chain. The proposed approach to the study of ocher as a mass material, if complying with the methodology of field work, is relevant for all types of archaeological sites of the Stone Age.

Situating the light: Methodology for sensory and spatial fieldwork

Sensory perceptions are a novel point of departure for lighting research, where human factors have long been approached through isolated variables and controlled environments. However, informed by philosophy and social sciences and supported by ethnographical methods, researchers and practitioners are gaining new ground in understanding human-environment relations by approaching user perspectives in empirical inquiries. Situating the lighting in spatial settings and sensory experiences is crucial when exploring the dynamics of the changing visual perception of aging and vision loss, and how these phenomena can affect everyday life. Although spatial and sensory perceptions have typically been approached from different positions represented by architects or anthropologists, the following question remains: How can we develop a methodological framework for exploring entwined sensory and spatial experiences? This paper presents the method development process for our upcoming sensory and spatial fieldwork in the project “The role of light when vision changes.” The process is described in autoethnographic narratives, analysis of the technological frames, approaches, and understandings of light represented in the project, and the knowledge gained from testing the developed tools and schemes hands-on in a home environment. The initial findings indicate that both spatial and sensory experiences are interactional, as experiences situated in a specific body interacting with the specific environment it is situated in. Furthermore, in addition to the changes in visual perception, the spatial and luminous characteristics of the indoor and outdoor environments are also dynamic and changing, making the aspects of transitions and thresholds relevant for our upcoming fieldwork. Our hypothesis is that the shared technological frame developed in the project includes the relevant qualitative and quantitative measures that will allow us to make the knowledge of visually impaired participants explicit in ways that will inform and improve future lighting design.

The Gift Economy in Shaman-People Interactions

This paper analyzes the gift economy that exists in the interactions between Chinese shamans and the people, drawing on Mauss's theory of the gift economy (Mauss, 1925). Ethnographic fieldwork methodology is employed to get the material on the current state of the gift economy between Chinese shamans and people. The paper also challenges the traditional beliefs that place divinities on a pedestal and instead presents the equal relationship between people and divinities through the new perspective of a reciprocal gift economy.

Sub-alpine shrub classification using UAV images: Performance of human observers vs DL classifiers

In recent years, the automatic analysis of natural environment images acquired with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has rapidly gained popularity. UAVs are specially important in mountainous forests where access is difficult and large areas need to be surveyed. In Zao mountains in northeastern Japan, regenerated fir saplings are competing with sub-alpine vegetation shrubs after a severe fir tree mortality caused by bark beetle infestation. A detailed survey of vegetation distribution is key to improve our understanding of species succession and the influence of climate change in that process. To that end, we evaluated the suitability of deep-learning-based automatic image classification of UAV images in order to map sub-alpine vegetation succession in large areas and the potential of fir regeneration.In order to assess the contribution of this technology in this research field, we first conducted an observer study to assess the difficulty for humans of the task of classifying vegetation from images. Afterwards, we compared the observers' accuracy to four state-of-the art deep learning networks for automatic image classification. The best observer accuracy of 55% demonstrates the limitations of species classification using only images. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the sources of error showed that even though humans could differentiate between deciduous and evergreen species with an accuracy of 96%, identifying the correct species within each group proved much more challenging. In contrast, deep learning networks achieved accuracy values in the range of 70–80% for species classification, clearly demonstrating capabilities beyond human experts. Our experiments also indicated that the performance of these networks was significantly influenced by the similarity between the datasets used to fine-tune them and evaluate them. This fact highlights the importance of building publicly available images databases to further improve the results.Nevertheless, the results presented in this paper show that the analysis of UAV-acquired with deep learning networks can usher in a new type of large-scale study, spanning tenths or even hundreds of hectares with high spatial resolution (of a few cms per pixel), providing the ability to assess challenging vegetation dynamics problems that go beyond the ability of conventional fieldwork methodologies.

Unruliness and Exorbitance

Unruliness and Exorbitance

Justice in the Jungle: Litigation and Judicial Violence in Calais Refugee Camps at the French–UK Border

This contribution critically addresses the migration-as-crisis framework by focusing on litigation in the case of camp evictions in Calais, on the French–British border. Courts are spaces of confrontation between actors (judges, lawyers, activists, exiles, etc.) who have different conceptions of migration, of fundamental rights, and of the ways of guaranteeing them. Based on an ethnographic fieldwork methodology (interviews with judges, lawyers, and activist legal supporters of migrants; observations of hearings; and administrative and police archives and documents) and drawing upon socio-legal scholarship, this article underlines how the “migration-public order” nexus influences the way courts address migration by reducing the effectiveness of some basic legal principles and fundamental rights. In particular, I focus on the social construction of judicial decisions and the instrumentalization of justice resulting in creating judicial violence: I argue that this judicial violence at the border is paradigmatic of a “justice crisis” which has direct effects on the agency of legal supporters (lawyers and activist legal experts), who try to defend the rights of exiles through judicial tools, and ultimately on their (lack of) confidence in justice.

The awareness of education and the role of education orientation in rural Vietnam: the case of Hòa Phú Commune, Châu Thành District, Long An Province

The study is to investigate and analyse the perception of parents in Hòa Phú Commune about education and their guidance toward their children’s career education orientation in the current period. The study is based on ethnographical fieldwork methodology with 29 in-depth interviews across all five hamlets (cluster sampling) and several observation journeys. The authors spent 3 years working at the research site. The child's continuing education depends largely on his or her own wishes. In fact, there is an interaction between the internal factors (parents' wishes, expectations and needs) and external factors (economic, cultural and social circumstances) of the educational orientation of children in rural families. In many cases, there is a gap between what parents think and what they act about their children's education. Local families rationally choose to guide and invest in their children's education. The research shows how contemporary Vietnamese rural residents view and position their children's education, especially the future vocational education.

Beyond “insider” and “outsider” in the Field: Reflections on the Roles of Human Geographers in Shifting Contexts

Previous scholarship in qualitative methodologies commonly classifies researchers’ status in the field into insiders or outsiders. However, the prevalence of participatory observation in numerous social science disciplines has blurred the insider/outsider dichotomy and highlighted that the levels of researchers’ involvement in the field are becoming context-specific and far more complex than just insider or outsider. Inspired by this tendency in fieldwork methodology, this paper seeks insights from a theory in communication studies, role theory, to understand researchers’ status regarding the roles they adopt in their interactions with research participants. Through reference to relevant sociological and psychological schools of thought, this paper highlights discourse as a crucial instrument for researchers’ role-making in fieldwork. This study draws on the author’s experience conducting fieldwork in a Central China city to demonstrate how a researcher engages in shifting field contexts by intentionally assuming numerous roles. To explore state-firm relations in local development, the author recruited two groups of research participants: government officials and business managers. The author actively learned and employed comparable discursive techniques in interactions with each group of participants, thereby assuming various roles in different contexts. These findings underscore the purposeful self-presentation and intentional role-playing/change as effective means for human geographers and researchers in extensive disciplines to be involved in participant groups for gathering data more efficiently. Meanwhile, the author’s self-reflection also illuminates the consequent impacts on research outcomes and ethical issues due to the involvement of researchers in their participants, therefore highlighting the necessity for detachment.

“Field Journals” of ethnologist R.G. Kuzeev: archaeographic and source-study characteristics

The process of rapid development of the ethnological research, taking place currently, necessitated the search for new sources. Among them, of a great value are the records from expeditions of researchers of the past, which bear witness to the ethnographic realities of the respective time. From this point of view, the field notes (notebooks and journals) of Rail Gumerovich Kuzeev (1929–2005) — an outstanding Russian ethnologist, founder of the ethnographic sciences in Bashkortostan, who greatly contributed to the development of the problems of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Bashkirs and other Turkic peoples,— have priceless scientific value. The field records from the expeditions of the scientist in 1953–1982 to all major ethnographic and local groups of the Bashkirs are now reposited in the Scientific Archive of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The notes are made in special notebooks issued by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR for documenting materials of expeditions. In addition to the text (narration of observations, description of ethnographic objects and phenomena, transcripts of conversations with informants, etc.), they also contain many graphic representations (drawings, plans, diagrams). The notes and drawings are made in ink and pencil; in the latest documents, with a ballpoint pen. The aim of the work is to identify their archaeographic features and source-study value (ethnographic and historical evidence, methodology of the scholar's fieldwork). The textual analysis of R.G. Kuzeyev's field notes showed that they captured unique information on the history and ethnography of the Bashkir people, concerning ethnogenesis, migration, tribal structure, ancestral symbols, genealogies, social organization, land ownership, arts and crafts, clothing and ornaments, dwelling, economic activities and trades, traditional festivals and ceremonies, and toponyms. From the source-study perspective, they are of obvious interest to the ethnologists, ethnographers, and socio-cultural anthropologists, as well as to the folklorists (they contain texts of many historical and toponymic legends and tales), archaeologists, especially those dealing with the ‘archaeology of the modern period’ (there is information about old Bashkir settlements, summer camps, abandoned cemeteries), local historians and genealogists (information about history of the settlements, generation lists), etc.

An Investigation of Yi Folk Song Knowledge and Development in Guizhou, China

The qualitative research methodology was applied in this investigation. The study’s objective was to investigate Yi folk song knowledge and development in Guizhou, China. The contemporary status of the Yi Folk Song is examined. The fieldwork methodology is mostly used for data collection, together with information from the document, using literature and interview methods. Interviews and observation are the primary research tools. To collect study data, we created a questionnaire, an interview, and an observation form based on the research objective. The study results confirmed: There are now around 350 songs recorded in the Guizhou Yi area, with 40 of them being the most popular. A group of 16 people are the inheritors of Yi folk tunes. There are eight recognized inheritors from Guizhou Province and eight recognized inheritors from Guizhou City among them. The number of Yi inheritors in Guizhou is currently small in proportion to the overall Yi population. The decrease in inheritance venues and the use of inheritance venues both have an impact on song inheritance. Yi folk songs have now become the key presentation and inheritance settings for festivals. There are five basic inheritance approaches proposed: 1) Educational institution inheritance 2) Society and community inheritance 3) family inheritance 4) social media inheritance; and 5) socialization and government participation inheritance.

Social, health and economic impact of COVID-19: Healthy Ageing In Scotland (HAGIS) – a protocol for a mixed-methods study

IntroductionPublic health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have reaped adverse physical, psychological, social and economic effects, with older adults disproportionally affected. Psychological consequences of the pandemic include fear, worry and...

Stem volume by height classes of immature, mature and overmature stands of the main forest-forming species of Ukraine

Generally, it is impossible to measure diameters and heights of all trees in a forest stand. Therefore, models of relationships between heights (h) and diameters (d) of trees are commonly used in practice for stem volume estimation. This study aimed at developing models of tree height-diameter (h-d) relationships as well as corresponding models of the tree stem volume for immature, mature and overmature stands of the main forest-forming species of Ukraine. This paper is a aggregation of long-term studies of the stem volume, which are based on the results of measuring about 10 thousand sample trees. Modelling of the tree height-diameter relationships was performed using relative height values. The methodology used in this study allowed generalising the measurements of sample trees collected in stands of various forest site types, productivity levels, and age categories. The average height of trees with a diameter of 24 cm was taken as the reference during modelling relative heights, while the diameter of 40 cm was chosen as the reference for overmature Scots pine stands. As a result, the parameters of a unified mathematical model of relative heights for immature, mature, and overmature stands of the main forest-forming tree species of Ukraine were established. Based on these models, height-diameter relationships in forest stands of different height classes were predicted. The authors demonstrated that the developed mathematical models substantially simplify the methodology of field work during timber surveys. The paper also presents models of the tree stem volume. These models predict the stem volume outside the bark based on diameters and heights of trees or using the developed models of h-d relationships. In this study, a unified system of mathematical models of stem volume by height classes were created for immature, mature, and overmature stands of the main forest-forming species of Ukraine. The results of the study are introduced to the National Forest Inventory of Ukraine for growing stock volume calculation at sample plot level using measurements of individual trees. The developed models can be used both by operation forestry (estimation of the timber volume during harvesting), and forest management (forecasting the future structure of forests and estimating the growing stock volume), as well as in the forest ecology

ОПЫТНО-МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЕ РАБОТЫ ПО ИЗМЕРЕНИЮ ЗНАЧЕНИЙ СИЛЫ ТЯЖЕСТИ И ЕЕ ВЕРТИКАЛЬНОГО ГРАДИЕНТА

The article describes the methodology of field work on gravity surveying and measurement of the vertical gravity gradient using a high-precision gravimeter. The processing teqnique of received data by the Geosoft Oasis Montaj software package (Canada) is described. Research results, conclusions and recommendations for the performance of such works by the method of multi-level measurements of gravity values are presented.

Satellite-Based Methodology for Purposes of Rescue Archaeology of Cultural Heritage Threatened by Dam Construction

The destruction of cultural heritage caused by dams represents a major issue especially in an age of climate change and narrowly focused development policies. To counteract this phenomenon, archaeologists and cultural heritage experts have relied upon rescue archaeology practices generally limited to fieldwork methodologies, while remote sensing of satellite imagery remains under-considered. To bridge this gap, we build on a multidisciplinary collaboration exploring the potential of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and open access multispectral satellite imagery, for quantifying the archaeological evidence located within a prospective reservoir area before dam construction. Based on previous research by Marchetti (2020) claiming the necessity for ad hoc protocols to document and monitor the impact of dams on cultural heritage, we selected two complementary situations: the planned dam of Halabiyeh in Syria and the under construction Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Ethiopia. These case studies were analyzed with state-of-the-art methodologies to develop a feasible workflow that may contribute to fostering the use of satellite imagery in operational contexts such as those represented by these particular cases, and be replicated by archaeologists in other areas. The workflow is designed to be integrated to ground-truthing methodologies into two dedicated protocols named Pre-Construction Archaeological Risk Assessment (PCARA) and Pre-Flooding Rescue Archaeological Program (PFRAP) which could eventually become a standard procedure for rescue archaeology in dams areas.

Laminorul observației. Tehnica cercetării de teren în concepția lui Henri H. Stahl

The paper presents the book of Henri H. Stahl, The Technique of the Sociological Monograph (1934) and delineates the author’s main achievements within the fieldwork methodology from the point of view of Romanian ethnology and folklore studies. As an important member of the interwar sociological school of Bucharest led by D. Gusti, Stahl was thoroughly interested in developing a comprehensive research methodology ready to be applied by the new members of the large research teams of the monographic campaigns. His method includes the attention devoted to getting in touch with the life of the village and the peasants while building psychological trust and empathy between interviewer and interviewee; this complex protocol of accommodation proves to be one of the first and the most sympathetic strategy in the history of anthropological fieldwork. Another aspect of primary interest in Stahl’s methodology is the fact it is drafted simultaneously with the development of peasant studies and rural sociology in the U.S., and the challenges that western anthropology faces in having to adapt its methods to studying peasant societies. Though Stahl often opposes in his studies the sociological school and the Romanian folklore studies, his contribution to Romanian folklore research was undoubtedly acknowledged and appreciated.

EXPLORING THE OPPORTUNITIES OF VIRTUAL FIELDWORK IN TEACHING GEOGRAPHY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The main purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the opportunities of virtual fieldwork in teaching geography during covid-19 pandemic. Educational institutions embarked on e-learning as a result of longer stay in lockdown which restricted face-to-face teaching. However, geography as a subject largely dwell in fieldwork methodologies to impart environmental skills appreciation to learners. Thus, this research based on finding opportunities used to explore virtual fieldwork to promote environmental appreciation skills. The research was guided by three main objectives which sought to explore virtual fieldwork approaches being used by teachers during covid-19, identifying inquiry-based and experiential skills imparted by virtual fieldwork and determining teacher’s attitude towards virtual fieldwork in geography education. In answering these questions, the researcher used systematic sampling where 20 respondents were selected out of the population of 964 geography teachers. Interviews and questionnaires were the instruments used to gather data. The research established that geography teachers are using e-learning during this covid-19 pandemic. Videos, images and remote sensing tools are the major approaches used as method of integrating virtual fieldwork. The study finds that virtual fieldwork imparts research, analytical and generic skills in learners. Teachers’ attitudes were found to be positive because of their technological pedagogical content knowledge. Negative attitude was associated with lack of resources, in which the researcher recommends that teachers should be trained and provided with resources to support virtual fieldwork in schools.

Feminist research and fieldwork methodology

The topic of the present paper is conducting feminist research in South Asia and the way politics works in this process. It is specifically based on the experiences of empirical work done in Kerala, the southernmost state in India, which is unique in being one of the only two states with a strong communist movement. In addition, the numerous religions, castes, and communities of the Kerala region can be profitably analyzed in connection with the policies of the Left, emerging feminist movements, and mechanisms of power. As an indigenous, feminist activist and researcher, I have been working with a Western feminist scholar who is also a university professor, in a project concerning marriage and inheritance in Kerala in the twentieth century. The project is based on various archival materials, as well as interviews with families of different classes and communities, politicians, and religious leaders. The purpose of the paper is to elaborate upon methodological experiences gained from my collaboration as a research assistant for the Western scholar. Specifically, I wish to explore the way power, as based on gender, ethnicity, generation, and the researcher’s position in society, operated when data was collected and interviews carried out. The main thesis of my study is that, through our cooperation, we managed to overcome difficulties that each of us, working alone, would not have been able to surmount. Our production of “knowledge” must be seen in the light of the complex political and cultural power relations prevailing in Kerala, as well as of our own position in society and the role we each played within the research project itself.