Importance Of Fieldwork Research Articles

Last On the List: The Protection of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Timor-Leste’s Transitional Justice Process

ABSTRACT Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) have been insufficiently addressed in transitional justice literature. Based on findings collected during extensive fieldwork in Timor-Leste, this article contributes to the emerging field by offering insights into how women’s SRHR were taken into account by the trials and the truth commission implemented after the conflict. The article reveals the barriers women encountered in accessing these transitional justice mechanisms, while drawing on examples from other jurisdictions to show the systematic underreporting and the neglect of these rights in a global context. The article contributes to the evaluation and analysis of the impact of transitional justice, but also highlights an area of violence against women that has been neglected in post-conflict environments and the importance of fieldwork in framing human rights discourses.

<strong>Integrative assessment of the floristic diversity of Gentianaceae in an area of campo rupestre of the Espinhaço Range in the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil</strong>

This study aimed to assess the diversity of species in the Espinhaço Range (ER), eastern Brazil, using as a model the diverse plant family Gentianaceae and focusing on the Parque Municipal de Mucugê—Projeto Sempre Viva (PMM), a conservation unit with predominance of “campo rupestre”. For this purpose, fieldwork expeditions were carried out between the years 2016–2018 along with a survey of species of this family recorded for this conservation unit in public databases. For comparative purposes, the listing of species from other five areas of the ER were also surveyed and we modeled the distribution of species endemic to these mountains, taking into account that they have their restrict distribution, high habitat specificity and importance to the ecosystem. The results indicated the presence of 33 species of Gentianaceae for the ER, eight of them occurring in the PMM. Comparatively, the results pointed to a greater floristic similarity between the PMM, Pico das Almas and Catolés, due to the presence of seven common species. Predictive distribution modeling supports high endemicity of the analyzed species, given their low environmental suitability outside the ER. The models also allowed us to identify possible areas showing high Wallacean shortfall for these species. Thus, the results reinforce the importance of field work, access to physical and digital botanical collections and the integrated use of tools for a more reliable survey of biodiversity.

The southernmost distribution range of Isoetes panamensis Maxon & C.V. Morton (Lycopodiopsida, Isoetaceae) in the relicts of the Cerrado in southern Brazil

Establishing the geographical distribution limits of species may provide not only data to understand their range of adaptation to conservation proposals but also records of the dynamics in the vegetation across the time. Here we report the southernmost limit of the occurrence of Isoetes panamensis Maxon & C.V. Morton within a relict of the Cerrado in Paraná, Brazil. This find highlights the importance of fieldwork in relicts of the Cerrado to enhance the knowledge about the flora of Paraná and the vegetational dynamic of the Cerrado in the past.

Hidden biodiversity of Amazonian white-sand ecosystems: two distinctive new species of Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae) from Pará, Brazil.

As deforestation and fire move forward over pristine vegetation in the Amazon, many species remain undiscovered and may be threatened with extinction before being described. Here, we describe two new species of Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae) collected during recent fieldwork in an area of white-sand vegetation in the eastern Amazon Basin named Campos do Ariramba. Further herbarium revision revealed that both species were first collected over 60 years ago in the same area, remaining unnamed until now. The new species, named U. arirambasp. nov. and U. jaramacarusp. nov., are placed in U. sect. Aranella and U. sect. Setiscapella, respectively. We provide full descriptions, illustrations, photographs, a distribution map, and taxonomic discussion for both species. Additionally, we provide a preliminary list of Lentibulariaceae from the Campos do Ariramba. Both new species are assessed as Vulnerable, however, yet known only from a few collections each, highlighting the urgency and importance of fieldwork and taxonomic revisions in the Amazon biogeographic region in order to provide essential data for the conservation of both known and still unknown biodiversity.

TRABALHO DE CAMPO EM GEOGRAFIA AGRÁRIA:

Este artigo analisa a importância do trabalho de campo para o ensino de Geografia no ensino superior, com ênfase nos temas da Geografia Agrária. O texto se estrutura com base na sistematização – planejamento, execução e avaliação – de um trabalho de campo desenvolvido com uma turma do curso Interdisciplinar em Educação do Campo: Ciências Sociais e Humanas – Licenciatura, da Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul, no primeiro semestre de 2019. O campesinato, o cooperativismo e a Agroecologia integram a ementa do componente curricular de Geografia II do curso citado. A metodologia utilizada na elaboração do artigo consiste na observação em campo e na análise dos relatórios produzidos pelos acadêmicos. A atividade desenvolvida nos permitiu reafirmar a importância do trabalho de campo para o ensino da Geografia, visto que possibilitou compreender, na prática, como o cooperativismo e a Agroecologia se estabelecem como estratégias fundamentais para a territorialização do campesinato. Ademais, as conversas com os diferentes sujeitos e a visita aos espaços de produção e industrialização da produção agrícola possibilitaram visualizar as contradições presentes no campo brasileiro, sobretudo aquelas que envolvem as organizações camponesas. Assim, o trabalho de campo se constitui como ferramenta metodológica fundamental para possibilitar uma compreensão crítica e transformadora do espaço geográfico. Palavras-chave Trabalho de campo, Geografia Agrária, Campesinato, Cooperativismo, Agroecologia

展望論文 日本の社会心理学におけるフィールドワーク研究とその意義:語りの相互行為の視点から

展望論文 日本の社会心理学におけるフィールドワーク研究とその意義:語りの相互行為の視点から

“Doing this kind of linguistics, you do feel like you’re making a difference in the world”

Abstract Despite the stated importance of fieldwork within the discipline of Linguistics, and the existence of several texts about fieldwork (Thieberger, 2012; Bowren, 2008; Newman & Ratliff, 2001), there is very little literature concerning the experience of fieldwork from tertiary students’ perspectives (see Macaulay, 2012). In this article, the work of four New Zealand postgraduate linguistics students working with fourteen Vanuatu teachers to translate reading materials written in Bislama into seven vernacular languages is documented. Findings indicate that students were motivated to be involved in the fieldwork by a range of factors including travel, altruism, and commitment to the communities and their languages; they drew on and, in some cases, clarified many concepts from their undergraduate studies; and that the fieldwork experiences both allowed them to gain confidence in their linguistic skills and influenced their future studies in linguistics.

The importance of fieldwork over predictive modeling in quantifying predation events of carnivores marked with GPS technology

© 2017 American Society of Mammalogists. Global positioning system (GPS) technology has revolutionized the study of carnivores. Researchers commonly estimate kill rates with data using the following steps. Firstly, researchers mark individual animals and fit them with collars. Next, they visit a subset of GPS (aggregated location data) during field surveys and assign spatiotemporal covariates associated with predation and non-predation events. Lastly, they develop predictive models with data collected in the field to estimate the probability that each cluster they did not visit in the field was a predation event. Such predation models help reduce field efforts and save money; however, these models are prone to error when carnivores eat prey of different sizes or exhibit shorter-than-expected handling times. We simulated reduced field efforts to investigate the reliability of predictive modeling in determining diet composition and detecting predation events for 3 puma (Puma concolor) populations with different prey assemblages and potential effects on handling time of carcasses. We visited a total 1,896 clusters in Chilean Patagonia, Colorado, and California, of which 1,752 clusters (∼92%) were included to build and test predation models. Across all study areas, the total time a puma spent at a cluster was the only reliable predictor of a cluster being a predation event. When we reduced field efforts by selectively removing clusters < 12 and < 24 h in length, model performance improved but produced inaccurate results. Predation models underestimated the number of predation events in California and Colorado and significantly over-or underestimated the number of predation events in Patagonia. Selectively reducing field efforts also reduced the diversity and evenness of prey we recorded in puma diets. Randomly reducing field efforts, in contrast, reduced the precision of model estimates. Our results highlight the importance of conducting intensive fieldwork over predation modeling to measure prey selection and kill rates of carnivores.

Clean Cane Production Techniques and Environmental Sustainablility: A Review

Given the importance of sugar to humanity, clean cane production has become a source of concern for both academic and producers alike. Focusing on the largest producing and exporting countries of processed and refined sugarcane is the most appropriate means of understanding the concepts evolving around clean cane production. Climate change has not directly reduced the quantity of clean cane produced due to an increase in use of chemical products in farming for sugar cane, but has negatively affected the quality of output. Disease prevalence in harvested cane as well as high soil erosion from global warming have been key elements of the sudden decline in quality cane harvesting and processing. This decline in quality has not only reduce the amount of revenue accruable to farmers but with the consequence of future production prospect if improperly addressed. This study carried out a desk research methodology to review extant literature to identify contemporary issues that needs to be urgently researched on. While a number of issues were uncovered by this study, it was found that scientific experiments and mathematical models enhance theoretical facts on successful and disease free clean cane production methods. But due to the practicability exceptions and the inherent limitations in outcomes of experiments, the research stresses on the importance of field work through observations before theoretical assessments on the findings and the causes of disease prevalence and quality decline in output. This is hoped will sanitize the cane production process and output for the present and future generations.

Attraction-repulsion among top predators following reintroduction efforts

Much of our understanding of the effects top predators play in structuring ecological communities are from studies documenting ecological changes following the recovery or reintroduction of large carnivores. Reintroduced predators, for example, may create unanticipated competition scenarios that influence local carnivore guilds. Here, we tested whether newly released Mexican gray wolves in Chihuahua, Mexico interacted with resident pumas, as a first step in exploring potential competition between the two species. We employed GPS data and novel methods offered by MoveMine 2.0 to quantify attraction-repulsion between individual wolves and pumas during two time periods: the first when wolves were free roaming, and the second when they restricted their movements to an area around their den and rendezvous site to protect and provide for pups. In summary, attraction-repulsion analyses conducted with MoveMine provided meaningful outputs, but we would highlight the importance of fieldwork to interpret interactions and significance values calculated between pairs. We found that high attraction values resulted from mutual attraction between wolves in the same pack, between wolves and one puma they repeatedly harassed, as well as between two pumas that repeatedly exhibited social tolerance for each other. Thus, the analyses offered by MoveMine provided a powerful means of identifying interactions and assessing attraction-repulsion relevant to questions of intra- and interspecific competition, but required intimate knowledge of the species studied and the interactions between them to interpret outputs correctly.

Growing Under an Acacia Tree: An Open Letter on How to Raise an Anthropologist

Although fieldwork is foundational to socio-cultural anthropology, field methods are rarely incorporated into undergraduate classroom curricula. Drawing on experiences from a semester-long field school in East Africa, we provide a student’s perspective on the importance of fieldwork. We argue that bringing the field into the classroom will work to enrich students’ theoretical understanding, enhance practical skills within and beyond anthropology, and foster an appreciation for cultural difference. We outline concrete ways in which field methods can be integrated into classroom settings. Finally, we argue that providing access to field methods outside field school settings may work to reduce the economic barriers that students face, and enhance their ability to cultivate an 'ethnographic sensibility'.

Sensibilidade de características morfológicas no comportamento de parâmetros de qualidade da água em rio de porte médio

Due to the lack of historical water quality data in the country, many technical papers about the river self-cleaning capacity in lotic ambients estimate the biochemical reaction coefficients from empirical equations, which depend on morphological and hydraulic characteristics of the river channel, the quality of the watercourse and the quality of the effluent released in the river. This paper analyzes the sensitivity of some morphological and hydraulic characteristics such as longitudinal slope, cross-section geometry and roughness of the side walls and bottom of the channel, in the concentration change of DO and BOD in a medium-sized river in Minas Gerais Brazil. A reach of 33 km of the Uberabinha River in Triângulo Mineiro has been chosen because its surface water availability and quality are critical for Uberlândia’s water suply system. The simulations showed that (i) the variation of the channel cross-section causes the lowest sensitivity in the OD profile; (ii) the sensitivity in the OD profile is larger for the longitudinal slope and Manning roughness coefficient, which shows the importance of field work and not use of inaccurate techniques for the determination of these two characteristics; (iii) there were not significant BOD differences for the three morphological characteristics analysed. Keywords: Sensitivity analysis, morphological characteristics, self-purification, medium-sized river.

Murray John Littlejohn and Patricia Gordon (Patsy) Littlejohn

Murray John Littlejohn and Patricia Gordon (Patsy) Littlejohn

Introduction: New Perspectives from PhD Field Research

In this introduction, we discuss some of the common issues and experiences expressed in the seven articles of this IDS Bulletin . This issue is a platform for IDS PhD researchers to reflect on their fieldwork experiences, including research‐related challenges, as well as cultural and personal encounters along the way. The authors also develop theoretically‐informed arguments about their research findings. As editors, we offer further reflections on the importance of fieldwork as part of the transformative experience of ‘doing a PhD’ in Development Studies. We suggest that the collection of articles in this IDS Bulletin represents a vision for the future of Development Studies research in which the human, relational and public work elements of research are emphasised throughout the contested process of working for change.

Tuning the field trip: audio-guided tours as a replacement for 1-day excursions in human geography

Educators are experiencing difficulties with 1-day field trips in human geography. Instead of teaching students how to apply theory in the field and learn to sense geography in everyday life, many excursions have degraded into tourist-like events where lecturers try to motivate rather passive students against a noisy urban backdrop. Although various (partly) student-led approaches have successfully addressed the issue, there are still a high number of tours that use a traditional, tutor-led model. The example of a series of three audio tours produced at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany, shows how these conventional field trips can be transformed into audio tours that help students not only to better internalize human geographic learning content but also cultivate empirical research, creative thinking, and individuality. In this paper I provide a critical description of tutor-led fieldtrips. Downsides are identified and contrasted with the audio-guided tours that an increasing number of museums create for their visitors. I then show, how learning from a narrator's voice instead of from a tour guide is also not only possible in the context of higher education but in many ways may be a superior learning tool. The concept of three interlinked audio tours is presented with regard to design, production, and distribution. The need of additional learning materials such as maps, posters, and workbooks to foster active learning through creative impulses and the independent use of empirical methods are discussed, before the successful implementation into the bachelor curriculum is described. I conclude by highlighting the importance of fieldwork and by recommending audio-guided tours as a productive method of active learning.

Theory and Fieldwork

John Shepherd This intervention suggests that the recent and welcome emergence of fieldwork as a prominent feature of much current work in popular music studies has deflected attention from an undertaking that characterized the early days of popular music studies: that of developing from within the various protocols of cultural theory concepts to explain the meanings, significances, and affects that music as a socially and culturally constituted form of human expression holds for people. In tracing a shift from theoretical to ethnographic concerns in work carried out in popular music studies by musicologists, ethnomusicologists, social anthropologists, and sociologists, it is suggested that a renewed emphasis on theory in musicological work in popular music studies may be of consequence for the academic study of music as a whole. Beverley Diamond In response to the editor's question concerning theory and fieldwork, this colloquy argues that the two are inseparable. Further, the importance of fieldwork in providing "alternative theory" which challenges the consistencies of academic thinking is emphasized. For this reason, the article eschews disciplinary history as a means of tracing important theoretical currents in music scholarship and, instead, presents arguments which confront the hegemonies of any history, any discourse of intellectual continuity, positing incidents which expose the social contingencies of theory.

Centrality of Field Action in Social Work Education: A Case for Socio-legal Work

This article attempts to highlight the role of Field Action Projects (FAPs) and field education for students of social work, the role that institutions of higher education can play in grounding students in critical areas of practice and innovation towards relevant interventions at multiple levels in society. The article is divided into two sections. The first section delineates the historical underpinnings of professional social work education in the country and the importance of field work and field action in social work education. The second section discusses two FAPs in the area of socio-legal practice and its impact on the field, policy and curriculum which Tata Institute of Social Sciences has initiated and developed over the past three decades.

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF REAL AND VIRTUAL FIELD WORK IN BIOLOGY

The outdoor education is a method of learning with the exposure to (not exclusively) the natural environment that combines all human senses. Students tend to acknowledge a very positive effect of this kind of learning. It is easier and more memorable to connect the theory with practice, when they see things in nature, rather than to just hear about them in the classroom. Despite its popularity, teachers face various obstacles when they take their students outdoors. Although the outdoor education is included in the Slovenian primary and lower secondary school curriculum, the percentage is not high enough, which depends on various reasons. Teachers defined lack of time, suitability of area around the school, not enough instruments for field work and to expanded curriculum as the main reasons for not including field work in the classes. Some of these obstacles could be solved by implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) into the biology and ecology classes. In this research the results of 192 students’ point of view on the importance of field work, obstacles of that kind of work and the ICT as a solution to support or replace the real field works are presented. All questioned students were prospective teachers, so sooner or later majority of them will face issues connected to the field work and possibilities to solve them with the help of ICT. Key words: biology education, field work, ICT, obstacles, virtual field trips.

Other paths of education: the importance of field work in geography

O trabalho de campo é essencialmente importante para a formação dos alunos, do ensino básico ao superior, independente do curso. Este artigo, em especial, focaliza o trabalho dos alunos da geografia. Com base nos três pontos que a compõem, a aula de campo (pré-campo, campo e pós-campo), pretende-se explorar um novo parâmetro que a educação pode seguir na compreensão da teoria e prática. As análises feitas utilizam a corrente da geografia crítica para instigar a curiosidade e a percepção do aluno e para pôr em prática a interdisciplinaridade, com o objetivo de enriquecer cada vez mais a sua formação.

Investigating an Expeditionary Learning Project

As I read about the core practices of Expeditionary Learning, I became intrigued and began to question how an ExpeditionaryLearning Project (ELP) is built and developed in an early childhood classroom. From studies describing various Expeditionary Learning Projects, I identified five key themes in their development: 1. the importance of discussion and “Science Talk” in a project; 2. the importance of fieldwork in a project; 3. how students develop ideas in a project; 4. how a teacher promotes student ownership of learning through a project; and 5. how a teacher prepares and plans a project on an individual basis and with colleagues and students. Teachers’ written accounts of their Expeditionary Learning Projects inspired me and helped me to design a classroom investigation that would extend my own understanding. Through observations, interviews, and workshop documentation, I wanted to learn more about the evolution of a project. I wanted to observe how a project evolves and to better understand the developmental process behind it. I also believed that such an investigation of an Expeditionary Learning Project would help me, as a beginning teacher, to implement a similar project in my own classroom.