Experiencing Fieldwork: An Inside View of Qualitative Research

by William Shaffir (Editor), Robert Alan Stebbins (Editor)

Overview

How do you gain entry into a research setting? What tricks are there to learning the rules of the community without alienating the people you came to study? How are good relations maintained with informants? What happens after you leave the field? In Experiencing Fieldwork top ethnographers address these and other questions, bring fieldwork alive for the reader and provide invaluable advice for those entering the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803936454
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	12/01/1990
Series:	SAGE Focus Editions , #124
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Robert A. Stebbins, FRSC, is Faculty Professor in the Department of Sociology at the
University of Calgary. He received his Ph.D. in 1964 from the University of Minnesota.
Author of 30 books and monographs as well as over 150 articles and chapters in several areas of social science, his most recent works include: New Directions in the Theory and
Research of Serious Leisure (Edwin Mellen, 2001), Exploratory Research in the Social
Sciences (Sage, 2001), and The Organizational Basis of Leisure Participation: A
Motivational Exploration (Venture Publications, 2002). Between Work and Leisure
(Transaction Publishers) appeared in 2004 and Challenging Mountain Nature (Detselig),
a study of three mountain hobbyist sports, will be published in fall, 2005. He is presently writing for Indiana University Press (with David Horton Smith and Michael Dover) A
Dictionary of Nonprofit Terms and Concepts. Stebbins was elected Fellow of the
Academy of Leisure Sciences in 1996 and, in 1999, elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Table of Contents

Introduction
PART ONE: GETTING IN
Playing Back the Tape - John Van Maanen
Early Days in the Field
Sponsors, Gatekeepers, Members and Friends - Robert G Burgess
Access in Educational Settings
Female Researchers in Male-Dominated Settings - Joan Neff Gurney
Implications for Short-Term Versus Long-Term Research
Experiencing Research on New Religions and Cults - James T Richardson
Practical and Ethical Considerations
Managing a Convincing Self-Presentation - William Shaffir
Some Personal Reflections on Entering the Field
PART TWO: LEARNING THE ROPES
A Walk Through the Wilderness - David M Fetterman
Learning to Find Your Way
Secrecy and Disclosure in Fieldwork - Richard G Mitchell Jr
The Researcher Talks Back - Christine Griffin
Dealing With Power Relations in Studies of Young People's Entry to the Job Market
Encountering the Marketplace - Robert Prus
Achieving Intimate Familiarity with Vendor Activity
Recognizing and Analyzing Local Cultures - Jaber F Gubrium
PART THREE: MAINTAINING RELATIONS
Field Relations and the Discourse of the Other - Peter Mc Laren
Collaboration in Our Own Ruin
Maintaining Relationships in a School for the Deaf - A Donald Evans
Stability and Flexibility - Patricia A Adler and Peter Adler
Maintaining Relations Within Organized and Unorganized Groups
Fieldworkers' Feelings - Sherryl Kleinman
What We Feel, Who We Are, How We Analyze
Fragile Ties - Ramona M Asher and Gary Alan Fine
Shaping Research Relationships with Women Married to Alcoholics
PART FOUR: LEAVING AND KEEPING IN TOUCH
High Risk Methodology - Daniel Wolff
Reflections on Leaving an Outlaw Society
Leaving, Revisiting, and Staying in Touch - Charles P Gallmeier
Neglected Issues in Field Research
Gone Fishing, Be Back Later - Ilene M Kaplan
Ending and Resuming Research Among Fishermen
Leaving the Field - Steven J Taylor
Research, Relationships, and Responsibilities
Do We Ever Leave the Field? Notes on Secondary Fieldwork Involvements - Robert A Stebbins