Kommentar |
Unlike survey research and most other quantifying methodological approaches in sociology, the procedures followed in field work projects cannot be neatly predetermined; they cannot be taught, therefore, according to set rules and standard operations. Field work is a craft and can only be fully comprehended in its practice. As a practice, in turn, field work illuminates general methodological, theoretical, and political problems inherent in sociology. In addition, interviewing is a craft, too, and should be conducted together with field work. In this course, students are asked to choose either one or several field sites and interview partners, to be negotiated jointly with the instructor. They will report regularly on the progress of their work, be taught how to take and how to analyse fieldnotes and interviews, and eventually, how to construct and prepare a draft of a final research paper. |