FIELD RESEARCH AND FOCUS GROUP RESEARCHit would have very likely have affected the validity
of the data... .” She debriefed people she worked
with and revealed the true purpose of her study
when she left the field site.
After you select a field site and obtain access,
you must learn the ropes, develop rapport with
members, adopt a role in the setting, and maintain
social relations. Before confronting such issues, you
should ask: How will I present myself? What does
it mean for me to be a “measurement instrument”?
How can I assume an “attitude of strangeness”?
People explicitly and implicitly present them-
selves to others. We display who we are—the type
of person we are or would like to be—through our
physical appearance, what we say, and how we act.
The presentation of self sends a symbolic message.
It may be, “I’m a serious, hard-working student,”
“I’m a warm and caring person,” “I’m a cool jock,”
or “I’m a rebel and party animal.” Many selves are
possible, and presentations of them can differ
depending on the occasion.
You should be very conscious of the presen-
tation of self in the field. For example, how should
you dress in the field? The best guide is to respect
both yourself and the members in the field. Do
not overdress in a manner that offends or stands
out. Copying the dress of the people you study is
not always necessary. A professor who studies
street people does not have to dress or act like one;
dressing and acting informally is sufficient. Like-
wise, more formal dress and professional demeanor
are usually required when studying corporate exec-
utives or top officials.^25
Self-presentation can influence field relations
to some degree. However, honesty is usually the
best policy. It is difficult to present a highly decep-
tive front or to present yourself in a way that devi-
ates sharply from who you are normally.
For example, being herself and revealing her
personal background as a Jewish woman helped
Myerhoff (1989) to gain access and develop rap-
port in a field site of elderly residents in a Jewish
senior citizen home. At the same time, her under-
standing and awareness of her identity changed
as a result of her field interactions. Stack (1989)
began as an outsider, a White woman studying a
low-income Black industrial community. Eventually,
members accepted her into a kinlike relationship.
Being assigned the nickname “White Caroline”
was a signal of acceptance and endearment. She
performed many small favors, such as driving
people to the hospital or welfare office, shopping,
and visiting sick children. She achieved this by
how she interacted with others—her openness and
willingness to share personal feelings. Anderson
(1989) found social class to be a barrier, although
he was a Black man in a Black bar. The setting was
a corner bar and liquor store on the south side of
Chicago in a poor African American neighborhood.
Anderson developed a social relationship of trust
with members, and an insider whom he befriended,
Herman, “sponsored” him. Herman was a witty,
easygoing person who was street smart and socially
well connected in the setting. Anderson succeeded
by “the low-key, nonassertive role I assumed...
not to disrupt the consensual definition of the social
order in this type of setting” (Anderson, 1989:19).Focus and Sample.Once in the field, you first
acquire a general picture. Only then can you grad-
ually focus on a few specific problems or issues
(see Figure 3).^26 You can decide on specific
research questions and develop tentative “hypothe-
ses” only after experiencing the field firsthand. At
first, everything may appear relevant; later, how-
ever, you can selectively focus attention on specific
questions and themes.
Field research sampling differs from that in
survey research, although sometimes both use snow-
ball sampling.^27 The study on bridal showers that
opened this chapter used snowball sampling. InFIGURE 3 Focusing in Field ResearchAll Details
in the
FieldNot RelevantNot ImportantAmount of Time in the Field SiteField Researcher’s
Focus of Attention