FIELD RESEARCH AND FOCUS GROUP RESEARCHyou want to “both record ‘what you “know” has
happened and what you “think” has happened’...
not mix them with actual observations.”
4.Analytic memos.We make many decisions
about how to proceed while in the field. We plan
some acts (e.g., to conduct an interview, to observe
a particular activity) while others seem to occur
almost out of thin air. Most field researchers keep
analytic notes to have a record of plans, tactics,
ethical and procedural decisions, and self-critiques
of tactics.
Theory emerges in field research during data
collection and when reviewing field notes. Theo-
retical notes are a running account of your attempts
to give meaning to field events. You “think out
loud” in the notes. In them, you might suggest new
linkages between ideas, create hypotheses, propose
conjectures, and develop new concepts.
Analytic memosinclude methodological strat-
egies and theoretical notes. They are collections of
your thoughts, systematic digressions into theory,
and a record of your decisions. You use them to elab-
orate and expand on ideas while still in the field, and
to modify or develop more complex theory by
rereading and thinking about the memos.
5.Personal notes.As discussed earlier, per-
sonal feelings and emotional reactions become part
of the data and color what you see or hear in the
field. You should keep a section of notes that is like
a personal diary. You record personal life events and
feelings in it (“I’m tense today, I wonder if it’s
because of the fight I had yesterday with.. .”; “I’ve
got a headache on this gloomy, overcast day”).
Personal notes provide a way to cope with
stress; they are a source of data about personal reac-
tions; they help to evaluate direct observation or
inference notes when you later reread the notes. For
example, being in a good mood during observations
might color what you observed.
6.Interview notes.If you conduct field inter-
views (to be discussed), you keep the interview notes
separate.^42 In addition to recording questions and
answers, you create a face sheet. This is a page at
the beginning of the notes with information such as
the date, place of interview, characteristics of inter-
viewee, content of the interview, and so on. It helps
you to make sense of the notes when rereading them.
7.Maps, diagrams, and artifacts.You may
wish to make maps and draw diagrams or pictures
of the features of a field site.^43 This serves two pur-
poses: It helps organize events in the field and it
helps convey a field site to others. For example, a
researcher observing a bar with 15 stools may draw
and number 15 circles to simplify recording (e.g.,
“Yosuke came in and sat on stool 12; Phoebe was
already on stool 10”).
Three types of maps are helpful: spatial, social,
and temporal. The first helps orient the data; the
latter two are preliminary forms of data analysis.
Aspatial maplocates people, equipment, and the
like in terms of physical space to show where activ-
ities occur (Figure 5a). A social mapshows the
number or variety of people and the arrangements
among them according to power, influence, friend-
ship, division of labor, and so on (Figure 5b).
Atemporal mapshows the ebb and flow of people,
goods, services, and communications or schedules
(Figure 5c).
In addition to the maps that we create to ana-
lyze the field site, many researchers gather artifacts,
or items from the field site. These items of physi-
cal evidence (e.g., a brochure, menu, coffee cup,
T-shirt, program or roster of participants, party hat)
are visible reminders from the site. You can use
them to trigger a memory, illustrate a theme, or
symbolize some activity or event.
8.Machine-recorded data.Photos, tape re-
corders, and videotapes can be helpful supplements
in field research. They never substitute for field
notes or your presence in the field. You cannot intro-
duce them into all field sites, and you can use them
only after you develop some rapport. Recorders and
videotapes provide a close approximation to what
occurred and a permanent record that others can
review. They help you recall events and observeAnalytic memos Notes a qualitative researcher takes
while developing more abstract ideas, themes, or
hypotheses from an examination of details in the data.
Face sheet A page at the beginning of interview or
field notes with information on the date, place of
observations, interviews, the context, and so on.