Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

FIELD RESEARCH AND FOCUS GROUP RESEARCH

playing, and often, especially after a big win, I felt

the desire to give up my job as a university profes-

sor in order to spend more time in the cardroom.

Step 2: Choose a Field Site and Gain Access.Most

field research occurs in a particular setting. In the

early stages of a study, you need to select a site, deal

with gatekeepers, enter and gain access, assume a

social role, adopt a level of involvement, and build

rapport with members.

Select a Site.We often talk about doing field
research on a setting, or field site, but this term is
misleading. A site is the context in which events or
activities occur, a socially defined territory with
flexible and shifting boundaries. The case, activity,
or group of interest may span several physical sites.
For example, a college football team may interact
on the playing field, in the locker room, in a dor-
mitory, at a training camp, and at a local hangout.
The team’s field site includes all five locations.
Selecting a field site is an important decision, and
you should take notes on the site selection processes.
Your research question should guide you.
Three factors are relevant when you choose a field
research site: richness of data, unfamiliarity, and
suitability.^13 Some sites are more likely than others
to provide rich data. Sites that present a web of
social relations, a variety of activities, and diverse
events over time provide richer, more interesting
data. It is usually easier for a beginning field
researcher to choose an unfamiliar setting because
it is easier to see cultural events and social relations
in a new site. Bogdan and Taylor (1975:28) noted,
“We would recommend that researchers choose
settings in which the subjects are strangers and in
which they have no particular professional knowl-
edge or expertise.” At the same time, the novice
field researcher can be overwhelmed or intimidated
by an entirely new social setting. As you “case out”
possible field sites, consider practical issues such
as your time and skills, serious conflicts among
people in the site, your personal characteristics and
feelings, and access to parts of a site.
Your ascriptive characteristics can limit access
to some sites. For example, an African American
researcher cannot hope to study the Ku Klux Klan

or neo-Nazis, although some researchers have suc-

cessfully crossed ascriptive lines.^14 Sometimes

“insider” and “outsider” teams can work together.

For example, the outsider Douglas teamed with a

member insider, Flanagan, for a study of nude

beaches, and a White collaborated with a Black to

study a Black housing project.^15

Physical access to a site can be an issue. Sites

are on a continuum, with open and public areas

(e.g., public restaurants, airport waiting areas) at

one end and closed and private settings (e.g., pri-

vate firms, clubs, activities in a person’s home) at

the other. You may find that you are not welcome

or not allowed on the site, or there are legal and

political barriers to access. Laws and regulations in

institutions (e.g., public schools, hospitals, prisons)

restrict access. In addition, institutional review

boards may limit field research on ethical grounds.

Field research is often a case study, but choos-

ing a field site is not identical to focusing on a case

for study. A field site is a social space or location

in which activities occur. A case is a type of social

relationship or activity. A case can extend beyond

the boundaries of one site and link to other social

settings. You can select a site and then identify

cases to examine within it.

Deal with Gatekeepers.Most field sites have

gatekeepers. They are people with the formal or

informal authority to control access to a site.^16 It

can be the thug on the corner, an administrator of a

hospital, or the owner of a business. Informal pub-

lic areas (e.g., sidewalks, public waiting rooms)

rarely have gatekeepers; formal organizations have

authorities from whom you must obtain permis-

sion. A gatekeeper is a leader, with or without a

formal title, that members in the field obey, and it

may take time to discover who the gatekeeper is

Gatekeeper A person in an official or unofficial role

who controls access to a setting.

Field site A natural location where a researcher

conducts field research.