Approaches to Fieldwork

These four volumes map how the fieldwork approach to research has developed and matured over the past decades. Following on from the success of 2004’s major work, Fieldwork (ed. Christopher Pole), the aim of this collection is to acknowledge the legacy and the traditions from which fieldwork emerged, but moreover to critically discuss how best fieldwork can move look to engage with the lives as they are now lived. Though the generic task of fieldwork remains as it was – the challenge to ‘get inside’ and seek understanding about the social world - the literature included in these volumes also engages with the whys, whats and hows of using ‘new’ digital data, placing current debates in context. The seminal articles included in this collection are further discussed and contextualised through the editor’s introduction, which outlines the rationale for selection and provides an illuminating overview of the field.

Volume One:  Theoretical ideas and the emergence of the fieldwork tradition

Volume Two:  Technique and technologies

Volume Three:  The purpose, task and ambitions of fieldwork

Volume Four:  Outcomes: style, quality and impact