Table Of Content

DDDDDDDDDDDDDD OOOOOOOOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIIIIIII FFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIII NNNNNNNNNNNNNN EEEEEEEEEE GGGGGGGGGGGGGG LLLLLLLLLL DDDDDDDDDD WWWWWWWWWW OOOOOOOOOO RRRRRRRRRR KKKKKKKKKK For their constant support, encouragement and for a sense of perspective, this book is dedicated to: Jacqueline, Charlotte and Lizzie Mannix-Pole (C.P.) and Margaret and David Hillyard (S.H.) DDDDDDDDDDDDDD OOOOOOOOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIIIIIII FFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIII NNNNNNNNNNNNNN EEEEEEEEEE GGGGGGGGGGGGGG LLLLLLLLLL E L DDDDDDDDDD O P S RI WWWWWWWWWW H C OOOOOOOOOO S RRRRRRRRRR A M KKKKKKKKKK HI L L Y A R D SAGE Publications Ltd © Christopher Pole and Sam Hillyard 2016 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road First published 2016 London EC1Y 1SP Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research SAGE Publications Inc. or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under 2455 Teller Road the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this Thousand Oaks, California 91320 publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences Mathura Road issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries New Delhi 110 044 concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd 3 Church Street #10-04 Samsung Hub Singapore 049483 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015939819 Editor: Chris Rojek Assistant editor: Gemma Shields British Library Cataloguing in Publication data Production editor: Katherine Haw Copyeditor: Bryan Campbell A catalogue record for this book is available from Proofreader: Rebecca Storr the British Library Indexer: Judith Lavender Marketing manager: Michael Ainsley Cover design: Shaun Mercier Typeset by: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY ISBN 978-0-7619-5963-2 ISBN 978-0-7619-5964-9 (pbk) At SAGE we take sustainability seriously. Most of our products are printed in the UK using FSC papers and boards. When we print overseas we ensure sustainable papers are used as measured by the Egmont grading system. We undertake an annual audit to monitor our sustainability. CONTENTS About the authors vii 1 What is Fieldwork? 1 2 Finding the Field 19 3 Field Relations 35 4 Tools for the Field 55 5 Fieldwork: Values and Ethics 77 6 When it’s Time to Go 107 7 Analysis 123 8 Conclusions 145 References 153 Index 167 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Professor Chris Pole is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Brighton. His long-standing research interests are in social research methodology, especially Ethnography and in the Sociology of Education and Childhood. Previous books in these areas include Fieldwork (Four Volumes. Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods), Ethnography for Education (with Marlene Morrison) and Young People in Transition. Becoming Citizens? (with Jane Pilcher and John Williams). Dr Sam Hillyard is a Reader in Sociology at Durham University, UK. Her research interests are in qualitative research methods, interactionist social theory and rural studies. She is the series editor of Studies in Qualitative Methodology, and has published in the area of social research methodology in the journals Qualitative Research, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography and the Oxford Review of Education. 1 WHAT IS FIELDWORK? Chapter overview • Fieldwork is an intellectually and technically challenging total experience aimed at capturing meaning. • Being there first-hand is important. • Fieldwork is also curiosity-driven – to gain insight and understanding or verstehen. • In this book we are against methodological fundamentalism, but rather advocate an inclusive approach to fieldwork. This is a book about doing research. Not any research in general, but a specific kind of research which is as much about the role of the researcher as it is about the focus of the research. The intention is to provide an open and frank account of what it is like to do research: where you, the researcher, are the reason(s) why it will succeed or fail; where you are the main influence on what the research will discover and; how it will be received and evaluated by those who read or use its findings. The idea is that by the end of the book you will have a good idea of the ethos surrounding doing fieldwork – what it’s all about and what knowledge it can yield. This includes what this kind of research entails, but also what it’s like to do it. We will talk about the excitement of research, the challenges and frustrations, the rewards, the tedium and the sheer hard slog that all research projects involve in different proportions, at one time or another. The kind of research this book is about is that which is based on fieldwork. The idea behind fieldwork is that it is about getting involved with what and who you are researching. It is about doing research in a practical, applied, ‘hands on’ sense. The essence of it is what Robert Park, when he was director of the Chicago School