Fieldwork Essay

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Recommended: Conclusion abouy fieldwork in anthropology

Fieldwork is important to anthropologists in order to understand cultures different from their own. It combines theory and ethnography and involves 'questions', 'assumptions', 'methods' and 'evidence' (Barnard, 2000). According to Jenkins (1994) fieldwork is an effective way to gain knowledge, while using qualitative and quantitative methods that allow the researcher to identify principal actors, behaviors, local explanations, use of language, values, stories and myths. However, one may face some challenges in the field, including resistance to outsider's presence, rapid changes in policies, violence, strikes, misunderstandings, cultural shocks, among others (LeCompte and Schensul 2010). Thus, being open, perceptive, flexible and objective the anthropologist could build trust and confidence, two essential values to open doors …show more content…

This essay focuses on the challenges and strategies to conduct a successful fieldwork based on ethnographic research. By doing so, this paper will explore three different moments of the participant observation process: entering the field, data collection and ethical and personal issues. Finally, different strategies to tackle the problems will be presented and analyzed in order to open a discussion in the future on what else could be done in Anthropology to consider alternative or current methodologies for solving problems analytically and concisely.
Before entering the field, the future researcher must present what Plattner (1992) describes as a ''winning proposal''. This document allows the applicant to get not only approval, but funding to develop his project. The proposal must contain an important issue to be solved (the problem), expected

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