At the request of the beginning PhD students here, I am giving a presentation on interview-based field research this morning. It’s really very sketchy—there is just no way that I can do this topic justice in an hour—but there are some very basic and practical questions that first-timers have about the process. Things like “how do I find people to interview” and “how do I convince them to talk to me” and things like that. I can’t pretend to be an expert, but I have muddled through first-time interview-based field research in two countries, so perhaps my experiences can be helpful.
For interested readers, I typed up answers to their specific questions. You can read them here.
I had literally zero training in how to do field research before I went to the field. I like to think that it’s possible to have a bit more direction than I had. I might have done a better job the first time around. Here are some sources that I wish that I had read:
- Christopher B. Barrett and Jeffrey W. Cason (eds.) Overseas Research: A Practical Guide. Second edition. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.
- Jaber F. Gubrium, James A. Holstein, Amir B. Marvasti, and Karyn D. McKinney (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research: The Complexity of the Craft. Second edition. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012.
- Chris Blattman’s field work notes: http://chrisblattman.com/tag/field-work/.
Tom Pepinsky 
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One response to “Interview-Based Field Research for First-Timers”
[…] I am unclear in what meaningful sense these are comparable endeavors, yet we both get questions from students asking our advice about conducting field research, and colleagues treat us as people who have field experience. Our understanding of what that means, and what types of advice to give, are just completely different, a sentiment I expressed recently in thinking about interview-based field research. […]