Difficult Settings - Preparing for Fieldwork

Overview

Most qualitative research methods courses offer theoretical framework, research planning, data collection and analysis in one course within one semester. For Master and PhD students in earlier stages who will prepare and conduct qualitative fieldwork, many opportunities, challenges and potential risks are not discussed well enough. It is hardly mentioned and discussed in training and academic conferences so far. This relates for instance to finding and including respondents in your sample, but also dealing with time and delay, and even violence and other forms of sexual harassment, which are all issues that until now are hardly discussed in preparations. The most careful planning can mean little once the researcher encounters the real world.

Learning Objectives

• know how to cope with unexpected problems under difficult conditions.
• be able to reflect on your positionality, including your interactions with participants and boundaries, as a researcher in the field.
• understand how to better protect yourself as a researcher and your participants from potential negative effects.
• learn how to be flexible in your recruitment strategies due to the limited contact with people in the field during the global pandemic.