"Robert Burgess is to be congratulated on putting together such a useful collection...the end product is, for teaching purposes, probably the best--and certainly the most up-to-date collection that I know of."--"Sociology"

Robert G. Burgess Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick

1 Approaches to Field Research Section One: Starting Field Research 2 Early Field Experiences 3 Procedures for Demarcating a Field of Study 4 Methodological Issues in the Study of Bureaucratic Elites: A Case Study of West Point 5 Launching a Neighbourhood Study in an African Town Section Two: Field Roles and Field Problems 6 Some Role Problems in Field Research 7 Participant Observers 8 The Participant Observer as a Human Being: Observations on the Personal Aspects of Fieldwork 9 The Making of a Female Researcher: Role Problems in Fieldwork 10 The Problem of Ethical Integrity in Participant Observation Section Three: Sampling Strategies in Field Research 11 Elements of Sampling in Field Research 12 Sampling in Ethnographic Fieldwork 13 Time Sampling as a Field Technique 14 The Key Informant Technique: A Non-Ethnographic Application Section Four: Conversations in Field Research 15 The Unstructured Interview as a Conversation 16 Interviewing in Field Research 17 The Life Study: On Mutual Recognition and the Subjective Inquiry Section Five: Historical Sources and Field Research 18 Personal Documents, Oral Sources and Life Histories 19 Local History and Oral History 20 The Study of Life History 21 Anthropology and the Discipline of Historical Context