Field Notes

1. Field Notes Writing what happened not what you think happened

2. How to Take Great Field Notes • Field notes record what you see, hear, touch, and smell when observing some location or phenomenon. The idea is to fill the page with details enough that if given to a movie director, he or she could reconstruct the scene in vivid detail. This is an important skill no matter what major or field you go into. For example, in business, if working on observing a focus group, you want to be able to observe every nuance and detail or reaction. In the sciences, you want to notice every possible variable that may be affecting what you are studying. • There’s no “correct” way to write field notes, and every researcher’s notes will look slightly different. However, the most important things are as follows:

3. Log the date, time, day, year… • You should always record the date and time you are observing and stop observing. If you see a particular action that catches your attention, it is also a good idea to record or log the exact time it begins and ends.

4. Use an annotation system • Create an annotation system and use it consistently. You should create a system that helps you record certain things. For example, when listening to conversations or doing interviews, you might use quotes “ ” for direct quotations including any “um” or “uh” you hear. You might use slashes // for paraphrases or what the gist of what somebody says. And then use brackets [ ] for things you didn’t understand or are unsure about hearing. When observing people when you don’t know names, make sure you give them a short nickname and always refer to the person by that nickname. When looking over field notes, too many pronouns (he/she/they) can be really confusing, so nicknames are handy.

5. Use Specific and Descriptive Details • Specific Details – The hallmark of good field research is clear and specific details. You never know what is going to be important until you review your notes, so always record the specific details and not the general descriptions. For example, this is a poor description that lacks specifics details: • Beth’s dorm room was messy and had clutter all over the floor. She had a couple of pictures on the wall, her computer on the desk with more clutter, and she had her textbooks scattered on her bed, desk, and on the shelves. • Here are better details: • At two four o’clock, I observed Beth’s dorm room. There was a Timbuk2 red and white messenger bag half open on the floor. Three or four pencils and pens and a Biology textbook were sticking halfway out of the bag. There were also two shirts and a tan pair of Rainbow sandals on the floor. On the bed were a history textbook and Great Expectations. Her desk had a laptop, a Macbook Air, and two more books, A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield. Also on the desk was a picture of Beth with a guy with brown hair at the beach. There was a plastic mug on the desk with Cancun 2006 printed on it. • I could go on, but you get the picture. We can tell far more about Beth in the second description than we could from the first description. Also notice I described the items not as “her” items, because really, I don’t know whose items they are.

6. Draw pictures • Diagrams and sketches – draw pictures, what things look like, where people are sitting, how they are positioning themselves, and what is in their field of vision. Draw arrows and stick figures, circles and dashes, whatever visual representations make sense to you. Also, remember to label your sketches. • Never take pictures of people or trademarked places without expressed written permission from them. In other words, you cannot take pictures of Jamba Juice or the people that work there without getting permission to do so people who you are photographing. You would need to turn this permission in when you turn in your project (remember, IRB). You can take pictures of natural phenomenon (e.g. mountains, birds, foxes) without asking their permission.

7. Record, don’t interpret • Record what you see, not what you think – the most difficult skill to learn is to write what you see not what you think. Don’t write, “Beth was happy.” You don’t even want to write, “Beth looked happy.” Instead, write, “Beth smiled.” Similarly, don’t write, “Beth laughed at Josh.” Instead, describe the scene: “Josh entered the room and tripped over the messenger bag on the floor. Beth laughed.” Additionally, don’t make comparisons or contrasts in your description. Don’t write, “Beth’s room was messier than my room.” Similarly, don’t write “Like Starbucks, Jamba Juice has four tables and a couch.” Just describe what you see. • Practice this. You will mess this up occasionally, and that is ok. Even researchers who do this as part of their job mess this one up sometimes.

8. Write “cooked notes” • You write up cooked notes after you have gone home and are either remembering everything you just saw or are looking over your field notes. They are “cooked” because they are your ideas and perceptions of a phenomenon after they have had time to simmer in your brain. Cooked notes are the “rough rough draft” of your study. They are an opportunity for you to start thinking on paper about the patterns you saw, why certain things are happening at certain times, and what the phenomenon you are observing means.

9. Technology • The “technology” you use to conduct field research will depend on your situation. In a participant observer situation in which you decide to be a line cook at McDonalds for a week, you won’t be able to set up your laptop, a logbook, and draw doodles. Instead, you will have to make do with small notebooks you can fit in your pocket. In most ethnographic situations, writing on the computer can be handy because it will look like you are doing something else as opposed to if you were writing on paper. However, the paper offers an opportunity for you to draw more pictures since drawing a quick sketch or diagram is difficult with a computer. Just remember to pick a recording technology appropriate for your situation. And whatever you do, don’t take pictures or use audio recording devices without expressed written permission from those you are observing.

10. Focus your attention • In any given situation, you will find too much to focus on, so it is best to pick small areas, 12x12 foot blocks to watch. You might increase the size of the block as you go, depending on just how boring that block is. • Record your senses. Listen, and record what you hear; watch, and record what you see; smell, touch, whatever is appropriate.