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The SAGE Handbook of Fieldwork
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The SAGE Handbook of Fieldwork

First Edition
Edited by:
  • Dick Hobbs - London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
  • Richard Wright - University of Missouri, St Louis, USA


January 2006 | 416 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
"This is an excellent collection of papers which celebrates the best of traditional approaches to fieldwork, whilst also looking to its future. The Handbook will quickly become essential reading for the novice and experienced fieldworker across many of the social sciences"
--Chris Pole, University of Leicester

Fieldwork is widely practiced but little written about, yet accounts of the exotic, mundane, complex and often dangerous are central to not only sociology and anthropology but also geography, social psychology and criminology. In all these - increasingly overlapping - fields, experience underlies any comprehensive understanding of social life.

The SAGE Handbook of Fieldwork presents the first major overview of this method in all its variety, introducing the reader to the strengths, weaknesses, and 'real world' applications of fieldwork techniques. Its 22 carefully chosen chapters are each based on a substantive field of empirical enquiry, written by an acknowledged expert in the field. The range is impressive: from the traditional to the virtual, concerning subjects as diverse as emotion, sexuality, sport, embodiment, identity, self-narrative, fieldwork in organizations, science and technology.

Specifically intended for use in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in qualitative research design and methodology in sociology, anthropology, criminology, urban studies, social geography, public health and education, the handbook will also prove beneficial to academic researchers in these and other disciplines.


 
PART ONE: LOCATING FIELDWORK
George J McCall
The Fieldwork Tradition
Gary Shank
Praxical Reasoning and the Logic of Field Research
 
PART TWO: SITUATING FIELDWORK
Elijah Anderson
Jelly's Place
An Ethnographic Memoir

 
Michael Stein
Your Place or Mine
The Geography of Social Research

 
 
PART THREE: SITUATING THE RESPONDENTS
Mary Dodge and Gilbert Geis
Fieldwork with the Elite
Interviewing White-Collar Criminals

 
C H Browner and H Mabel Preloran
Entering the Field
Recruiting Latinos for Ethnographic Research

 
 
PART FOUR: FIELDWORK AS A REFLEXIVE ENTERPRISE
Ben Crewe and Shadd Maruna
Self-Narratives and Ethnographic Fieldwork
Bob Simpson
`You Don't Do Fieldwork, Fieldwork Does You'
Between Subjectivation and Objectivation in Anthropological Fieldwork

 
 
PART FIVE: THE FIELD OF EMOTION
Christine Mattley
Aural Sex
The Politics and Moral Dilemmas of Studying the Social Construction of Fantasy

 
Bruce Jacobs
The Case for Dangerous Fieldwork
 
PART FIVE: FIELDWORK AND SEXUALITIES
Joseph Carrier
Fieldwork on Urban Male Homosexuality in Mexico
Chris Haywood and Mairtin Mac an Ghaill
Knowing Sexuality
Epistemologies of Research

 
Teela Sanders
Researching Sex Work
Dynamics, Difficulties and Decisions

 
 
PART SEVEN: EMBODIMENT AND IDENTITY
Lee F Monaghan
Fieldwork and the Body
Reflections on an Embodied Ethnography

 
Susan Brownell
Sport Ethnography
A Personal Account

 
Jennifer Hargreaves
Hidden Identities and Personal Stories
International Research About Women in Sport

 
 
PART EIGHT: FIELDWORK IN ORGANIZATIONS
Nigel Fielding
Policework and Fieldwork
Robert G Burgess
An Ethnographer's Tale
A Personal View of Educational Ethnogrpahy

 
 
PART NINE: FIELDWORK, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Susanne Friese
Software and Fieldwork
Steve Fuller
Seeking Science in the Field
Life Beyond the Laboratory

 
 
PART TEN: LOCATING FRESH FIELDS
Nick J Fox
Postmodern Fieldwork in Health Research
Peter Kirby Manning
Fieldwork in Transition

`While aimed at students and new researchers, even an experienced fieldworker can find inspiration in this volume.'
- The Journal of the Royal Anthropoogical Institute


'...Peter Manning's important contribution locates the transitions that have occurred in ethnography at the turn of the 21st century, juxtaposed against studies of organized crime. Nick Fox creatively situates postmodern fieldwork within the context of medical sociology.'
-
Qualitative Research Journal


'The book will be particularly valuable for students or those approaching fieldwork for the first time. It provides a useful overview of current issues and debates for those familiar with fieldwork methods.'
-
Field Methods Journal


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ISBN: 9781446206966

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ISBN: 9780761974451
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This title is also available on SAGE Knowledge, the ultimate social sciences online library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.

This title is also available on SAGE Research Methods, the ultimate digital methods library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.