Reflective Narrative on Fieldwork Personal Experience
Introduction- The Setup
The concept of fieldwork experiences as a method of conducting research is daunting and demanding, but it can be fulfilling to the learners. In this regard, I have used this method to collect data and analysis during my master’s degree. While it was an informative and enjoyable experience, I encountered several challenges and committed mistakes during the process. In the course of the entire process, I gained valuable knowledge and experience that influenced my career development and growth. I did my fieldwork in Detroit, United States. I encountered challenges that enabled me to realize the importance of integrating primary search data in my project because of limited data on my topic. Therefore, it became inevitable to employ other resources of qualitative data material to validate my findings. The method that allows researchers and scholars to incorporate different data collection methods to improve the quality and validity of research and results is called methodological research triangulation (Johl, & Renganathan, 2010). According to mythological triangulation, I designed a research survey and interviews targeting both elite and low-class members of the society in Detroit to capture different thinking behind urban policy changes created by political elites. I was also a way of knowing how such policies affect the marginalized groups in society, such as the homeless and slum dwellers.
The Buildup- The Conflict, Problem, Or Challenge That Must Be Faced.
The challenges in conducting fieldwork are numerous; I had to wander through these problems in Detroit to complete my fieldwork. Fieldwork is logistically challenging because it involves traveling to the field to interact with different groups to get information. It is difficult for the period used in fieldwork to fit into a typical class period. I had to incorporate field trip budgets, the fact the lecturers and teachers have limited experience and knowledge on fieldwork, rendered the process very difficult because of a lack of guidelines on what to categorize as valuable data (Thapan, 1998). The other instrumental problem I encountered during my fieldwork was lack of security. In some parts of Detroit, such as informal settlement regions, host the City’s dangerous criminals, yet my research design targets informal settlement dwellers, the homeless, as well as the elite groups of the society.
During my fieldwork, I started the interview survey with the elite groups such as political, government officials, the high social class group, and the second comprised of the homeless and people living in the informal settlements. The interview questions targeting the elite groups were semi-structured, incorporating both closed and open-ended questions. The approach is cited by scholars like Harvey (2011) as the best strategy for elite interviews to allow flexibility and optimize the interview response rate. The elite groups, especially those in the political class, prefer the open-ended interview or survey questions to allow them to articulate their views coherently. With this in mind, I designed a set of simple questions and familiarized myself with the topics to comfortably develop a rapport with the elite respondents. I scheduled a wide range of interview time from thirty minutes to two hours to allow for respondents to offer me data sets to consult as well as engage in discussion with some. Also, to access data files from some elite government officials, I was required to submit a formal application, with my university signatories. However, despite sending the request to the department of urban development, my effort proved futile, thus making it increasingly frustrating for me to get the data I needed for my project.
The Scene- Critical Conversation or Sequence of Events.
During interviews with the elite political group, I found out that many gave elusive responses to escape the politically sensitive nature of some questions. The overall etiquette suggests that the political elite should not be recorded during interviews as this triggers illusiveness and anxiety. Although I was a recorder in my interview, political elites gave me elusive responses that left me frustrated and disillusioned with my project (Thummapol et al., 2019). I had to rely on taking observational notes while interviewing the respondents. It was challenging to capture all vital information; in my case, I lost some crucial points which affected the process and quality of my project. At times, I felt irritated and frustrated because without recording the interviews, I was unable to get a verbatim account of the interview. I endeavored to struggle to balance between the interview process and note-taking, which is very engaging.
Although I encountered many challenges, I was able to interview more political elites in Detroit than I initially imagined. However, it appeared futile as I harnessed very little useful information from this sample group than I hoped. I focused on strategies to overcome the shortcoming by strategizing on how to handle the second sample group in my research paper, the homeless, and the informal settlement groups. I managed to get data from the slum dwellers, although it was not without significant complications. However, the outcome indicated that the informal settlement and homeless group was more comparative and provided informative data as compared to the elite group. The interview with the second group made me conclude that I waisted more valuable time and energy focusing on the political elites who appeared more protective of their political interests rather than give the right responses to my surveys. I needed to shift and seek vital solutions and make a decision to ensure I get my project completed on time; this requires collecting the right data for analysis.
The second part of my fieldwork excavation involved conducting interviews and .survey from the slum dwellers and the Homeless population in Detroit. I found out that informal settlement and the Homeless people needed to be approached strategically. I had to devise ways to gain their trust before they could cooperate; it was challenging considering the security concerns and the environmental conditions in their settlement. After I managed to get their trust, they could provide significant insight concerning the urban generation and change management in Detroit city of the United States. Informative data collected from this group was very informative and beneficial for my project.
Further, scholars suggest the fieldwork in research is ed to build around the ability of the researcher to gain the trust of the target and sampled respondents to collect high-quality data. Comparing my findings from the first and second groups during my fieldwork in Detroit, I conquer this assertion perfectly. I was able to get the trust of the second group, as reflected in the quality and amount of data I collected successfully. It was not a flareless process; I encountered a share of my complications and challenges. Some of the challenges include my status as an outsider, which made many wary of my presence. The political analogies and interests of the sample group negatively affected the quality of data because I received more elusive responses from the political elites that were not helpful to my project.
The Resolution- How Was The Problem or Challenge Resolved
The strategies to overcome the challenges and conflicts during my fieldwork experience were diverse. The problems resulted in collecting irrelevant and useless data that was not helpful to my project, therefore leaving me in a dilemma. The distrust among the respondents hit my effort the most to collect the data I was seeking for the research project, for instance, the people are unwilling to speak unless they know and trust. The outcome was spending significantly more time and a prolonged period conducting the fieldwork because I had to try to gain the understanding and the confidence of the people. The informal settlement respondents live in a crime invested environment and treat foreigners or new people as a spy, cops, or worse. I was seen as secret service police targeting to penetrate the crime and drug syndicates in the region. I found out that different factors hindered the fieldwork experience process in collecting research data. The factors include social, societal culture, political, economic, security, ethical values of the sample selected to participate in the research.
Therefore, I devised various strategies to facilitate my fieldwork. For instance, I decided to use the mythological triangular approach to resolve the problem of the scarcity of data on the subject and improve the quality and validity of my findings. The method allowed me to incorporate the fieldwork data and other primary resources on the topic of study. The elite political group was a total waste of my time, as many of the answers from the interview were elusive and unhelpful. I discovered that a lot of the responses I was looking for from the political elite I could have easily collected them from policy documents and government reports. I had to visit the informal settlement for many times. It becomes my routine for more than three months before they became familiar with me and thus accepted the idea of taking part in my research project. Also, I hired a local research assistant, and I understood that my interaction with the locals gave me a significant deal of legitimacy in the eyes of my potential research respondents.
The Lesson Learn from This Experience
I learned from the fieldwork data collection process that resilience and maintaining focus on meeting set goals. The process is extremely stressful and, at times, precarious, being patient, resilient, and consistent. It was encountered that challenged my thoughts and understanding when changing techniques and approaches in the field, particularly when a research method proved futile. For instance, I should have changed my approach earlier to salvage time wasted. Reflecting on the entire process, I would have used more time and effort on the informal settlement dwellers and the Homeless as they provided the most valuable primary data concerning the change in the region. Also, instead of relying on the elite political group for primary data necessary for addressing my research question regarding government policy, I would have saved time and used the government reports, books, and policy documents (Parry, 2016). The politicians and elite sample groups with political ambitions are very elusive when exposed to interviews or surveys. They appear very anxieties and may never give any informative response because their primary goal and priority are to protect their political and personal interests.
Further, I learned that local people in the slums have trust issues because of the living conditions and the security situation in the region. I realized this late, that is when I hired a local researcher from the slums. While reflecting on this, I would have employed a local researcher much earlier during the fieldwork process as it was a critical step towards gaining the trust of the respondents in the slum residence of Detroit. My research assistant was very green on both issues and topics I was covering; therefore, I should have hired the assistant in time and trained well to help serve more roles and capture data accurately (Parry, 2016). I learned that if I had hired an elite political assistant to work as a link and connection to get access to the pollical elite in the research, maybe I would have collected relevant information from this group. I am directing, reflecting a comparison of the two sample groups employed in compiling the information needed for the research paper. I have learned that many government officials are very insecure and reluctant to give out data on issues that are directly associated with the people they represent. I formally applied for several files from the Michigan offices located in Detroit on the urban development changes, and despite my resilience and consistency, it proved futile. I was frustrated from time to time. The approach that integrates more than one method of getting access to relevant data on the topic is the best to use, I have learned this the hard way after going through a frustrating ordeal during my fieldwork.
The Audience Theme
Generally, I learned many things relating to fieldwork research mechanisms that are both positive and adverse to me and my audience in one way or the other. The audience will gain insight pertaining to how to successfully conduct fieldwork as a research project because they have access to first-hand information from this paper. The challenges that are consistent across the fieldwork experiences have been highlighted in the article, the way to resolve and the mechanisms to counter the obstacles shed light correct where I made grave mistakes during my fieldwork (Johl, & Renganathan, 2010). The audience, which includes scholars and students will also learn the need to adopt a mythological triangular approach especially while using fieldwork as the data collection technique during research projects to improve the validity of the research findings. I learned the kind of questions to use on elite and non-elite groups; the audience will also find this very useful.
References
Harvey, W. S. (2011). Strategies for conducting elite interviews. Qualitative research, 11(4), 431-441.
Johl, S. K., & Renganathan, S. (2010). Strategies for gaining access to doing fieldwork: Reflection of two researchers. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 8(1), 42.
Parry, J. (2016). Comparative reflections on fieldwork in urban India: a personal account. In Anthropology in the City (pp. 29-51). Routledge.
Thapan, M. (Ed.). (1998). Anthropological journeys: reflections on fieldwork. Orient Blackswan.
Thummapol, O., Park, T., Jackson, M., & Barton, S. (2019). Methodological challenges faced in researching with vulnerable women: Reflections from fieldwork experiences. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406919843022.