field research

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Field research or field work is an empirical research method for collecting empirical data by means of observation and questioning in a “natural” context. It is especially in anthropology , archeology , education science , anthropology , sociology , political science , psychology , linguistics and in the folklore operated. The founder of social science research as a method of “ digging into the social milieu ” is Gottlieb Schnapper-Arndt . Among the more well-known representatives of ethnological research in the field in the western academic world are Leopold von Wiese , Marie Jahoda , Bronisław Malinowski , Marcel Mauss , Franz Boas , Max Gluckman , Gregory Bateson and Georges Devereux .

method

Field research is the systematic exploration of cultures or specific groups by entering their living space and at times sharing people's everyday lives. With the help of one or more informants, targeted questions and participatory observation , useful information about the culture or group in question is collected.

The researcher tries to observe as objectively as possible . The basic requirement for this is an awareness of one's own roots and cultural prejudices as well as an intensive examination of one's own role and approach (see also Grounded Theory ). The ethical requirements for researchers are also to be weighted highly : the dignity, privacy and anonymity of the people researched must be preserved under all circumstances.

A strategy and an essential characteristic of field research is the taking down of observations, thoughts, feelings, problems, fears, the recording of typical language expressions, the writing of memory logs and the analysis of e.g. B. by creating categories and types and then summarizing what has been observed in a dense description ( Clifford Geertz ).

The problem here is that the research field is impaired solely by the presence of the researcher. This influence can only be alleviated through a longer research period and through active participation in the everyday life of those to be researched. The "mimic method" ("acting" method) by Ludwig Ferdinand Clauss therefore aims at the greatest possible integration of the researcher into the culture he is researching. He called for the abandonment of his own culture for the time of field research. B. for years as a “Bedouin” among Arab Bedouins and finally converted to Islam.

Examples of field research in sociology

→ List of social reports, milieu studies, field research studies and milieu novels

The Chicago school around Robert Ezra Park (" The City ") and his "successors" formed a focal point of trend-setting works from 1930, which mostly deal with topics on a microsociological level about life in industrial cities or subcultures (" The Hobo ", " The Polish Peasant in Europe and America ”, later also“ Outsiders ”). The concept of participatory observation is also developed here, which has often been dismissed as unscientific because of the emphasis on qualitative and empirical methods.

The study by Marie Jahoda and Hans Zeisel on " The Unemployed of Marienthal " is considered fundamental in the German-speaking area . The authors of the field study filmed by Karin Brandauer under the title “ For the time being, it will be noon ” in 1988 examined the consequences of massive unemployment in a small village in Austria that was affected by the existential closure of a textile factory.

Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods of social research ( observation , structured observation protocols, household surveys, questionnaires, time sheets, interviews , conversations and simultaneous assistance), this work, published in 1933, is methodologically trend-setting - even if its reception in German-speaking countries only years (decades) later took place. The group of Austrian sociologists using the example of the small town of Marienthal , which was shaped by the decline of the textile industry, demonstrated in their field research for the first time in this form, precision and depth, socio-psychological effects of unemployment and showed in the main result that unemployment does not (as was mostly expected up to then) become active Revolt, but rather leads to passive resignation.

“The unemployed from Marienthal” is not only a dense empirical description illustrated with many examples, but also a socio-theoretical stimulating work with a view to the four types of attitudes of the internally unbroken, the resigned, the desperate and the neglected apathetic - with only the first Typus still knew “plans and hopes for the future”, while the resignation, despair and apathy of the three other types “led to the renunciation of a future that no longer even plays a role in the imagination as a plan”.

In view of the increasing prevalence of public opinion polls with quantitative methods, large-scale evaluation and politically relevant presentations, ethnographic-qualitative studies with their particular approaches to different social milieus and social realities were increasingly less in demand and also in the special academic world were subdominant and minority. Nevertheless, there was significant conventional ethnographic research in the sense of Schnapper-Arndt in US sociology and social psychology until the 1960s and, following individual studies such as Richard Hoggart's ´The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working Class Life´ (1957 ), in England since the 1970s: for example Howard S. Becker's 1951/55 delinquency and career-sociological milieu studies on marijuana smokers ("marijuana users") and entertainment musicians, or Eric Hoffer's first published social literary reports ("social writings" in 1951) ) About lower-class fanatics (“true believers”) and other social outsiders (“outsiders”) of US American mass society and their sustained pressure to conform; or British cultural studies : for example Paul Willis ' “Learning Labor” approach to the description and interpretation of the resistance of young working-class boys to the learning requirements in a school as a social institution that is shaped by the ´middle class´ and its ideological practice.

Apart from scientific outsiders (such as Norbert Elias ) in the academic and scientific business , which rarely refers to Schnapper-Arndt , ethnographic field studies such as contemporary multiple handicraft biographies ( Peter Gross , St. Gallen), Viennese prostitutes, professional criminals, homeless people, waiters and the lower Australian landed gentry ( Roland Girtler ), or, more generally theory-related, various contributions to the ethnology of small everyday and living environments in (West) Germany ( Ronald Hitzler and Anne Honer ) today, in the beginning of the 21st century, rather an exception than the rule and to this extent, minority-exotic projects at the same time. The Viennese ethnosociologist Roland Girtler examined the fringe groups of Vienna in the late 20th century. For a limited time he established familiar contact with certain groups of people (such as prostitutes , homeless people or members of the aristocracy) in order, through the closeness of personal contact, alternating with distancing and reflection, to understand the relevance of the field of those affected through their language (" emic terms ") To understand the world from their eyes (see, among others, Girtler's" 10 Commandments of Field Research ", Vienna 2004, or Girtler's Der Strich , Vienna 2004).

Field research in folklore (European ethnology)

Differences to sociologically oriented field research

From the point of view of folklore (European ethnology ), a look at the above article shows that there are parallels and considerable differences. According to the "method" described above, field research and a. is the "systematic exploration of cultures". There could hardly be any talk of a 'systematic' in German folklore. Either random points were examined or possible 'abundant sources' on suspicion. "Everyday life" as an object of investigation was also important for folklore, but this science was particularly interested in festival culture (festivals throughout the year, church festivals, weddings and so on). " Participatory observation " was also a valid principle; Above all, however, this meant defining the role of the investigator and paying attention to the fact that his presence influences the 'field' he is investigating (the critical documentation of the external conditions of such field research was accordingly important). Only partly folklore observed directly the "Group", rather they relied on the informant or informants ( informant ).

From the perspective of folklore, a “mimic method” was to be rejected; the examiner should not 'play along', least of all 'encourage' to do anything in particular. For example, 'secret filming' was considered by some, but should be completely rejected out of respect for the informants. From the point of view of folklore, a method of "not exerting any influence on the examined persons, events or processes" because "the data collection is not noticed" is to be rejected.

Even as work economics, field research in folklore usually worked with qualitative methods, the data seldom examined with quantitative methods (e.g. with statistics ). Real surveys that were as comprehensive as possible were available for the atlas of German folklore from the 1920s onwards - a company that, however, had to put up with criticism. B. the sole trust in only one 'informant' or on one informant. Often it was the teacher on site; One benefited from its local knowledge, but renounced its own (and critically verifiable) field research. Basically, folklore (European ethnology) had the same problem as the ethnologist (ethnologist) overseas: He is a stranger, he observes with his eyes, through his 'glasses', and he is determined by his prejudices (positive and negative). Therefore, one should beware of a hasty 'rating'. It's not (as honorable and important as it is) about Günter Wallraff's “ Ganz unten ” (1985) .

Characteristics and examples of folklore-oriented field research

Folklore field research was usually the individual achievement of individual researchers with often very different objectives. The child psychologist Ernest Borneman ( Ernst Bornemann ) collected a. a. on playgrounds among children, songs that also address child sexuality. He did not always meet with understanding with his way of “observation”.

The Austrian ethnomusicologist Thomas Nussbaumer , who thoroughly documented and analyzed the political background to the “Quelle Malz Collection” ( Alfred Quellmalz ), which was created under National Socialism in South Tyrol , dedicates, in addition to his focus to “ Alpine folk music ” (also with extensive field research), to the old order Amish ( Amish ) in Iowa (USA). There are also some very interesting publications based on field research among German Turks (people of Turkish origin in Germany ) in Berlin and their 'identities' (therefore in the plural form; see on identity ) on the subject. Traditional Turkish music is undergoing a functional change in Berlin (and can be transferred to other large cities), and new texts (song and prose) emerge in the critical analysis of one's own situation. All in all, immigrant groups are a grateful topic for examining and questioning 'German' (or regional) identities, even where, for example, as in the Bavarian Waldkraiburg after the Second World War, an urban community of many different groups of 'displaced persons' had to grow together . These are just four examples out of a very large number of very different objectives, which show the broad spectrum of possible field research that is of scientific interest for folklore (European ethnology).

The folk song in particular has been a typical area of ​​study in folklore field research, both for the texts and for the melodies (ideally recorded by the same hand). Early forms of 'field research' and collection since the beginning of critical-scientific interest in German folk song with August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798–1874) cannot be discussed here. Finally, a classic in international comparison is the Danish folklorist Evald Tang Kristensen (1843–1929), who made notes in the 1880s from the peasant tradition of the late 19th century among the then poor population of North and Central Jutland. Thousands of songs were recorded and commented on (and finally published) with the simplest means (paper, pencil) - a largely unique project that filled a lifetime and required not only local knowledge but also social empathy on the part of the field researcher.

Web links

Wiktionary: Field research  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ As of February 2015
  3. ↑ as described there for linguistics
  4. ↑ Internet, January 2015: Institute for Media and Educational Technology at the University of Augsburg
  5. ↑ "Author principle", in: Grundriss der Volkskunde . Edited by Rolf Wilhelm Brednich , Berlin 1988, p. 84 f.
  6. ↑ Compare Gisela Probst-Effah (Ed.): Field research today . Neuss 1983; Rainer Wehse: Article "Field research". In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales . Volume 4, 1984, Col. 991-1005 [with further literature]; Utz Jeggle (Ed.): Field research . Tuebingen 1984; Günther Noll , in: Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung 31 (1986), pp. 88–95 [content and methodology of current documentation]; K. Eisch: “Always begin”, in: Swiss Archives for Folklore 95 (1999), pp. 61–72 [with further literature]; Manfred Lueger: Basics of qualitative field research . Stuttgart 2000 (UTB).
  7. ↑ Studies on the Liberation of the Child , 3 volumes, 1973 ff. Volume 1: Our children in the mirror of their songs, rhymes, verses and riddles . Walter-Verlag, Olten 1973 (reprint: Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main, Berlin, Vienna 1980, ISBN 3-548-35027-5 ); Volume 2: The child's environment in the mirror of his "forbidden" songs, rhymes, verses and riddles . Walter-Verlag, Olten 1974 (reprint: Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main, Berlin, Vienna 1980, ISBN 3-548-35045-3 ); Volume 3: The world of adults in the "forbidden" rhymes of German-speaking city children . Walter-Verlag, Olten 1976 (reprint: Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main, Berlin, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-548-35078-X ).
  8. ↑ Ernest Borneman: "The image of the sexual in the songs, rhymes, verses and sayings of German-speaking city children". In: Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung 17 (1972), pp. 181-207, and the same: "Autobiographical for the methodology of children's song research", in: Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung 22 (1977), pp. 102-112 (Borneman reports on the motivation for his psychoanalytic research on nursery rhyme; he also describes in detail various field research methods and experiences).
  9. ↑ Nussbaumer, Thomas: Alfred Quellmalz and his South Tyrolean field research (1940-1942): a study on musical folklore under National Socialism . Innsbruck, Vienna, Munich: StudienVerlag 2001, ISBN 3-7065-1517-2 . - And the same: “On the source value of the South Tyrolean folk music collection by Alfred Quellmalz”. In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 105 (2002), pp. 125–148 [with further information]; various publications by other authors on this topic.
  10. ↑ Max Peter Baumann (Ed.): Music of the Turks in Germany . Kassel 1985; Ursula Reinhard ( Kurt Reinhard's wife ) on this subject. In: Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung 32 (1987), pp. 81–92; Martin Greve: The music of the imaginary Turkey. Music and musical life in the context of migration to Turkey in Germany . JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2003. “ Gurbet Türküleri ” (Turkish songs from abroad) is a folk music genre in Turkish music that is largely shaped by the Turkish population in Germany today. The "Alamanya Türküleri" (Turkish songs from Germany) have been created in the Federal Republic since the 1960s. Compare Ali Osman Öztürk : Alamanya Türküleri. Türk Göçmen Edebiyatının Sözlü / Öncü Kolu [German songs . Oral pioneer of Turkish emigration literature]. Kültür Bakanlığı, Ankara 2002. - CD (2013) Songs of Gastarbeiter Volume 1, published by Imran Ayata & Bülent Kullukcu, Trikont CD ( Trikont Musikverlag ).
  11. ↑ Compare Ernst Schusser (from the folk music archive of the district of Upper Bavaria ): Documents regional music culture. "Songs of the homeland" in Waldkraiburg. Singing is home. Munich 2005 (Documents of Regional Music Culture, Volume 8).
  12. ^ Otto Holzapfel : List of songs . Volume 1-2. Olms, Hildesheim 2006 with enclosed CD-ROM and u. a. the lexicon key words “record”, “field research”, “source”, with key words on various personalities for collecting and recording such as Anton Anderluh (1896–1975), Albert Brosch (1886–1970), Karl Horak (1908–1992), Johannes Künzig (1897–1982), Konrad Scheierling (1924–1992) a. a. (To name only field researchers who have played a key role in folk song recording in German-speaking countries in recent decades), but also, for example, with keywords such as "authentic" (the search for the supposedly 'real' tradition; see on authenticity ) and " data protection “(The need to anonymize personal data today, whereas in the past, extensive documentation was important). Cf. Otto Holzapfel : Liedverzeichnis: The older German-language popular song tradition . Online version since January 2018 on the homepage of the Volksmusikarchiv des Bezirks Oberbayern (in PDF format; further updates planned), see lexicon file with the above articles.
  13. ^ Walter Deutsch and Eva Maria Hois (eds.): Das Volkslied in Österreich, 1918 (reprint of the volume, which was no longer published at the time, with notes). Vienna 2004 (COMPA special volume) [u. a. on the role of recording in older folk song research in Austria up to around 1914, also especially p. 23 Note with references, p. 52–56 on the role of the phonograph { phonograph }, predecessor of the tape recorder in the age of non-digitized recording technology].
  14. ↑ Compare Otto Holzapfel : "Hoffmann von Fallersleben and the beginning of critical folk song research in Germany". In: August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben 1798–1998. Festschrift for the 200th birthday , published by Hans-Joachim Behr and others. Bielefeld 1999, pp. 183–198, and the same: “Hoffmann von Fallersleben and his 'Schlesische Volkslieder' (1842). Attempt to approach ”. In: Silesian Republic of Scholars . Volume 1, edited by Marek Hałlub and Anna Manko-Matysiak. Wrocław [Breslau] 2004, pp. 462–478.
  15. ↑ Bengt Holbek and Thorkild Knudsen: "Evald Tang Kristensen (1843-1929)". In: Leading Folklorists of the North . Festschrift for Jouko Hautala and magazine Arv 26, 1969–1970, pp. 239–257 [Thorkild Knudsen, pp. 243–257; in English]; Joan Rockwell: Evald Tang Kristensen. A lifelong adventure in folklore . Aalborg - Copenhagen 1982.