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DATA COLLECTION

Field notes

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DEFINITION

• Field notes refer tovarious notes recorded by scientistsduring or after their observation of aspecic pheno!enon they arestudying" Field notes areparticularly valued in descriptive

sciences such as ethnography#biology# geology# and archaeology#each of $hich have long traditions in

this area"

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• Field notes

 –Notes ta%en during an observationto describe all relevant aspects ofthe situation

 –&egardless of $hether participantor non'participant observation isused# eld notes are the (data)

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*o$ to Ta%e +reat FieldNotes

• Field notes record $hat you see# hear# touch# ands!ell $hen observing so!e location orpheno!enon" The idea is to ll the page $ithdetails enough that if given to a !ovie director#he or she could reconstruct the scene in vividdetail" This is an i!portant s%ill no !atter $hat!a,or or eld you go into" For e-a!ple# inbusiness# if $or%ing on observing a focus group#

you $ant to be able to observe every nuanceand detail or reaction" In the sciences# you $antto notice every possible variable that !ay bea.ecting $hat you are studying"

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•  There/s no (correct) $ay to $rite

eld notes# and every researcher/snotes $ill loo% slightly di.erent"*o$ever# the !ost i!portant thingsare as follo$s0

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Log the date# ti!e# day#year1

•  2ou should al$ays record the date and ti!e youare observing and stop observing" If you see aparticular action that catches your attention# it isalso a good idea to record or log the e-act ti!e it

begins and ends"

• In 3o3# you can use in'ga!e logs to record so!eof this infor!ation" For e-a!ple# type 4chatlog tobegin recording $hat happens in the chat panel

5logging o. $ill close this log as $ill typing4chatlog again6" 2ou can nd the chat log resultsin your 3orld of 3ar craft folder under logs"

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E7A89LE

 – T$o types• 3ritten records that contain

infor!ation about the direct

observations• &e:ections of the researcher/s

reactions to the observation

 – Typically ta%en during the

observation• ;se of protocols

 – A list of issues to guide the observation

 – 9rovides focus

 – 9rovides a co!!on fra!e$or% across

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• Field notes 5continued6 –+uidelines

•

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Advantages

•  very si!ple to %eep they are ta%endo$n by the researcher and nooutsider is re=uired"

•  provide a good ongoing record andcan be used as a diary in order togive continuity" The infor!ation is

produced rst hand and can bestudied conveniently in the teacherso$n ti!e"

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• eld notes can be highly sub,ective# this isbecause of the researcher personal beliefsand discipline"

•

 In contrast# according to *a!o# et al"#5>??@6transcription distance the researcher fro!the !ain eld in t$o $ays 5a6 Transcriptionproduces physical distance because it is done

in an oBce and 5b6 it produces e!otionaldistance by transfor!ing participants intote-t'bro%en li!ited and frag!ented"