Presentation given by Dr. Natalie Kononenko, January 24, 2012.

1. Fieldwork 101
the joys and tribulations
of field research

2. Fieldwork – what is it
• Going out there
• Fieldwork in zoology
• Fieldwork in the
humanities
• We get to go out and
talk to people

3. Why do it?
The good stuff The drawbacks
• You have to deal with • You have to deal with
people people
• It’s fun • Timidity
• Primary data (versus • Awkwardness
secondary)
• Freshness • Too much stuff
• Immediacy • You will have to formulate
• You will have to formulate ideas and arrange and
ideas and arrange and process the data
process the data

4. I love it
• Adventure of it all
• Learning new things
• Learning unexpected
things
• Challenge
• The people factor
• It’s an Indiana Jones
sort of thing

5. I get to go to all sorts of places

6. Develop lasting relationships

7. Fun in Ukraine

8. Kazakhstan 2011

9. Peace Country

11. Northern Saskatchewan

12. Edmonton

13. Stories from fieldwork
• The Grottoes
• Burned Church
revenge
• Concrete
tombstones and
other return of the
dead
• Evil eye and egg
ceremony
• The Snake Husband
• Epiphany water
• Taboos

14. Planning for fieldwork
• Picking a topic – what is important relevant
• My topics and why they were chosen
• Turkey
• Ukraine for minstrel book
• Ukraine for ritual book
• Sanctuary and Canada
• Kazakhstan

15. Preparing for fieldwork
Questionnaire Observation plan
• Used for interviews • Good for rituals and other
• Systematic set of questions occasions where you will be
• Covering all the areas an observer or participant
connected to the topic that observer
you are investigating • Plan ahead so that you
• Allowing for digressions know what to look for
• Do not necessarily follow • Allow for flexibility and the
the questionnaire unexpected
• Have a system in the back of
your mind

16. Ethical issues
• “Othering” the interviewee/respondent
• Academic, research situation and person as
subject
• Imposing academic terminology, perspective
• Goal-orientation versus personal situation
• Goal-orientation versus courtesy
• The interview situation is NOT a natural one
• Neither is being an observer

17. Willingness of people to cooperate
• People like being interviewed, observed
• Makes them feel important
• The scholar as the person who gives voice to
the voiceless
• And you learn an enormous amount

18. Protecting your respondents
• HERO – a university requirement
• Interview agreement
• Letter of introduction
• Depositor forms
• Preparation in class – essentially geared to the
slide earlier
• Courtesy, remember humanity and don’t
“other,” use appropriate

19. Preparation in class
• Courtesy
• Remember the humanity of the people you deal
with
• Don’t “other,” don’t treat as an object
• Avoid assumptions about your respondent
• Use appropriate language: don’t talk down, but
don’t use the scholarly terminology from class
either
• Avoid leading questions

20. Rewards – I had (and have) a great
time
• It made me a better
lecturer – learning
about performance
• The how-to of folklore,
traditional techniques
• Understanding of other
people, other cultures
• Imagination and
creativity