A scholar from the global south asked me recently for references or some help on how to use ethnographic field notes in the actual writing of a paper, and how they should be reported (that is, how we can use the material we write in a fieldwork notebook in the actual writing of a manuscript). Interestingly, most of the work I’ve read on field notes is on “how to craft them” and “how to analyze them”, not on “how to report them” or how to use them to write a readable output. A couple of years ago, I published an editorial in the International Journal of Qualitative Methods (IJQM) that focused on how we as researchers can use field notes to prompt writing when we feel stuck. But still, that wasn’t what this researcher needed. So I promised I would write a Twitter thread, and afterwards, based on it, a blog post (this one).
On developing an ethnographic sensibility and learning how to write field notes, I’ve found books most useful. What I want to make clear is that using excerpts from your interviews and ethnographic field notes is common in the actual writing of the ethnography. There are obviously different styles, and mine is not exactly like the anthropologists’, or some sociologists, but it is one approach in social science that might be of interest and use to researchers.
2) Teach them how to make authors dialogue with their own work.
The best book I’ve used to teach how to write analytically (and craft good arguments and learn how to put authors in dialogue with our own research) is Graf & Birkenstein https://t.co/yDXHawbez1
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) January 17, 2021
On actual ethnographic writing my favourites are Ghodsee and Narayan.
(Yes, teaching ethnography is kind of expensive – need to buy several books)
Let me now move on to the actual use of quotations and field notes’ material in a journal article. pic.twitter.com/tXHl6Uh6pv
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) January 17, 2021
Including extensive quotations or fragments of field notes in a manuscript is quite common in qualitative research. Much like in quantitative work you present tables, graphs, equations, etc., qualitative (textual, visual) material is presented as evidence in qualitative papers.
This quotation from Ralph-Morrow’s 2020 article shows integration of fieldnote material (a description of how a speaker recounted an anecdote and how did it end) with direct quotation (which in this case came from observing a demonstration, but could be drawn from interviews). pic.twitter.com/lrsGeNwIj7
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) January 18, 2021
This quotation from Walsh-Dilley’s 2020 GEC paper does the same (integrate observational material from fieldnote with interview material). Personally, I like this dialogic approach to presenting ethnographic fieldwork and interview material. It shows a fully embedded researcher pic.twitter.com/ge3bD8sQBq
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) January 18, 2021
These are obviously just a few examples of how you can use “in-line” textual excerpt insertions to provide qualitative material to the reader that functions as supportive evidence. I hope this post is useful to those of you engaging in, and writing fieldwork results.