Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Second Edition

In "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes", Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw present a series of guidelines, suggestions, and practical advice for creating useful fieldnotes in a variety of settings, demystifying a process that is often assumed to be intuitive and impossible to teach. Using actual unfinished notes as examples, the authors illustrate options for composing, reviewing, and working fieldnotes into finished texts. They discuss different organizational and descriptive strategies and show how transforming direct observations into vivid descriptions results not simply from good memory but from learning to envision scenes as written. A good ethnographer, they demonstrate, must learn to remember dialogue and movement like an actor, to see colors and shapes like a painter, and to sense moods and rhythms like a poet. This new edition reflects the extensive feedback the authors have received from students and instructors since the first edition was published in 1995. As a result, they have updated the race, class, and gender section, created new sections on coding programs and revising first drafts, and provided new examples of working notes. An essential tool for budding social scientists, the second edition of "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" will be invaluable for a new generation of researchers entering the field.

In "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes", Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw present a series of guidelines, suggestions, and practical advice for creating useful fieldnotes in a variety of settings, demystifying a process that is often assumed to be intuitive and impossible to teach. Using actual unfinished notes as examples, the authors illustrate options for composing, reviewing, and working fieldnotes into finished texts. They discuss different organizational and descriptive strategies and show how transforming direct observations into vivid descriptions results not simply from good memory but from learning to envision scenes as written. A good ethnographer, they demonstrate, must learn to remember dialogue and movement like an actor, to see colors and shapes like a painter, and to sense moods and rhythms like a poet. This new edition reflects the extensive feedback the authors have received from students and instructors since the first edition was published in 1995. As a result, they have updated the race, class, and gender section, created new sections on coding programs and revising first drafts, and provided new examples of working notes. An essential tool for budding social scientists, the second edition of "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" will be invaluable for a new generation of researchers entering the field.

"Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" er en praktisk lærebog, der præsenterer en række guidelines, forslag og praktiske råd til at tage brugbare feltnotater, hvorend man befinder sig. Bogens mål er at demystificere en antropologisk, etnografisk og sociologisk metode, der ofte antages at være en fuldkommen intuitiv og medfødt evne. Ved at bruge virkelige, ufærdige noter som eksempler, illustrerer "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" forskellige organisatoriske og deskriptive strategier samtidig med at vise, hvordan man transformerer direkte observationer til levende beskrivelser. Bogen beviser, at en god etnograf må lære at huske dialog og bevægelser, se i farver og former, samt at fornemme de usagte humør og rytmer, hvis han troværdigt skal skildre sit feltarbejdes resultater.

"Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" er en praktisk lærebog, der præsenterer en række guidelines, forslag og praktiske råd til at tage brugbare feltnotater, hvorend man befinder sig. Bogens mål er at demystificere en antropologisk, etnografisk og sociologisk metode, der ofte antages at være en fuldkommen intuitiv og medfødt evne. Ved at bruge virkelige, ufærdige noter som eksempler, illustrerer "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" forskellige organisatoriske og deskriptive strategier samtidig med at vise, hvordan man transformerer direkte observationer til levende beskrivelser. Bogen beviser, at en god etnograf må lære at huske dialog og bevægelser, se i farver og former, samt at fornemme de usagte humør og rytmer, hvis han troværdigt skal skildre sit feltarbejdes resultater.