Field research is presented through the manipulation of an unverified external variable, under strictly controlled conditions, in order to describe how or for what causes a certain situation or event. We could define it by saying that it is the process that, using the scientific method, allows us to obtain new knowledge in the field of social reality. (Pure research), or study a situation to diagnose needs and problems with the purpose of applying knowledge for practical purposes (applied research).
All good field research begins with the use of historical sources about the place we seek to investigate. Before starting your face-to-face work, spend about three to four weeks learning about the historical development of the place (Fife, 2005).
This can be done in addition to scientific investigation, such as collecting water samples from a contaminated location. Or a zoologist who needs to study the environment in which a certain species lives that has produced some mutation.
There are two types of agreement with the purpose of the process. And these are, field research:
- Focused on hypothesis verification. This case is when the researcher encounters the context of the object of study, in order to establish relationships that may exist between the various variables. To find an explanation of the behavior of the phenomenon studied
- Exploratory, which is when the researcher goes directly to the field in which the phenomenon is developed or produced to carry out an exploratory approach. With it he tries to describe and explain the characteristics and elements that he has seen. And in this way, identify a pattern that allows you to make predictions about the behavior of the object of study.
The method used is what gives validity and reliability to the research. Research has a diversity of approaches: theoretical, practical, applied, etc. And one of the most original investigations is field research. It consists of studying a situation in the real place where the investigated events take place. The scientist who carries out this type of research may belong to the human sciences (anthropology, archeology, ethnography…) or to the natural sciences (zoology, botany, meteorology…).
This method is also widely used in the social sciences. In fact, the true paradigm of field research is considered to have been that carried out by Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) in the Trobiand Islands, Papua New Guinea, at the beginning of the 20th century. There he lived for years with the natives to learn about their culture, language, traditions, etc.
