TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Anthropology > The Stages of Field Work
Stage 1- Adjustment
- Coping w/ culture shock and adjusting to the surrounding environment, and in some cases the idea of not being welcome/being regarded as stupid or inferior.
- Being cautious w/ inquiries and people and slowly establishing contacts.
- Learning the language, how to manage on your own, how to schedule your activities.
Stage 2- Involvement
- Continuing with language acquisition.
- Collecting data relevant to research hypothesis.
- Strengthening friendships and contacts.
(A short break from the field often follows)
Stage 3- Achievement
- Strengthening ties w/ community
- Widening range of topics, becoming more ambitious
- Reflecting on reflexive nature of fieldwork (reflexive feedback process).
Problems of ethnographers in an alien society
- Ethnocentrism
- Informants
- Language
- Gender
- Hypotheses
- Practicalities
- Culture shock
- Recording information
- Acceptance
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