How to Conduct Field Research: Practical Tips for Students

How to Conduct Field Research: Practical Tips for Students

Field research is a crucial and one of the most effective ways of collecting primary data in natural environments, enriching the obtained information by experience and reality. Field research as a student may be exciting and at the same time a little challenging for a student. Here is some useful instruction bellowed brought to you by Researchmate.net. 

Define Your Research Objectives

Indeed, the key principle of accomplishable field research is simple: it must have some objective. It is recommended that one spends some quality time defining his or her research questions before going out there to conduct the research. What would you like to know or find? It will help in simplifying activities that aim at collection of data as well as increasing the chances of identifying quality information. Specific goals also assist in defining the method and approach or the structure of your evaluation.

Conduct a Thorough Literature Review

The search and review of literature is important in any study as it helps to lay down the background of the research. In the case where the aim is to continue previous research in the same field, this is where the formal kind of reviewing comes in handy: you have to review the existing body of work to find out where the gaps in knowledge lie that your research might fill. Besides, it refines your study vision and constitutes a useful framework for your investigation. It prevents from reinventing the wheel and lays the foundation on which new knowledge is produced; it befits your research to benefit the field.

Choose the Right Location and Plan Methodology

Choosing the right place to carry out your field research is vital. A good site should be in line with your purpose of research and easily reachable. Other research considerations should include transport, security, and permission in order to carry out research. Selecting the site is relatively easier than planning your methodology. Therefore, ensure that you pay much attention to it. This decision will help you to decide whether you will apply simple observational methods, face-to-face interviews, questionnaires, or even a blend of all the methods. So feel free to collaborate with others similar field of your location through Researchmate.net. The logical flow of your research, based on your analysis of the research questions, must fit within your research approach and should be realistically achievable within the time and resources constraints of your study.

Conduct a Pilot Study and Collect Data Systematically

Perform a pilot study before going to extensive data gathering. Such practice offers an opportunity to assess possible problems in the approach you are going to use before scaling up the group undertaking. However, when you are launching the main data collection, ensure that it is ordered. Ensure that your records are comprehensive and easy to sort through for observations and/or data collected. Keeping records consistent and accurate is exceedingly important for every stage of the research process. Ensure that there are sound ethical issues such as getting participants’ consent and maintaining the privacy of the participants.

Equip Yourself Properly

There are lots of things to manage. You would find many research managing tools in Researchmate.net. It can be said that preparation is critical to field research. Prepare the appropriate tools and para-materials that you will use. This could be and notebooks, pen/s, audio/video recording device/s, camera/s, GPS system and any other tool that may be pertinent to the discipline of the course being undertaken. Make sure all your equipment are functioning well and that you have backups to minimize on any interruption. Success in data acquisition means that preparation is done in a proper way to ensure that the data is recorded in the right way.

Analyze and Report Your Findings

Once you have your data, then the next activity in the research process is data analysis. Lastly, apply the right use of statistics or qualitative analysis on your data. Search for the patterns and correlation that shall enable you answer the research questions. After you are finished with your analysis of the case, synthesize and consolidate your findings to make a detailed report. Bring your data in a presentable form and avoid complex tables and use as many graphs as you can. Explain the implication of the findings; state the limitation of the study and recommendations for future research. You can also do a peer review from the expert researchers on Researchmate.net.

Stay Flexible and Resourceful

Field research has a certain number of peculiarities, the likelihood of which is difficult to predict – unfavorable weather conditions, unsuitable transportation, etc. It is important to remain as fluid and as dynamic as possible and not be limited by one’s stock of tools. Expect to pivot and come up with ideas as to how the problem can be solved along the way. Another advantage of flexibility is that it enables one to manage with problems without necessarily having a low standard research.

In conclusion, conducting field research can be considered as a rather engaging and stimulating experience which offers profound understanding and significant information. Each of the discussed practical tips will help to avoid the errors that are inevitable in the process of fieldwork, thus guaranteeing the production of quality work. To find out more about the available research tools and techniques to assist in the management of research projects go to; Researchmate.net. This application provides many tools to provide the students and researchers with necessary tools and resources during the research process and this platform provides the features to help the user in the student’s and researcher’s way during their academic process.