An Autopsy of Ethnographic Fieldwork: An Introspective Look Into Qualitative Research Experiences

This edited volume presents an international collection of fieldwork experiences from every stage of the research process with a view to normalising the process of adaptation, modification, and even failure during fieldwork when circumstances interrupt the expected outcomes.

This book aims to address a gap often found in methodology books by including nine full autopsy-like reflection of fieldwork experiences, selected based on researchers’ disciplines and fields, the diversity of geographical locations and their differing themes. Its chapters record a swath of experience, from choosing the research themes and hypotheses through to academic presentations and publications, shedding light on an area academic research that is often overlooked.

Documenting experience from anthropologists and sociologists to political scientists and economists, the diversity of the book’s approach and its multidisciplinary focus will interest researchers, scholars, and postgraduate students from a range of subdisciplines and levels of fieldwork experience.

Louis Augustin-Jean is Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Public Administration and Development Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia.