Learning Fieldwork with Multimedia: Problems on Education of Field Research Methods and a Solution using IT

 

 

Hayato Yamanaka, Ph.D.

Kwansei Gakuin University

 

A. Foreword – Restoration of Fieldwork and Participant of New-type of Fieldworks

       From the 1990s onward, as the qualitative research has been restored and established its position in sociological study, there is growing interest in fieldwork, as one method of sociological study. Fieldwork had formerly been expected to be only a “curtain raiser” which puts forward a hypothesis to the scientific or quantitative study, as John Van Maanen related his thoughts. However, after the restoration of the qualitative research of sociology, many of sociologists have come to recognize fieldwork as an independent research method having intrinsic value and understand its significance. This is probably because sociologists have began to recognize that statistical tests do not provide advanced knowledge of the dynamics of social and economical changes caused over a long period of time [1], as Whyte, the author of Street Corner Society, points in a new edition of the book in Japanese published at the end of 90’s.

       With such a trend, fieldwork, a research method which has been essentially neither organized nor standardized, in other words, not formularized has become in itself a controversial theme which attracts concern and attention of many sociologists.

       A variety of controversies have been created about fieldwork itself, such as criticisms of ethnography, as a product of fieldwork, from the post-colonialism viewpoint, sociological consideration of the existence of sociologists, as persons who write ethnography, itself and studies of the style of ethnography.[2]

       A controversy about fieldwork is continuing to grow, while showing an ironical tendency toward drawing much concern about fieldwork itself rather than the results of fieldwork.

       Besides such a tendency, the subject of the fieldworkers’ research has been greatly widened, and a wider variety of people have begun to participate in fieldwork research. Undergraduates or graduate students have come to participate in fieldwork, which was formerly a possession of professional researchers, and moreover, there has been observed a tendency of people who are not academic researchers by occupation to participate in fieldwork with scientific interest involved in, for example, sociology or anthropology.

       Fieldwork as a research method sociologists or anthropologists usually do has overlapped, from the beginning, with the methods or contents of the areas in proximity to sociology or anthropology, such as reports by journalist or travelogues by travel writers, in many places. Accordingly, researchers, who cannot get the better of such professional writers in writing, have needed to clarify how the texts written by the professional writers and the ethnography written by sociologists or anthropologists are different from each other, though both are considerably similar, so as to avoid competing with them. This is also what fieldworkers have needed to do to protect their occupational qualifications.

       However, it can safely be said that growing interest in fieldwork these days, particularly that in Japan has been in a new phase in that aside from journalists’ approach, people other than professional researchers try to participate in academic fieldwork itself.[3]

B. Concern about “Technique” of Fieldwork – Approach from Traditional Medium, “Textbook”

       Participation of a large number of such a new type of fieldworkers has inevitably developed their needs for acquiring a technique or method of fieldwork, as a research method. In fact, a considerable number of textbooks and primers whose titles include “fieldwork” have been published over the past few years in Japan. Some of them, though labeled as primer, are full of abstract terms; in any case, the number of primers published is large.

       And such a large number of primers having been published over the past few years make us realize that the definition of fieldwork is really diverse.

       For example, Ikuya Sato states that the term “fieldwork” refers to any practical work carried out when doing research, as exemplified by research using a technique referred to as participant observation, in the “field” where events, as subjects of the research, occur[4], and he places fieldwork as a research method commonly used in all areas of social science.

       Meanwhile, there are many textbooks that specify the areas where fieldwork is carried out and deal with fieldwork within the specified sphere of the technique and expertise peculiar to the field research in the specified areas. For example, Yasuko Minoura deals with a fieldwork method from the viewpoint of specifying the subject of fieldwork. She states that the term “fieldwork” refers to a method of researching the relationship between human beings and their behavior or between human beings and artificial products created by human beings or their society which adopts the procedures that destroy the context of human beings’ working as little as possible, and it is distinguished from on-the-spot inspection or geographical fieldwork where the subjects of research are floras or topography[5]. Some textbooks, which take the position that fieldwork should be understood in a restricted sense, place “fieldwork” as a sub-class of “field research”, which is a sub-class of “social research”, and treat the same in parallel with life history method, questionnaire method or interview method.[6]

       Conversely, some textbooks take the position that fieldwork should not be understood separately from social participation or practical activities such as volunteer activities, oversea assistance activities or community activities.[7]

       To cope with the diffusion of concept of fieldwork, there has appeared a textbook which is written by many authors, lists a variety of techniques of fieldwork produced by the authors, and leaves the selection of a method up to people who intend to learn using it.[8]

       The diversity of the definition of fieldwork shown in textbooks may be attributed to the characteristics essential to fieldwork. It is very difficult to give a definition to fieldwork at the present time, and besides, it does not seem significant to do so from the viewpoint of coming up with various ideas to produce a new research method.

C. Two types of Techniques in Primers – Skill and Standardized Technique

       It can be noted that though the techniques of fieldwork shown in the textbooks are diverse, the views on the acquisition of such techniques are classified into two characteristic types.

       According to the first type of view, the technique of fieldwork is treated as a high-level skill which only highly experienced persons can acquire. One of typical examples is the position of Isamu Yamada, who specializes in tropical forest ecology. He states, “What is needed most in fieldwork activities? … I have no hesitation in saying “intuition”. … Then, how can a person cultivate his intuitive power? The answer is, of course, by experience. … During the process of gaining experience, the most important thing is “observation””.[9] He focuses on the most exacting and difficult aspect of fieldwork. By intentionally presenting the harsh “realities” of fieldwork, which ordinary persons cannot get closer to, he tries to make clear the idea and technique characteristic of the research method, fieldwork. The fieldwork experiences told with a certain kind of mythicizing effect are such meaningful things that we cannot avoid when trying to understand the spirit of the fieldwork researches.

       In contrast, according to the second type of view, the manners or know-how obtained by researchers in the process of their fieldwork activities or based on their individual experiences are generalized as techniques that can be passed on. For example, Minoura, already mentioned above, is trying to standardize the technique of micro-ethnography, while Hiroyuki Hirooka trying to standardize the technique of applying a systems-scientific approach to fieldwork researches[10]. In addition to these examples, there are many textbooks that introduce or explain, as generalized techniques, the expertise or know-how, such as how to use personal computers in fieldwork, how to use statistics in fieldwork or how to write a field note, obtained from the researchers’ individual experiences.

       The comparison of these two types seems to indicate that the former emphasizes the aspect of “skill”, as the technical skill of proficients, in fieldwork experiences, while the latter focuses on the aspect of standardized “technique”.

       Thus, in the education of fieldwork technique, the shortcomings of these two types of views should be compensated for by each other, otherwise they will be subjected to the following criticisms: criticism of placing absolute trust in personal experiences and authoritarianism associated with the mythicizing of fieldwork experiences, for the former one; and criticism of the inflexibility of techniques caused by excessive generalization/standardization, for the latter.

D. Significance and Position of Case Study in Fieldwork Education

       In many of such textbooks, writers or editors have already realized the existence of such criticisms, and they have done their best to give the most possible pages to introduction of particular cases of fieldwork having been carried out by researchers, as one of the means of overcoming these criticisms.

       However, there are some primers which centers on the introduction of technique, while avoiding the introduction of particular cases. Ikuya Sato, Fi-rudowa-kuSho wo motte machi he deyou (Fieldwork – Let’s read books and go out into the streets)[11] and J. G. Crane and M. V. Angrosino, Field Projects in Anthropology[12] are the first of the primers that include no particular cases of fieldwork. Even in these primers, however, where their techniques are explained, a wealth of cases are cited or introduced.[13]

       As long as fieldwork involves direct experiences in the field, it is impossible to avoid the introduction of or quotation from particular cases in the field work education. The importance or reliability of know-how or expertise obtained from fieldwork activities is guaranteed only by introducing a wealth of cases. Insufficient introduction of particular cases or inconsistency of the fact shown by particular cases with the technique might shake the reliability of the technique, a methodology, of fieldwork.

       But as a matter of fact, presentation of actual cases is under many restrictions.

       The biggest problem is that since most of the actual cases shown in primers are under restrictions by their media, books, they have inevitably undergone information processing, or they have inevitably been given the expression form of text written in particular style. This may in turn cause two problems.

       First, most beginners who are inexperienced in fieldwork activities cannot give shape to the ideas or facts represented by letters or characters in light of their experiences. In short, they can read the written letters or characters, but cannot understand what they mean.

       Second, in preparation of ethnography, for example, one of the important subjects of education is to critically learn the bias which is the inevitable result of information processing, in particular, processing that gives information the expression form of text written in particular style. However, in education depending solely on letters or characters, it is very difficult to escape from such a double bind state that learners depend on text to deal with the problem of text.

       This leads to a conclusion that going out into the field is the best way to overcome these problems. In fact, one of the causes of difficulty in learning fieldwork depending on textbooks having been pointed out repeatedly may be attributed to this. It goes without saying that it is essentially difficult to learn the “skills” of proficients, which are essentially passed on through the relationship between teacher and disciple, through text. However, even the standardized technique cannot be effectively learned because of the restriction by the media, text.

E. Attempt to make use of Multimedia in Fieldwork Education and to develop Teaching Materials using Multimedia – one case of teaching material development

       To overcome the limitation of fieldwork education, my collaborators and I made an attempt to develop a method for the education of fieldwork technique utilizing multimedia technology, in particular, to develop a media-mix type of teaching materials. And we started research and development of multimedia teaching materials for fieldwork education in the sociological/anthropological fields in fiscal 2000 and have proceeded ever since.[14]

       The central purpose of the research is to develop practical teaching materials, in particular, to develop, in parallel with development of traditional printed textbooks, multimedia supplementary teaching materials using CD-ROM. This is, at the same time, to survey the possibility of overcoming the above described limitation of printed teaching materials when using multimedia teaching materials together with such printed teaching materials. What a multimedia teaching material, we assume, is like is as follows. [15]

a. A multimedia teaching material is created as a supplementary teaching material for self study which is used by students for their better understanding of lectures.

b. A printed textbook and a multimedia teaching material (CD-ROM) are allowed to have moderate connection with each other and to produce effects as media mix.

       Under these conditions, the following ideas have been adopted.

(1) All the references cited in the printed textbook are recorded on CD-ROM.

(2) The regions, people and phenomena indicated in the printed textbook are recorded on CD-ROM in the form of a beautiful color image or digital movie.

(3) The actual cases of the fieldwork carried out by the collaborators are introduced as multimedia titles.

(4) The authors are introduced using their natural voices via the digital movie recorded on CD-ROM so that students feel a sense of closeness to them.

       The development of a CD-ROM teaching material has proceeded based on these ideas.

       First, we started the creation of content, assuming the content created to be as follows. The content consists of two major parts. The first part is for introduction of case studies, in which 7 researchers or fieldworkers introduce and explain their own fieldwork experiences through multimedia.

       The second part is a PDF file of the full text of references or papers introduced or cited in the printed textbook by the researchers or fieldworkers which is for supplementing the students’ learning using printed textbooks.

       It goes without saying that the heart of the above described CD-ROM teaching material is the 7 multimedia titles in the first part, which are made up of images, sounds and texts and produced using Director by MacroMedia Inc., as a authoring software.

       In the teaching material, the fieldwork case studies by the 7 researchers or fieldworkers are formed into 7 individual titles which are branched from the main page. The teaching material is so configured that when it is used together with the printed textbook, learners can better understand the fieldwork case studies having been carried out by the authors of the printed textbook.

F. One Example of Developed Multimedia Contents – Fieldwork in Life History Research

       This section takes the case of “Shuga ken firudo no hotori de – Hawai nikkeijin nisei no raihu hisutori (Living by Sugar Cane Fields: Life History Research on the Second Generation of Japanese Americans in Hawaii) ”, one of the multimedia contents developed, and summarizes the characteristics of the content and an effect the content expected to have on fieldwork education. The content is about the process of fieldwork activities in life history research on the second generation of Japanese in Hawaii and produced based on the field research carried out by Hayato Yamanaka.

       Table 1 is a configuration script for creating a multimedia content. In the column, indicated are 9 headings: 1 page layout, 2 chapter title, 3 section title, 4 page title, 5 image file name, 6 caption, 7 text, 8 narration, and 9 direction of hyperlink and linked page/file, whereas in the row, scenes are arranged from top to bottom in the form of cards so that they follow the progress of the content’s story in time series.

       The material files prepared in advance, which are equivalent to parts, are fabricated by following the configuration script. The fabrication of material files is generally known as authoring. At the bottom of the script, indicated are a group of subscripts showing the operations which the respective files carry out when linked.

       By authoring, graphics, sounds, video movies, texts, scanned reference data, etc. which have been recorded separately are organically fabricated into a multimedia title.

       Those having experienced the fabrication of multimedia title should readily understand that the multimedia title fabricated using this script is a highly story-oriented one in which a story is developed mainly on time scale.

       Multimedia titles are generally classified into three major types: story-telling type in which a story is developed on time scale; data-base type which is not story-oriented, but has a searching function; and hyper-text type which stands between the above two types and enables the interactive selection and configuration of more than one story by hypertext.[16] Of the above three types, Yamanaka selected the first type of one, a story-telling type of teaching material.

       The reason he selected such a type of teaching material is that fieldwork experiences, which are researcher’s personal experiences, are done basically on time scale, and thus the expression form adopted in such a type of teaching material is most suitable for dramatizing the experiences.

       It goes without saying that story-telling type of teaching material, which is fabricated on time scale, is not always optimum. For example, one of the multimedia titles created in this attempt, “Omori Yasuhiro, Eiga to iu firudowaku - Huransu ni okeru idomin Manouche no eizou minzokugaku (Yasuhiro Omori, Fieldwork as Shooting Film - Film Ethnology of Manouche, nomads in France)”, has a configuration based on another scale, that is, space scale. However, this also includes a story, wandering of nomads, developed with the passage of time, because it is under automatic running program.

       In Matori Yamamoto, “Malaga to Tomoni Tabi-shite Matori Yamanamoto, Traveling with a Malaga or Samoans’ Traditional Tour Group”, two stories based on time scale, one is a story of a group tour of Samoan immigrants and the other is a long term research done in West Samoa by the anthropologist, are connected by hyperlink. It can be said that these cases are a combined type in which the first type, story-telling type, and the third type, hypertext type, are used in combination.

       As described so far, in the design of authoring configuration, it is necessary to fully examine which type should be used as a basic configuration in association with the theme of the content.

I. Conclusion

An attempt has just been started to make fieldwork experiences into a work using an expression technique, multimedia, and trial and error is expected to be repeated even from now on. However, for expression of fieldwork experiences by visual images, the experiences in visual anthropology or ethnographic films should give us some valuable hints. It is greatly necessary, I believe, to continue watching the changes in fieldwork education created by the use of multimedia, novel expression technology.

 

[1] William F. Whyte, “Preface for Japanese Edition,” Street Corner Society, (translated by Michihiro Okuda et al.), Yuhikaku, 2000, p.ii

[2] For example, Hiroaki Yoshii states that the meaning of the term “field” includes: not only the location or region where research is conducted and people as the subject of research; but the interaction between the subject and “I”, the researcher, how “I” involve in other people or circumstances physically or emotionally, and the development of interest in more fundamental sociological issues (Hiroaki Yoshii and Atsushi Sakurai (eds.), Firudowaku no keiken (Fieldwork Experiences), Serica Shobo, 2000,p.8) and argues that fieldwork experiences themselves should be the subject of the study. A recent trend in statements about fieldwork is toward John Van Maanen, Firudowaku no monogatari – esunogurafi no bunsyou sahou (Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography), Gendai Shobo, 1999, which is an essay that gives consideration to the style of ethnography or Takashi Nakano and Atsushi Sakurai (eds), Raihu hisutori no syakaigaku (sociology of life history), Kobundo, 1995, which is, so to speak, a sociological study of research activities which deals with the relationship between the subject who does research on life history and the object of the research. Essays that give critical consideration to the subject who undertakes fieldwork and ethnography include: for example, Teruo Sekimoto, Firudowaku noninnsiki ron (Epistemology of Fieldwork); and Kanji Ito and Toshinao Yoneyama (eds), Bunka jinnruigaku eno apurochi (Approach to Cultural Anthropology), Minerva Shobo, 1988.

[3] To these new type of fieldwork participants, fieldwork might be, if I may venture to say so, just like an excavation site to amateur archaeologists who appears markedly in the field of ancient history.

[4] Ikuya Sato, Firudowaku - Syo wo motte machi e deyou (Fieldwork – Let’s read books and go out into the streets), Shinyosha Press. 1992, p.31

[5] Yasuko Minoura, Firudowaku no gihou to jissai – maikuro esunogurafi nyumonn (Technique and Practice of Fieldwork – Introduction to Microethnography), Minerva Shobo, 1999, pp.3-4

[6] Hisashi Nakamura and Hiroyuki Hirooka (eds), Firudowaku no shingihou (New Technique of Fieldwork), Nippon Hyoronsya, 2000, is one of good examples.

[7] Toshio Sugiman, Yomigaeru komyuniti – Firudowaku ninngenkagaku (Restoration of Community – Fieldwork Humanics), Minerva Shobo, 2000. The significance of this argument seems to originate from the fact that the author is originally a researcher of natural science. As a matter of fact, the participation of a researcher him- or herself in the field has already been discussed exhaustively in some part.

[8] Kenichi Sudo (ed), Firudowaku wo aruku – bunnkakei kennkyuusya no chishiki to keikenn (Strolling through Fieldwork - Knowledge and Experiences of a Researcher of Cultural Science), Sagano Shoin, 1996

[9] Isamu Yamada, “Firudowaku towa” (What is fieldwork?), Isamu Yamada (writer and editor), Firudowaku no saizensen miru, kiku, aruku – Kyodai tannkennbu ga hokoru 15 nin no seieitachi (Front of Fieldwork, Watch, Listen and Walk -15 Picks of exploratory circle of Kyoto University), Kobundo, 1996, p.5

[10] In Horoyuki Hirooka, “Firudowaku no shintenkai (New Development of Field Research),” Hisashi Nakamura and Hiroyuki Hirooka (writers and editors), Firudowaku no shingihou (New Technique of Fieldwork), Nippon Hyoronsya, 2000, Hirooka states that the approach of system science is applicable to field research. … field research can be conducted as a means of information collection for its modeling. … I encourage carrying out fieldwork in combination with research by enquete method (pp. 84-85), and he proposes the introduction of system science to fieldwork.

[11] Ikuya Sato, the above mentioned book, 1992

[12] Julia G. Crane and Michael.V. Angrosino, Field projects in anthropology. Waveland Press, Inc. Prospect Heights: Illinoi, 1992. (translated by Nobukiyo Eguchi, Jinruigaku firudowaku nyuumonn ”, Showado, 1994)

[13] For example, in the above mentioned book by Ikuya Sato, many of the results achieved by Chicago School in American sociology and those by B.K. Malinowski in anthropology are introduced. In addition, a wealth of research cases by the author himself, such as Bosozoku no esunogurafi (Bosozoku, Flow in Japanese Motorcycle Gangs), Shinyo sha, 1985, are also introduced.

[14] This research was carried out as part of “Advanced Utilization of Multimedia to promote Higher Educational Reform”, 2000 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas (A) from The Ministry of Education. The representative: Hayato Yamanaka

Collaborators: Shigeto Sonoda (Professor, Chuo University), Matori Yamamoto (Professor, Hosei University), Ikuya Sato (Professor, Hitotsubashi University, quit midway through the research because of leaving Japan as a research worker abroad), Harumichi Yamada (Assistant Professor, Tokyo Keizai University)

[15] For the development of the printed teaching material, cooperation has been obtained not only from the above mentioned collaborators, but from Michihiro Okuda (Professor, Chuo University) and Yoshikazu Wakabayashi (Professor, Kochi University). The development of experimental textbook is not all we have done. After giving consideration to putting the developed textbook to practical use, we have decided to entrust the editing and publishing of the teaching material to Yuhikaku Publishing Co., Ltd., a publisher having an excellent reputation for publication of sociological textbooks, and Chieko Matsui and Makoto Omae, the second editorial department of Yuhikaku, are in charge of compiling the textbook.

[16] For further details of the three types, see the author’s report “Maruchimedia kyoiku kotohajime, media kobo no keiken to kyokun, jyugyo eno donyu, maruchimedia repoto no seisaku sido (Start of Multimedia Educatrion, Experience of and Lesson from Multimedia Studio, Introduction of Multimedia to Class, Guidance on Preparation of Multimedia Report),” Shichokaku Kyoiku (Audiovisual Education), no. 626, 2000, December, pp. 20-23.