Introduction: Learning through stories / Peter Krause and Ora Szekely -- Part I. Welcome to the field -- Fieldwork and emotions / Ian S. Lustick -- Cooking soup and killing chickens: navigating gender and food-as-fieldwork in West Africa / Zoe Marks -- Recite! Interpretive fieldwork for positivists / Richard A. Nielsen -- Part II. Designing your research and deciding where to go -- Fieldwork by decree, not by design / Stathis N. Kalyvas -- Conducting 1,500 surveys in New York City (with great uncertainty and a limited budget) / Christina M. Greer -- Hezbollah will take your data: How to plan for research among insurgents / Krista E. Wiegand -- When the linguistic lightweight goes abroad: Relying on sharp students by Stephen M. Saideman -- Navigating data collection in war zones / Fotini Christia -- Part III. Make a plan ... Then be ready to toss it -- Let go and let Ali / Nadya Hajj -- Be prepared (to go off script) / Daniel N. Posner -- Radio gaga: Evolving field experiments in Mali / Kristin Michelitch -- Crossed wires: Interviewing the wrong people / Bethany Lacina -- ́You don’t know what you’re getting intó: Dealing with dishonesty in the field / Matthew Franklin Cancian and Kristin E. Fabbe -- Successful fieldwork for the fieldwork-hater / Amelia Hoover Green -- Part IV. Creatively collecting data and evidence -- How to interview a terrorist / Jessica Stern -- Stumbling around in the archives / Marc Trachtenberg -- Details in the doodles: Documenting covert action / Lindsey A. O’Rourke -- My stint as a Ukrainian taxi driver / Keith Darden -- Conducting fieldwork in a virtual space: Exploring ISIS’s encrypted messaging on telegram / Mia Bloom and Ayse Lokmanoglu -- All the signs are there: Incidental discoveries during fieldwork on gender discrimination in Russia / Valerie Sperling -- Learning from foreign colleagues / Robert Ross -- Part V. Developing local knowledge -- On field-being / Wendy Pearlman -- Fieldwork on foot / Paul Staniland -- The onion principle / David D. Laitin -- The intoxication of fieldwork: Obtaining authorizations in Burkina Faso / John F. McCauley -- Field research and security in a collapsed state / Will Reno -- Building field networks in the era of big data / Amaney Jamal -- Part VI. Seeing and being seen: Identity in the field -- Researching an old civil war close to home / Laia Balcells -- Positionality and subjectivity in field research / Enze Han -- Race and the study of a racial democracy / Melissa Nobles -- ́Why are you interested in that?́ Studying racial inequality in the United States from the outside / Desmond King -- Navigating born and chosen identities in fieldwork / Peter Krause -- Part VII. Being ethically accountable -- On research that ́matters" / Erica Chenoweth -- The field is everywhere / Zachariah Cherian Mampilly -- Things change: Protecting yourself and your sources in uncertain times / Marc Lynch -- Ethnography with extremists: Living in a fascist militia / Alessandro Orsini -- Building trust with ex-insurgents / Emil Aslan Souleimanov -- On being seen / Ora Szekely -- Part VIII. Staying safe and healthy -- Conducting safe fieldwork on violence and peace / Sarah Zukerman Daly -- Your safety and theirs: Interviewing sex-traffickers / Carla B. Abdo-Katsipis -- Shingles on the campaign trail / Ravi Perry -- Drink the tea / Vipin Narang -- One last thing before you go -- Conclusion: What does it mean to do fieldwork? / Peter Krause and Ora Szekely.
Summary:
"Known as a field of quantitative measurement and theoretical debate, political science is also a field where researchers draw increasingly on in-person fieldwork. This book presents a collection of 35 field research stories from scholars of political science from a range of subfields, ranks, and specializations in a readable and relatable guidebook for fieldwork in political science. Each story will be accompanied by reflections from the author on the key lesson that he or he took from his/her experience. Organized around a number of methodological topics, this book will complement existing methods textbooks in that it will provide practical (and entertaining) illustrations of a range of concepts, from specific research methods, such as conducting interviews and surveys, to broader topics, such as research ethics and personal safety. What really makes this book stand out is that it will be a collection of real, personal stories from working political scientists: some funny, some dramatic, all fascinating and informative. This book will be an essential resource for PhD students learning about research methods as well as an important go-to reference for political scientists as they develop new field research plans and projects"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.