Fieldwork is a crucial aspect of anthropology that involves immersing oneself in the daily cultural lives of people to study their behaviors and interactions. Anthropologists engage in fieldwork in all areas of anthropology, including social and cultural anthropology, medical or biological anthropology. Fieldwork can be done in a variety of settings such as an urban or virtual environment, a small tribal community, a museum, library, cultural institution, business, or a primate conservation area.
Fieldwork is the most important method by which cultural anthropologists gather data to answer their research questions. Anthropologists document their observations and perceptions while interacting on a daily basis with a group of people and adjust the focus of their research as needed. Fieldwork can take many forms, such as measuring ancient skulls at a museum in China, collecting blood and urine from chimpanzees, or following modern-day hunter-gatherers on a hunt.
Ethnography is a qualitative research method employed during fieldwork, and it refers to the written descriptive and interpretive results of that research. Anthropologists today are increasingly aware of their own views and biases that they carry with them into the field from their home cultures.
Fieldwork has been thought of as particular to social anthropology, and part of what distinguishes the discipline from other social sciences. Today, some anthropologists still consider that doing fieldwork in the traditional Malinowskian sense is an essential and distinguishing aspect of anthropological research. Others see fieldwork as encompassing a wide variety of practices in different settings, and as one of many different methods by which anthropologists can gain knowledge.
