These engaging accounts by masters of field research illustrate the synthesis of passionate involvement and objective analysis. An informative and inspiring collection for students and professional social scientists. (Cynthia Fuchs Epstein Distinguished Professor of Sociology City University of New York).This revised, edited volume brings together personal accounts by a group of noted ethnographic researchers to examine the natural history of participant observation. An ideal supplemental text for methods courses, In The Field is designed to give students a sense of what it is actually like to conduct ethnographic research. As the selections show, field researchers must struggle to gain acceptance by the group under study but then often become deeply involved in the lives of the people and at times are forced into a reexamination of their own values. By learning how social scientists conduct research under field conditions and how they feel while they are doing it, students will be better prepared to carry out successful field research projects of their own.

PrefaceIntroduction by William KornblumGaining EntryJelly's Place by Elijah AndersonDoing Research in the Flats by Carol StackExploring the Cocaine Culture by Terry WilliamsIn the Field with Snake Handlers by Peggy Sullivan and Kirk ElifsonBuilding RelationshipsGetting In by Ruth HorowitzEarning a Place in the Hustler's World by Robert P. McNamaraRelations of the Road by Douglas HarperMaintaining ObjectivityDoing Research in Cornerville by William F. WhyteProstitution, Drug Use, and AIDS by Claire SterkOn Studying South Chicago by William KornblumThe Caseworker by Victor AyalaThe Observer's RoleResearching Peasants and Drug Producers by Edmundo MoralesThe Fieldworker and the Surgeon by Charles BoskThe Outsider Phenomenon by Nancy NaplesEpilogueFinding Your Spot by Vernon BoggsIndex