ABSTRACT
The previous chapter outlined two of the three main sources of data on which the time-constrained evaluator may draw: existing documentation, and the personal information system. The purpose of this chapter is to deal with the third source: condensed fieldwork. All three methods, as I have already commented, are not rigidly discrete. In fact, condensed fieldwork will often use documents and records as an additional information source. Furthermore, the informal information system is a pervasive influence in condensed fieldwork as in all methods of enquiry. However, the distinction between the methods is worth preserving. Condensed fieldwork, although it may use existing information sources, is primarily concerned with the collection of new information, which is obtained by going out into the field and studying the evaluand in situ.
