ABSTRACT
Although the results of field experience are formally recorded in the books, monographs and articles that are published by the researcher, there are very few published records of the raw materials out of which research reports are constructed. Until relatively recently few researchers gave direct access to their field notes, diaries, journals, letters, interview transcripts and documents, yet these provide the basic data with which the field researcher works. The result has been that readers of field studies could never be sure what kind of material was initially recorded in the researcher’s notebook. However, developments in data analysis, such as the extended case method or situational analysis (Gluckman, 1967; Van Velsen, 1967), have meant that actual situations recorded in field notebooks have found their way into the final analysis. Similarly, many empirical studies provide transcripts of interviews (Nash, 1973; Stimpson and Webb, 1975) and extracts from documentary evidence (Moore, 1974; Wallis, 1976). Readers of field studies can, therefore, compare the data gathered with the inferences that are made. However, the use of particular cases together with detailed illustrations from the researcher’s notebook demands that records be kept in meticulous detail (Gluckman, 1961; Epstein, 1967b).
