ABSTRACT
Field work begins at home, and the portion at home is often no less taxing than that abroad. Indeed, many scholars find the first step in a research project the hardest. The appropriate balance among these criteria does, nonetheless, vary somewhat predictably across disciplines and methods. For instance, researchers fielding a formal survey and aspiring to quantitative data analysis leading to general policy implications typically need to give more attention to how the location or timing of research might affect sample frame construction or respondent participation rates. There is a sense in which going “home” to do fieldwork makes things easy. There are few adjustment issues and one only has to re-acquaint oneself with minutiae of daily living. Selecting a site and finding funding are often interrelated, with funding frequently depending upon the choice of a particular research site and, in some cases, a site being chosen in part to attract funds.
