ABSTRACT
In Chapter 4, “Fieldwork,” we illustrate the fundamentals of team-based fieldwork. We discuss critical questions of how to choose team members with a particular emphasis on disciplinary skill sets and orientations. REAs can be catalysts for community collaborations; therefore, we attend to the issue of skills transfer and the potential for building research and assessment capacity in communities where research is not the norm and data may not be readily available. We also include a thorough discussion of how to plan and proceed with team debriefings. Further, we review issues related to field safety with practical considerations for understanding issues related to gendered, racial, ethnic, and power dynamics of fieldwork. Finally, we consider ethics in various dimensions including research values; informed consent; confidentiality; accountability and responsibility to participants, collaborators, and the public; and common ethical dilemmas and conflicts that arise in team-based, community-driven participatory research.
