Writing Field Notes


Warning: Undefined array key "replace_iframe_tags" in /home/melinapa/public_html/wp-content/plugins/advanced-iframe/advanced-iframe.php on line 1064

Peter was asking for guidelines for what field notes should look like or what should be included.

Some general guidelines:

At the start of each set of observations, write down the date and time, the location, and weather.  If you have a partner in the field, note their name.  You might sketch out an area and label specific landmarks.  For example if I look out my office window, I can see three benches and multiple paths (but a beautiful tree blocks the fountain).  I could sketch the area, label the buildings by name, number the benches, and assign letters to the paths.  Depending on the size of your field notebook this might be a single page and notes might follow it.

Many people divide the page from top to bottom into two unequal columns.  The wider column is where you would write observations (“2 ww, 20s sit down; don’t speak 2 each other.  1 talks on phone;  1 reads something on her phone”).  The narrow column is for labels, to help you keep your observations clear: B1 (for Bench 1).  These labels will differ depending on what kind of field work you are doing.  If you are sitting in one place observing how space is used, you might use a map or sketch, but if you are walking through a space you might indicate a mile marker from a trail or GPS coordinates or a physical landmark to help you map out your data later.  If you are recording a conversation you would use the wide column to write down what is said and the narrow column to write down who is speaking.

Use something to indicate when you are analyzing rather than recording observations (brackets, for example).

I found a few short sources that might be helpful.  This is a very short summary from a university library.  This is a description of how one anthropologist takes field notes.

You should plan to take field notes multiple times a week.  Your field notes will be better if you focus on a question: “how is the space designed in ways to promote or discourage lingering” or “how is technology used by people who visit this space” or “how do men and women use this space” or “in what way is this space segregated and in what way is it not.”  The question will help you focus on what to look for and what to write down.  But sometimes you could just look and take notes and see if you get ideas about questions from more open ended exploration.