Fieldwork: Making Methods

The opening voices (voices 5) to the chapter are those of two very early fieldworkers — Raymond Firth's Voyage to Tikopia, and W.W. Williams observations of the English Village, Gosforth. They introduce the newness and engagement with such research: they were two of our earliest pioneers. Overall, the chapter aims to capture the excitement of creating and shaping an early research methodology. It starts with a very short history of fieldwork, highlighting just how much it has changed; and then examines the ways in which some pioneers made their first forays into method, facing new problems and helping gradually to shape modern methodology. Prominent in this was the development of community studies and the rise of the interview as a method.