Journaling and Field Notes by Dr. Patricia Fusch
Photo by Alejandro Escamilla on Unsplash
Journaling is one important tool that a researcher can use to study, observe, and reflect on collected data. Journaling is especially important when writing up field notes as you ascertain patterns and themes during the data collection process. Field notes serve many purposes, which is the best thing about them. You can use them to note body language, observe the setting, and as cues for future research. Field notes also help researchers identify potential themes, construct follow up questions, and enhance the transferability of the study results.
By taking copious notes and writing down everything that the researcher sees and hears, thoughts about the study, and interpretations, the researcher is able to identify key themes and issues to enhance the validity of the research. Similar to the limitations of the participant observations, field notes also must take into account that the researcher is the research instrument, and cannot separate themselves from the research. It includes the researcher’s personal perspectives and biases—one’s worldview. The notes also include observation notes, methodological notes, theoretical notes, and personal notes. Observation notes are the field notes that the researcher will make during the time in the field to capture what one observes and hears.
A researcher uses methodological notes as memos to oneself to ensure that one records contacts, phone numbers, and questions to identify any difficulties or concerns while conducting the research. A researcher can combine the idea of theoretical notes with the methodological notes to include conceptual thoughts, hypothesis and ideas that arise during the research. Personal notes are memos to oneself.
Fieldwork and note taking are both an art and a science, as one moves between and amongst the different worlds of both researcher and participant—observer and observed. The novice research could look at Wolcott’s work, The Art of Fieldwork. His is a seminal work in the field of qualitative research. He has a great deal of good strategies for fieldwork and his discussion about interpreting data is particularly well done. He taught for many years at the University of Oregon and had great passion for teaching students. I believe that is why his books are so easy to read with a lot of pragmatic advice for novice researchers because he always had his students in mind.
Journaling as Field Notes
Sometimes field notes are representing by journaling. Journaling is also an excellent method to identify themes and patterns in the data. Journaling is also known as a reflective process; one writes down everything seen and heard and then, once away from the research site, reflects on that information to again identify themes and patterns from the observations. Journaling is an integral part of qualitative research.
The Researcher as Field Note
Jackson (1990) discussed subjectivity in qualitative research and in particular cultural anthropology in her self-professed non-random sample of seventy anthropologists. The concept of "I am a fieldnote" or "I am the research instrument" focuses on the self in qualitative research. Researchers bring their personal milieu and values, which demonstrates subjectivity and relationships between insider/outsider and researcher/participant, further noting that some see this as a strength while others see it as a weakness. These relationships are present in all social research, both intentionally and unintentionally. From a positivist perspective, the personal was seen as less relevant than “the facts out there” (p.111) and derives from the British teaching of keeping one’s own personal experience private. However, Jackson wrote that the personal reactions of Western anthropologists to native cultures should be of interest to researchers in addition to the study at hand.
Transcripts versus Field Notes
Most, if not all, researchers provide transcripts through other means rather than in the work itself. While some would argue that a review of the transcripts is tedious as well as left open to interpretation, providing transcripts is one way in which others can verify that the work has been done, rather than just summarized. It also addresses the criticism that researchers cut and paste to serve their own purposes, which is why coding is so critical. Finally, another concern is that transcripts do not reflect meaning, nor do they account for nuances such as body language.
Taking all of that into account, what really should be addressed is: what is the purpose of the transcripts. For qualitative researchers, the transcripts are used for member-checking; a means by which researchers can validate meaning, not word choice, with participants (is this what you meant?) in order to ensure that one does not leaves gaps in understanding the phenomenon. Sometimes participants will agree with what they originally said; sometimes participants want to expand on their original response. Member checking is an important component to enhance the validity of the study result. Moreover, some would state that it also enhances the transferability of the results; however, transferability should be left up to the reader to decide (Marshall & Rossman,
Finally, remember that writing up field notes is one method in which one constructs meaning, which is known as sensemaking. For example, in the case of participant interviews, the researcher and the participant construct join meanings. Responsiveness, openness, and flexibility behaviors on your part as the researcher are important components to effective sensemaking during the research process and for writing up field notes that will contribute to the writing up of your study results
Coding and the Personal Perspective
Copious notes can assist the researcher in providing a great deal of personal data to code for themes and ideas that reoccur during the fieldwork. Field notes take into account that the researcher is the research instrument, and cannot separate themselves from the research. Field notes include the researcher’s personal perspectives and biases to enhance the validity of the research. This may appear to be counterintuitive to record one’s own personal perspective, however, remember that one’s own bias/worldview has an impact on the data in qualitative research. The better a researcher is able to recognize his/her personal view of the world and to discern the presence of a personal lens, the better one is able to hear and interpret the behavior and reflections of others.
Patricia Fusch, Ph.D.
References
Dennis, B. (2010, June). Ethical dilemmas in the field: The complex nature of doing education ethnography. Ethnography and Education, 5(2), 123-127. doi:10.1080/17457823.2010.493391
Fusch, P. I., Fusch, G. E., & Ness, L. R. (2017). How to conduct a mini-ethnographic case study: A guide for novice researchers. The Qualitative Report, 22, 923-941. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu
Hayman, B., Wilkes, L., & Jackson, D. (2012). Journaling: Identification of challenges and reflection on strategies. Nurse Researcher, 19(3), 27-31. Retrieved from http://www.nursing-standard.co.uk
Jackson, J. E. (1990). I am a fieldnote: Fieldnotes as a symbol of professional identity. In R. Sanjek (ed.), Fieldnotes: The making of anthropology (p. 3-33). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Marshall, C. & Rossman, G. (2011). Designing qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Ortlipp, M. (2008). Keeping and using reflective journals in the qualitative research process. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), 695-705. Retrieved from www.nova.edu
Richardson, L., & Adams St. Pierre, E. (2008). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (3rd ed., pp. 473-500). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Walford, G. (2009). The practice of writing ethnographic field notes. Ethnography & Education, 4(2), 117-130. doi:10.1080/17457820902972713
Wolcott, H. F. (2005). The art of fieldwork. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press
Wolcott, H. F. (2009). Writing up qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
ABOUT DR. FUSCH
Dr. Patricia Fusch is adjunct faculty in the College of Doctoral Studies program at Grand Canyon University where she teaches research courses and chairs doctoral committees. Her research focuses on leadership, manufacturing, women in business, ethnographic design, case study design, change management initiatives, focus group facilitation, and organizational development. Her publications can be found in The Qualitative Report, The International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, The International Journal of Business and Management, and in The Journal of Social Change. She can be reached at patricia.fusch@my.gcu.edu.
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RESOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Qualitative Content Analysis in Practice ORDER
Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Rearchers ORDER
InterNiews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing ORDER
Interviews in Qualitative Research ORDER
Qualitative Data Collection Tools: Design, Development, and Applications ORDER
Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach, Second Edition provides researchers and students with a user-friendly, step-by-step guide to planning qualitative research. A bestseller in its First Edition, this invaluable book presents an innovative approach to the components of design and how they interact with each other. The text presents a clear strategy for creating coherent and workable relationships among these design components and highlights key design issues. Based on a course the author taught for seven years at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the work is written in an informal, jargon-free style and incorporates many examples and hands-on exercises.