Building an Infrastructure for Field Research

The world today is awash in change as digital technologies are reshaping the landscape of a fading industrial era (e.g. Castells 1996, 1997, 1998). In the past century, it has largely been through a quantitative natural science model that scientists have analyzed changing social structures (e.g. Nachmias and Nachmias 1987; Kuhn 1962) as well as culture (Merton 1973; Znaniecki 1934). But some claim (e.g. Touraine 1988) that the post-industrial era requires social scientists to emphasize field work and qualitative methods to make sense of this latest "great transformation" (Polanyi 1944).

This proposal argues that there is a need for the academy to both update and rethink field research. We use the term "field research" in its "Chicago School" sense that Robert Park told his students to get out of the library and out into the streets and "write down what you see, hear, and know" (Anderson 1923). We include ethnography, in-person interviews, collaborative research, and other types of scientific observation of people in social interaction. The Kenneth B. Clark Center proposes to establish a web-based infrastructure to advance the practice of field research. We address two general problems:

First, field research needs updating. Researchers are either reluctant to use digital technology, or use it only in modest ways. The world wide web is often seen as merely a computer-based way to reproduce printed material and store it digitally, or to communicate by email. The web is not often understood as an interactive tool which can transform relationships between scientists and between the public and the academy. Social scientists have not seen the potential for the web to radically alter the entire process of collecting, analyzing, archiving, and disseminating data.

Second, field research needs rethinking. Postmodern challenges to representation and the nature of science have shaken the foundations of social inquiry (Graff 1979; Fish 1994; Calhoun 1995; Touraine 1995; Rosenau 1992; Dickens and Fontana 1994). The very possibility of acquiring knowledge through the application of scientific techniques has been questioned (e.g. Clifford and Marcus 1986). New qualitative paradigms of research (Lincoln and Guba 1985) have been formulated, for example, those which substitute a "text" for empirical reality (Denzin 1994). Field research today is having a severe identity crisis.

One reason for this quandary is that the scientific community has paid relatively little attention to training in field research. No infrastructure exists to experiment with new and web-based methodologies and techniques which could better integrate quantitative and qualitative data. Nor are there any national centers which could train a new generation of field researchers. No intellectual center exists to reexamine the role of field research and add to theory.

We propose to create a web-based infrastructure for field research composed of:

• A virtual concentration of outstanding field researchers who will train and mentor younger social scientists, and debate issues of vital concern to the discipline. UIC's Kenneth B. Clark Center has already begun organizing seminars with the top field researchers in the country. This proposal would allow us 1. to train and mentor a new generation of field researchers using both traditional and web-based techniques, 2. to build a digital archive of training materials, and 3. to address the future of field research.

• A "digital library" which will archive historic and contemporary qualitative material and link them to quantitative data sets. The digital library will archive historic and contemporary textual, photographic, and video documents, including the highly significant documents of the early Chicago School. It will develop a common electronic "interface" for qualitative documents that allow the aggregation of qualitative data into searchable electronic files. It will provide the basis for the integration of quantitative and qualitative materials through GIS software and other means. The digital library will also give researchers the capacity to revolutionize the use of "personal documents," giving voice to the "research subject" in new ways.

• A pilot multi-city study of the "digital divide" which can be used as a template for how to do field research in the information era. Researchers in four cities will be linked by videoconferencing and data visualization to conduct a preliminary investigation into the impact of the digital divide in different types of neighborhoods. This study will be designed as a template for how to go beyond the case study method in field research and effectively utilize the web. The digital library will be used as a focal point for the organization, analysis, and dissemination of the comparative studies. Links to public libraries and other neighborhood units will provide web-based feed-back mechanisms to residents, local officials, and the public. The study will also confront issues of privacy and confidentiality implicit in widespread use of the web.

In confessional style (Van Maanen 1988), the authors of this proposal admit from the start that we do not have all the answers. We think much will be learned in the process of building the Clark Center as the hub of a national infrastructure for field research. We don't know where a vigorous theoretical debate will lead. We do know, however, what the necessary components of an infrastructure should be, how to organize them, and at least some of the right questions for debate.

This proposal first expands on the rationale for the project, then explains the three basic components of a national infrastructure for field research. We will show how we intend to use NSF funds to build a web-based scaffolding around the current projects of the Clark Center.