The field report is intended as a base for writing the master's thesis and a point of departure for the dialogue between student and supervisor. The total word count of the field report must be between 3150 and 3850 words and shall include the following:
- A description of the fieldwork that includes information about access to the field, how the fieldwork developed, language or other methodological challenges. Any significant changes from the original project proposal should also be explained.
? - An outline of the methodological strategies the student has applied during the fieldwork: What roles did the student take/get in the field? In what ways have the student participated? What kind of data has been collected and how? Which problems did the student encounter? Are there limitations in the data material?
? - A discussion of analytical tools: Which theoretical perspectives and research questions did the fieldwork have initially? How did these change during fieldwork? What new knowledge did the fieldwork produce? And, which possibilities for new analytical approaches emerge from this?
? - A presentation of some ethnographic highlights or empirical vignettes that narrate a particular event or something that is characteristic of or significant to the field. This ethnographic section should connect to the discussion of analytical approaches mentioned in point number 3.
? - A description of relevant ethical considerations.
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In cases where the student has conducted literature-based research, the following five items can be substituted for the ones above:
- A description of the topic, explaining the focus of the research and its limits. If relevant, a discussion of how the topic has changed during the course of research can be included.
? - An account of how relevant resources were identified and the research material obtained. Will the thesis discuss published ethnographic work? Will it discuss other forms of literature, and if so, what kind(s)? How will the student transform texts into data for analysis? What attention will be paid to the contexts of production of source materials?
? - Analytical/methodological strategy: How will the student carry out an analysis of the literature; what specific methods of analysis will be used? What theoretical literature has been chosen for the thesis’ framework, and why?
? - A description of any relevant ethical considerations.
? - An overview of the thesis’ chapters.
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The field report cannot be a purely descriptive account. It must also contain methodological and ethical reflections as well as concrete analytical perspectives, anchored in relevant anthropological literature.
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The field report is evaluated on a pass/fail basis. To pass, the field report must:
- Contain relevant discussions on all the 5 points listed above.
? - Give the examiner a good understanding of
- how the research has developed
- what the student has produced data material on
- what particular challenges the student has encountered
- what analytical potential the student sees in the data material
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- Demonstrate that the student is able to convey analytical points through ethnographic descriptions.
? - Demonstrate an ability to anchor methodological/ethical reflections and analytical discussions in relevant anthropological literature
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In the evaluation, the examiner shall pay particular attention to how the student discusses potential methodological challenges and limitation to the data material as well as the project’s ethical aspects. The discussions of the analytical potential will at this point in the process be tentative and should primarily be used as a starting point for the dialogue between student and supervisor. There should nevertheless be a clear connection between the analytical discussion in point 3 and the ethnographic section in point 4.
In the case of a fail, the student shall be given feedback on how the field report can be revised. The student is then allowed to submit a revised version within a short deadline.
Examiners should be aware that in some cases, students may be in a situation where they are required to submit their field report before the fieldwork has been completed in its entirety. In those cases, the field report can legitimately limit itself to accounting for the progress made so far. It also means that a field report can be passed even if the student’s reflections and descriptions are somewhat tentative and preliminary in nature.