JEAN-MICHEL CHAPOULIE
Field Work, Observation of Actions and Interactions, and Sociology
This article presents and justifies the scientific interest of one type of research method, the subject matter of this issue of Sociétés Contemporaines: fieldwork including analytical observation of behavior and leading to accounts grounded on quotations of fieldnotes. The first uses of fieldwork with observation in USA are described in its contexts, and also the debates of the fifties about the " scientific" value of this method. The rarity of uses of this research method in French sociology until the nineties is also discussed. We discuss also the scientific aims and particular potentialities of this method.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.