Field visit report or Community report is frequently used in various disciplines of social sciences like social work, education, anthropology, health care etc. These reports are helpful in these disciplines as they need the students or professionals to experience, and be able to relate theory to field practice. 

The purpose of a field visit report is to record information about the community, location and events to be able to analyse the information. As a student or professional, you would do this to represent your interpretation of the gathered data.

Before we even go into details of how to write and structure a report. I want you to spend some time on the basics of recording information. Many of these pointers may seem very basic and intuitive for you and if that is the case, feel free to move on to the Part 2 of this blog series. However, these are still essential pointers to note and therefore, I am including them as a part of this blog.  

What to record?

This is something that every newbie struggles with. What are the pieces of information to record while on a field visit? Is anything else apart from conversation necessary to note down? How much is too much? I would say, “It depends!”. If you are a case counsellor then you would observe body language and facial expressions along with conversation. If you are a researcher then probably a lot more like material possessions, interaction pattern etc. Depending on the kind of field visit you can observe and note down some or all of the following.

• Conversation: flow, language, tone, content
• Order of events: including patterns of behaviour
• Visible physical characteristics: clothing, appearance (this is to be noted objectively), any disability
• Body Language: facial expression, posture, body language (specially focus on any contradictory body language)
• Community relationships and norms: focus on the intra community hierarchies which may exist, unsaid norms
• Physical Setting: describe the space and use
• Material objects and their relation to culture: placement, arrangement of objects, anything clearly depicting prevalent belief
• Interaction style: Within the community with you as an observer  

When noting these down you need to be able to think about later would you be able to link them to any theory or any other analysis. Nevertheless, as a newbie it is good to note down as much as possible and then later reflect and analyse the information during free time.

Tools to record

With the advancement in technology various tools are used to gather information while on a field visit. However, here I am going to list only the ones that I have most frequently used and found handy

1. Taking Notes

Be it on the phone or a notebook, taking notes is the most basic and easiest way of recording observation during a field visit. Some tips that have been handy for me while taking quick notes include:

• Shorthand symbols
• Organizing the information in short paragraphs for change in speaker, event etc
• Leaving some space between paragraphs to later add any additional information

2. Photography

Photographs are helpful in capturing important moments as well as to document details about the physical surroundings. In addition they also help in saving time by making note taking less cumbersome. However, there are a couple of things that you need to be aware of before starting to click away.

• Consent is very important before capturing any photographs. Especially for children, consent of the guardian before taking a photo becomes all the more important. To know more about taking consent refer to my blog ……….. 
• Be careful about not over interpreting what the photographs show later
• Always keep notes about the photographs you are taking or else at the end of the day you may be confused about them or may forget the context. You can use a simple format of noting down date, place and reason for each of the photos 
• If you put any photo on your report later mention the context in the caption

3. Video and Audio

Video and audio recordings are especially helpful since they give an unfiltered record and can be repeatedly analysed long after the field visit. However, they are also highly intrusive in nature and may often be not allowed while seeking consent. Sometimes people also become conscious in front of video equipment and may behave differently than they would normally. So video should always be used with caution. For me, audio has always been more useful for interviews as well as for quickly taking notes after any interaction.

4. Illustrations

This tool is useful for specific purposes like drawing a map, table, chart, graph etc to depict information which may be analysed later.

Additional tips for  recording information

Now that you are armed with the knowledge of what to record and which tools to use to record information during a field visit, let me go ahead and give you a few more tips on how to do so well. 

1. Being organised 

Plan ahead on the tools and shorthand if any, document chronologically and keep your objective in mind

2. Accuracy

You only get one chance to observe a particular moment in time, so before you conduct your observations, practice taking notes  and if possible keep a basic template handy.

3. Detailed description

Use descriptive words to document what you observe. For example, instead of noting that a classroom appears “comfortable,” state that the classroom includes only one source of light with no desks or benches. Students sit on mats on the floor. This helps to have enough factual evidence so that you don’t end up making assumptions about what you meant when you write the final report.

4. Focus on the objective of the field visit

Since it’s impossible to document everything you observe, focus on collecting the greatest detail that relates to the objective of the visit to avoid cluttering your notes with irrelevant information. For example, if the purpose of your visit is to observe the relationship between the community elders with the women of the community, then focus on documenting the setting in detail if it in some way directly influenced those interactions (e.g., if the women are allowed to address the elders directly).

5. Record insights and thoughts 

As you take notes, try to think about the underlying meaning of some of the things that you observe. This is something that comes only with a lot of practice but is very helpful as it helps you to ask questions or seek clarification from participants after the observation.

Records of the field are intended to be short notes that the student or social sciences professional takes, in order to often translate them later into a detailed field visit report. This report serves as evidence to improve understanding of the culture or social situation in context of theory and therefore adds a lot of value to the field of social sciences as a whole. Hence, records which are accurate, focussed and organised well are so important to produce good quality reports.

Another component which is now important to know about a community report is the structure. What should a template for the report look like? How can the records be translated to a report? What are some important pointers for formulating a holistic field visit report? These are some questions I will try to answer in my next blog Part 2

References

Ethnography, Observational Research, and Narrative Inquiry. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University

Writing Field Reports. Scribd Online Library
Wolfinger, Nicholas H. “On Writing Fieldnotes: Collection Strategies and Background Expectancies.” Qualitative Research 2 (April 2002)