Field visit reports are used as tools to facilitate data collection techniques and observation skills. As social sector professionals, we are all observers of people, their interactions, places, and events; however, your responsibility when writing a field visit report is to focus on data generated for specific study, deliberate observation, synthesis of key findings, and interpretation of their meaning. This would give you an opportunity to examine evidence through methods of observing that contribute to or challenge existing theories.  

The ways in which you take notes during an observational study is very much a personal decision developed over time as you become more experienced in fieldwork. However, all field notes generally consist of two parts:

1. Descriptive information, in which you attempt to accurately document factual data [e.g., date and time] along with the settings, actions, behaviors, and conversations that you observe; and,
2. Reflective information, in which you record your thoughts, ideas, questions, and concerns during the observation.

In the first part of this blog series ‘How to write a field visit report? Part 1: Recording information’, I have tried to explain in detail various nuances to noting down descriptive information. In this part, I will be focussing more on the reflective aspects. 

1. How to structure the information so that it becomes more usable in the future? 
2. How to think about reflection of the data you have observed and recorded?
3. How to analyse the reflections? 

All these are questions I will try to answer in this blog.

What format should you follow? 

How you choose to format your field visit report is determined by the focus of the study, and any theoretical framework that you are trying to use and/or specific guidelines provided by your professor or the organization you work with. There is no standard universal format for field reports. However there are some common things to keep in mind. 

1. Field reports should be written in the past tense. 
2. It should start with basic details of the community/ household you are visiting
3. Process of interaction needs to be as detailed as possible to draw reflections later

Remember, if you are new to the field you may not be able to draw reflections or analyse all the aspects you observe and note. However, with experience you will become more efficient. So write down the observations in detail now so that you can go back to them later if needed when you are a pro at analyses and you may be able to get far more insights on something which right now may look trivial. 

I am now going to discuss a structure which has helped me write great quality field visit reports in the past and which I swear by till date whenever I go to the field. A disclaimer though, is that this is a generic field visit report structure and may not be suitable for a case study or a research report. In case you are looking for those here are some links to help you.

1. Research  report format
2. Case Study format

Now without further ado let us explore the structure of a field visit report.

1. Basic Details and Objectives

The first part of the report needs to include the following

1. Date
2. Name of the individual/ community
3. Basic description of the individual/ community: the nature of the organization or setting where you are conducting the observation
4. Family Tree (optional but especially important if it is a case study)
5. Purpose of the visit: describe the specific objectives of your visit if any i.e., what was the focus of your observation. Reasons why you chose the observation site and the people or events within it and the important theories or concepts underpinning your field study. 

You can make this section richer if you want by adding some other good to haves (which are not mandatory) are 

1. Methods you used for collecting the data (any questionnaire or guideline). 
2. Review of literature related to the study or visit, particularly if similar methods were used somewhere else. 
3. A statement about how the rest of the paper is organized. 

Remember to always do some pre-work and approach your field visit with a detailed protocol about what you will observe, where you should conduct your observations, and the method by which you will collect and record your data.

1. Process/ Description

This is the second section of the report which should include a detailed plan of action as well as the process which was followed during the visit. Your readers will understand what happened from the description section of your report because they were not witnesses to the situation, people, or events that you are writing about. As such, it is crucial for you to provide sufficient details for them to be able to relate to analysis that will follow; While writing a description or process the most important part is building context. Start by building that context in terms of the first W in Dubbels notes (p.19) “Five W’s of Investigative Reporting” 

• What 

Describe in detail about what you observed and any interaction you had. What were your general impressions of the situation? If you feel like there is something you would like to remember verbatim, with permission of the community member you can also record it in an audio device (or your phone). 

2. Observation

Recording what you observe should not be done randomly or haphazardly; you must be focused and pay attention to details. Enter the field with a clear plan about what you are intending to observe and record in relation to the objectives of the visit while, at the same time, being prepared to adapt to changes in plan. An approach which I have found useful to systematically describing the varying aspects of an observed situation is to answer the next 4 W’s of Dubbels notes:

• Where 

Provide information about the setting of your observation and, if necessary, note important material objects that are present that help contextualize the observation [e.g., location of water purification system in relation to their distance and ease of access in the community].

• When

Record factual data about the day and the beginning and end of event, conversation etc. 

• Who

Record information about the individuals being observed e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, and/or any other variables relevant to your study]. Record who is doing what and saying what, as well as, who is not doing or saying what. If relevant, be sure to record who was missing from the event. Note that it may also be necessary to include key events which impact upon the situation you were observing [e.g., observing the influence of panchayat head to engage community members in behavior change from drinking unpurified well water].

• Why

Why were you doing this? Describe the reasons for selecting particular situations to observe or interact with. Note why something happened. Also note why you may have included or excluded certain information.

You can also use photographs in this section to enrich the report and improve relativity. But before taking photos of community members do make sure to seek consent

3. Reflection

Reflection on your field notes sometimes start to occur as they are being written and while you are interacting or observing. It is important to note for two reasons. First, reflection is a crucial step for deep understanding and creating meaning in any study. Second, it reveals emergent themes. Identifying emergent themes while observing allows you to shift your attention in ways that can promote a more in depth conversation. Using the same example as above a reflection on drinking water practices in the community may prompt you to ask questions about the cultural significance of the well. Is the well considered to be a holy place for instance? 

Always look for the meaning underlying the actions you observe. Ask yourself: 

• What’s going on here? 
• What does the interaction/ observation mean? 
• What else does this relate to? Do you see any connections or patterns in what you observed?

Note that this is an on-going process of reflection taking place for the duration of your field study.

General Guidelines for Reflection

Reflection can include any of the following elements to help you contextualize what you have observed based on your perspective and your own personal, cultural, and situational experiences.

• Note ideas, impressions, thoughts, and/or any criticisms you have about what you observed.
• Include any unanswered questions or concerns that you have.
• Clarify points and/or correct mistakes and misunderstandings in other parts of field notes.
• Include insights about what you have observed and speculate as to why you believe a specific event occurred.
• Record any thoughts that you may have regarding future interactions.

4. Analysis and Future Plan

Before we go into analysis of the information, I wanted to clarify on the basic difference between reflection and analysis. This was something that I used to struggle with at the beginning of my field work and therefore, I thought it was necessary to clarify. Reflection is basically your thoughts on the interaction or observation, while analysis is connecting the process, observation and reflection to theoretical concepts which helps you draw conclusions. Taking the same example as the previous paragraphs. If one of the pointers in reflection is the religious connection between people and the water well. Analysing this reflection would help you conclude on what kind of behaviour change communication may work, for example, including a respected religious leader in the community who can talk about benefits of using purified water. 

Alright now that the difference between reflection and analysis is clear, let us move forward to discuss ‘analysis’. Always place the analysis and interpretations of your field observations within the larger context of the theoretical assumptions and issues. Part of analyzing information is to determine which observations are worthy of comment and interpretation, and which observations are more general in nature. It is your theoretical framework that allows you to make these decisions. You need to demonstrate in the report that you are conducting the field visit through the eyes of an informed viewer.

Some questions to ask yourself during analysis:

• What events or behaviors were unique to one individual and what were widespread? How were they distributed among categories of people? Anything unusual or out of the ordinary? 
• Why did the people you observed act in the way that they did? What makes you think so (your reasoning)? What are the implications of this?
• Did the stated or implicit objectives of your visit/ study match what was achieved?
• What may be the strengths and weaknesses of the observations you recorded?
• Do you see connections between what you observed and the findings of similar studies from your literature review of your theoretical knowledge?
• How do your observations fit into the larger context of professional practice? In what ways have your observations possibly changed or affirmed your perceptions?
• Have you learned anything from the interaction/ observation?

Remember to base your interpretations on what you have actually observed. Do not speculate or manipulate the information to fit into your study’s theoretical framework. And finally always include a future plan or plan for the next visit in the analysis section. After all without a future plan the purpose of the study and report remains unfulfilled.

In conclusion, I would like to leave you with a basic downloadable template of a field visit report. The template is a one pager and I understand that it may not have enough space for you to write in case you print it. However, you can use it as a base to formulate your field visit report.

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)

Dubbels, Brock R. Exploring the Cognitive, Social, Cultural, and Psychological Aspects of Gaming and Simulations

USC Libraries Research Guides