OCR Text |
Show The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey Stockade fencing at the Warburton Ranch, site OGC20. (Tom Carter; GCCS TCB-25591/7) The reconnaissance round of interviews should discover the presence or absence of most of the cultural features outlined on the list of features, permitting the folklife researcher to identify promising topics and persons for a series of intensive interviews. The goal of the intensive study is to elicit fuller information about potentially significant features, describe the contexts in which they occur, determine their history, and assess their vitality. Here, it may be possible to combine some observation with interviewing. Although one is inclined to think of the post-fieldwork phase as the period when analysis and synthesis take place, the process actually begins during research design and flourishes during the field investigation. If the research is undertaken by a team, the joint effort can have an interactive dynamic that promotes a collective understanding of the survey area. The researchers share their discoveries and suggest new ideas and avenues for exploration to their colleagues at work, over meals, and in shared quarters. Informal exchanges can be supplemented, of course, by scheduled meetings. |