On the Art of Doing Field Studies: An Experience-Based Research Methodology (Copenhagen Studies in Economics and Management)

Outside anthropology, this is the first book on field studies within the social sciences. The authors offer methods, based on the experienced fact that social science research cannot be described as a rational process. This book presents the rational features of this seemingly irrational process. The authors have systematized their own extensive experience with field studies, providing advice to future researchers on how to avoid the most mundane and traditional mistakes. The first part of the book describes four real life research stories that are well structured, well written, and simply exciting. The second part is a systematic effort to draw methodological conclusions from the stories. The result is an analytical presentation of the common mode of behaviour observed in the previous stories.