The Curious Stranger: An Approach to Fieldwork

Abstract

This paper explores the interactions and processes that empower researchers to qualify and change research questions during fieldwork. Turning to the concepts of reflexivity and Simmel’s Stranger gives a valuable understanding of the processes that qualify research projects while they are happening. Reporting on two separate fieldwork studies in Greenland, the paper explores how the researchers respond to unfolding events in the two different Greenlandic contexts. Study A) investigated homelessness in Tasiilaq but changed direction to embrace new national and local developments. A unique opportunity arose due to a broadcast sent via Denmark’s Radio. Consequently, the researcher in the field responded by broadening the interview guide and scope of the study. Study B) discusses how leadership unfolds in fish processing factories in Nuuk and Maniitsoq. The researcher emerged in everyday organisational life, observing day-to-day activities based on participant observations, shadowing, conversations, and interviews.

Keywords

• fieldwork
• greenland
• curiosity
• observations
• reflexivity
• unfolding events