fieldwork Data collection for any study that involves talking to people or asking them questions about their activities and views, sometimes including attempts at systematic observation of their behaviour. Fieldwork ranges from large-scale survey interviewing by hundreds of professional interviewers, to the lone researcher recording information collected through participant observation in a small-scale case-study (see R. G. Burgess , In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research, 1984
). The term is sometimes extended to any research activity that takes one out of the office and into the ‘field’ that is the subject of study.

field·work / ˈfēldˌwərk/ • n. practical work conducted by a researcher in the natural environment.DERIVATIVES: field·work·er n.