開発経済学的フィールドワーク

抄録

This paper aims to provide tips on conducting fieldwork for (development) economists. I focus on exploratory fieldwork to find a research question that should be conducted in the early research stage. Section 2 discusses three reasons why such fieldwork is important. First, fieldwork is a critical step in developing a hypothesis, or a research question, to be qualitatively tested in your empirical analysis. Second, information obtained in the field helps you write the introduction and the setting section of your paper. Third, a research question found through fieldwork helps you write an application for a research grant. Section 3 describes how exploratory fieldwork goes. I explain the preparation of fieldwork, what you should do in the field, and what you should do after returning home. As a preparation, you need to find a reliable local collaborator. Then, you need to develop preliminary hypotheses based on your experience and existing research as well as the opinions of experts and practitioners, media reports, and other sources of information. Once in the field, you will probably face various difficulties and may encounter information that is different from what was previously anticipated. You should develop a hypothesis by integrating your existing knowledge and new information obtained in the field. Once you find a hypothesis, the next step is to prepare a survey and a questionnaire while you are in the field. The last but important part of the exploratory fieldwork is to write a trip report. A trip report is a report that summarizes your fieldwork. The report should explain your hypothesis, how it was derived (i.e., what information or observation led to the hypothesis), what data needs to be collected to test it, and how to collect the data. You should write such a trip report soon after returning from the field when your memory and excitement are fresh.