Anthropology: "Tales From the Field"

You may have noticed the "Field Journals" section on the S/MORE site. S/MORE team members have written these journals to provide us with insight into their work--interesting events or experiences or what their work days are like.

A significant part of my job involves interacting with many on the S/MORE team who you may have already read about. I may talk to them in person, on the telephone, or through email. This aspect of my work is known as "field work" in anthropology. I've done many anthropological projects involving field work and they have all been interesting. However, field work does not always progress as planned.

"Not So Perfect"

In a few cases, I have scheduled interviews that have not always worked out initially. I can only guess how many times I have conducted interviews with a tape recorder and after reviewing the tape, realized nothing was recorded. Fortunately, I have always followed one of the primary rules of anthropology, which is to always take notes during an interview, even when using a tape recorder. Needless to say, however, that producing a summary based on notes does not yield much information as a recorded account. But I'm glad I had my paper and pen handy!

In one specific instance, I arrived at the office of an interviewee at the right time, but she had forgotten about it. She asked me who I was and after I reminded her of our interview, she finally remembered after a couple of minutes. I felt a little awkward because she did not remember me, although I had just scheduled the interview with her on the previous day!

On another occasion, I had scheduled an interview in which the interviewee did not arrive. I waited for 20 minutes before returning to my office. Before leaving I left a note on the person's desk, as well as a voice message. He later called and apologized, saying that he was in a meeting and simply forgot about the interview. Although I was a little annoyed, I had actually prepared myself in advance for something like that to happen. So, we rescheduled and the next time he arrived only five minutes late.

One experience really blew me away. After one particular interview, I asked the interviewee several times for a follow-up interview and she told me that she would set up a time soon. The next time she saw me, she turned to walk in the opposite direction. I asked her why she was walking away from me and she explained that because she was so busy, she didn't have the time to offer me another interview. She told me that as soon as she completed her other work, she would be able to talk to me. However, I realized then that the real reason she was avoiding me was so she wouldn't have to do another interview! I still have not heard from her to this day.

"Almost Perfect"

Even when I successfully schedule an interview, unforeseen events still occur. During an interview with Ken Souza, Life Sciences director here at NASA Ames, we were interrupted several times by people who needed to speak with him immediately. I kept starting and stopping my tape recorder; Ken and I had to continuously try to figure out what he had been talking about before being interrupted. Finally, as Ken and I sat and laughed about trying to conduct the interview he explained that he had to attend an important meeting, but was unsure how long it would last. However, he assured me that if he went to his meeting, he would be able to finish the interview when he returned. (At that point, I was just a little skeptical.) He said that I could either wait in his office for him to return, or schedule another meeting. We agreed that I would wait about 10 minutes, after which time I would leave a note for him to reschedule with me.

However, I decided to wait about 20 minutes instead. Just as I was preparing to return to my office, Ken walked in and was surprised to see me. I told him that I had a feeling that if I stayed a little longer, I might be able to catch him. He then said that he would pretend he was not available (to other people), closed his office door, and sat down to continue our interview. Two hours later when the interview was over we were both happy to have completed it. I was glad I had chosen to wait the extra minutes. Successfully completing an interview with him was one of the more challenging yet humorous experiences I've had at NASA, and one of my more "triumphant moments" as well.