There are many benefits to conducting collaborative fieldwork in a team, including getting more done in a shorter amount of time and having multiple perspectives to collect and interpret the data. But collaborative research can also be a challenge.
When working collaboratively with a colleague or other team members in the field, consider some of these questions in advance:
Communication, flexibility, and finding time for reflexivity are crucial to working collaboratively in a team. This may involve reviewing meanings given to key terms in the research (Crow et al, 1992), or dividing up responsibilities to cover certain topics (Woods et al, 2000).
References:
Caretta, M.A., and Riaño, Y., 2016. Feminist participatory methodologies in geography: creating spaces of inclusion. Qualitative Research, 16(3), pp.258-266.
Crow, G.M., Levine, L. and Nager, N., 1992. Are three heads better than one? Reflections on doing collaborative interdisciplinary research. American Educational Research Journal, 29(4), pp.737-753.
Lassiter, L.E., 2008. Moving past public anthropology and doing collaborative research. NAPA Bulletin, 29(1), pp.70-86.
Lopez, P. J., and Gillespie, K., 2016. A love story: for ‘Buddy System’ research in the academy. Gender, Place and Culture, 23(12), pp.1689-1700.
Pratt, G., 2010 Collaboration as a feminist strategy. Gender, Place and Culture, 17(1), pp.43-48.