ANTH4200 – Fieldwork
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
The course extends over two half-semesters, from approximately April to late September (equivalent to 5-6 months). The Department strongly recommends that the entire fieldwork/data production takes place as a continuous period during this time. In collaboration with your supervisor, you can however decide on a shorter fieldwork (for example, 4 months), or to end the fieldwork/data production slightly later (for example, in October or November). During these months, you will be gathering the data or the material that will form the basis for the writing of your thesis. After fieldwork, you have to submit a fieldwork report.
An anthropological master’s thesis can be based on different types of research strategies and different types of material. It can be based on more or less classic ethnographic fieldwork, but also (partly or completely) on forms of archival work, digital sources, reading of others’ publications, etcetera. The master thesis must fall thematically within your chosen specialisation.
Having passed the exam in ANTH4090 – Master's thesis is a prerequisite for admission to the course.
SAI Financial support for fieldwork:?The Master's Programme in Social Anthropology offers?financial support for fieldwork expenses to promote and facilitate students' fieldwork. Social Anthropology master's students can be reimbursed for certain expenses up to maximum fixed rates.?
Learning outcome
Knowledge
- Gain an excellent overview of the ethnographic region in which you will conduct fieldwork.
- In-depth knowledge of qualitative research methodology with a focus on participant observation and the interpretation and analysis of social interactions.
- Experience-based knowledge and a deeper understanding of the research process in Social Anthropology.
Skills
- Attain practical experience in managing your project and collecting qualitative data during fieldwork.
- Learn how to execute your own independent research project.
- Apply and reflect on key methodological and theoretical tools involved in the collection, production and analysis of different types of data.
- Convert fieldwork material into anthropological data, and will gradually learn how to move from data to analytical text in an ethically sound manner.
General competence
- Respect scientific values, such as openness, rationality and precision and will learn to distinguish between research-based knowledge, the importance of analytical model choices, practice-based knowledge and "perception".
- Gain ethical awareness concerning the various problems that may arise during research and the writing up of research results.
- Adhere to the principles of academic honesty, integrity, and responsibility when it comes to your research and to other professional work.
Admission to the course
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
This course is not available for single course students.
You must be enrolled in the master’s programme in Social Anthropology, and register to take the exam in Studentweb.
Formal prerequisite knowledge
It is a prerequisite that you have completed ANTH4010 – Advanced Anthropological Theory, ANTH4020 – Academic Writing and Project Development, ANTH4030 – Advanced Anthropological Methods, ANTH4100 – Core Themes in Contemporary Anthropology and two specialisation courses.
Examination
Compulsory activities:
Project Proposal Update (pre-fieldwork). Before you start your fieldwork, you must have a mandatory meeting (ca. 30-60 minutes) with your supervisor, during which you present your project plans. This discussion should use the project proposal that was submitted at the end of?ANTH4020 – Academic Writing and Project Development as a basis. The main task is to update your supervisor on further preparatory developments or changes made to the submitted proposal and clarify further ethics and safety challenges that may still need to be discussed. Your supervisor will assess this mandatory meeting as Approved/Not approved.?
MA?Fieldwork Notification form (pre-fieldwork). You must?fill in and submit the?MA Fieldwork notification web form?to notify the department about the details requested before starting your fieldwork. This will be assessed as Approved/Not approved.
Sikt approval.?All Master's projects must be pre-registered with the?Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (Sikt).?You are obliged to have the Sikt approval and inform the department of your Sikt reference before you start your fieldwork.?This will be assessed as Approved/Not approved. Please read SAI’s data storage guide (in English and Norwegian).
?All compulsory activities must be approved in order to take the ANTH4200 exam.
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Exam:
Fieldwork report (post-fieldwork).
The exam itself consists of a fieldwork report that must be submitted after fieldwork. The total word count of the fieldwork report should be around 3500 words (+/- 10 percent).?The report is assessed by the supervisor on a Passed/Failed basis.
Previous exams and assessment?guidelines
Guidelines for the fieldwork report
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Fieldwork abroad:?
All students who want to undertake fieldwork abroad must familiarize themselves with UiO’s "safety abroad" guidelines.
Examination support material
All exam support materials are allowed during this exam. Generating all or part of the exam answer using AI tools such as Chat GPT or similar is not allowed.
Language of examination
You may write your examination paper in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Also see?Grading guidelines in social anthropology
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.