Fieldwork Means Leaving the Desk
A field is an area of open land, or an area of study. The compound fieldwork keeps the original sense of going outdoors to gather data.
A field is an area of open land, a sports ground, or a branch of study. The academic senses all keep the literal image: *fieldwork* means gathering data outside the laboratory, an anthropologist *in the field* is physically among the people studied, and *field research* is contrasted with desk research. The metaphor is still live, not dead. In physics a field is a region where a force acts, as in a magnetic field.
- Open land. *A field of wheat.*
- A subject area. *A leader in her field.*
- A region of force. *A magnetic field.*
- A data slot. *Fill in the name field.*
- Fieldwork — research outside. *Six months of fieldwork.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | field | A wide field. |
| Plural | fields | Green fields. |
| Verb | field | Field a question. |
| Compound | fieldwork | Fieldwork. |
| Old English | feld | Open land. |
- The field was ploughed in autumn.Farming.
- She is respected in her field.Study.
- He fielded questions for an hour.Verb, from cricket.
Field in different disciplines
- Physics — a region in which a force acts
- Mathematics — a set with defined addition and multiplication
- Computing — a single item of data in a record
- Sport — the playing area, and the players not batting
- Optics — the field of view
Old English *feld*, open land or plain, from a Germanic root related to *floor* and to a sense of flatness.
What is fieldwork?
Research carried out in the real world rather than in a laboratory or library, such as surveys, digs or observation.
Why does field mean a subject area?
By metaphor from a bounded piece of land: a scholar works within the boundaries of one subject.