RAWE Fieldwork Guide: Build an Honest Agriculture Diary and Portfolio

Before the first visit: know your assignment

Ask your supervisor for the required format, submission dates, field arrangements and expectations for individual and group work. Keep those instructions in the front of your notebook. A useful personal template must not replace the assessed university format.

Choose one manageable learning goal for the visit. Instead of “understand the whole farm”, try “understand how the farmer organises one crop operation”. You can ask more focused questions and identify the information you did not obtain.

Prepare a short introduction explaining who you are, why you are visiting and what you hope to record. Agree on what can be photographed or shared before opening a camera.

A simple field-diary structure

For example, “the farmer reported a higher harvest last season” is different from “I measured a yield increase”. Preserving that difference makes the record more credible. If you missed a measurement, record the gap rather than reconstructing a number later.

Finish the entry while the visit is fresh. Keep original notes and put corrections in a dated follow-up so you can explain how your understanding changed.

Ask about decisions, not only facts

A conversation becomes more informative when it explores the reasoning behind an activity. You might ask what options were considered, what made the decision difficult and what the farmer would change next time.

• Start with open questions and allow the person to describe the situation in their own terms.
• Clarify unfamiliar terms instead of silently replacing them with textbook language.
• Ask permission before recording quotations, photographs or personal details.
• Bring technical uncertainties back to your supervisor; avoid presenting yourself as an adviser beyond your competence.

When you write the report, separate direct quotations, your paraphrases and your own interpretation. An anonymised example can still need care if its location and context identify the person.

Build a small portfolio that shows your learning

At the end of each week, select one question you understand better and one you still cannot answer. Choose a small set of permitted evidence: a diagram you made, a table of observations or a short explanation of your method.

1. State the question. What were you trying to understand?
2. Show the evidence. Where did it come from, and what was your contribution?
3. Explain the limitation. What can the evidence support, and what cannot it establish?
4. Describe the next step. What would you investigate or practise differently?

A report with honest limits demonstrates more learning than an impressive-looking set of unsupported conclusions. Keep public portfolio material separate from documents submitted privately to your university.

Quick questions

Continue learning