Stepping Outside for Field Research: Into a Category of “Unknown Unknowns”

An art inherently tied to sensory details, field research can’t be replicated through the screen. Even in today’s digital age, David Danelo, Director of Field Research for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, believes “that kinesthetic experience of understanding a problem set in the field is central to advancing knowledge in any body of work.”

In this episode, Danelo explains that field research is more than an immersion of the five senses. It’s an experience that should leave the researcher with unexpected questions. His latest work, The Field Researcher’s Handbook: A Guide to the Art and Science of Professional Fieldwork, details how because a researcher must look at the world from a new perspective or positionality, they are bound to end up with a greater understanding of what they don’t know. Instead of balking at the number of questions yet to be explored, Danelo believes that researchers should be honest if their conclusions don’t reflect their initial thesis, since inevitably, “simply by getting onto the ground and asking questions, you’re going to end up in that category of unknown unknowns.”