field study
Research beyond laboratories
A field study is research conducted in natural settings rather than in laboratories or controlled environments.
Researchers observe subjects—whether people, animals, ecosystems, or social phenomena—where they actually live and operate.
The term appears across disciplines from anthropology to ecology to market research.
The team spent six months doing field studies of wolf behavior in Yellowstone.
Field studies trade experimental control for real-world validity.
- ethnographySystematic study of peoples
- observationAttentive watching or remark
- data collectionSystematic accumulation of facts
- focus groupModerated consumer research session
- on-siteAt the actual location
research site · in the wild · boots on the ground · ecology · anthropology · triangulation · sampling · phenomenology · empirical evidence · primary source · reflexivity · research · interviews · scientific research · exploration · investigation · documentation · specimen
- environmental reviewsenvironmental monitoring, environmental assessment, impact report, impact statement, EPA
- analysisanalyze, analysis, evaluate, data analysis, examine
- researchresearch papers, researching, archive, peer review, investigating
- scientific researchresearch, experiment, lab experiments, clinical trial, thesis
- social sciencessociology, anthropology, psychology, economics, political science
- experimentsexperiment, experiments, test, tests, trials
field studylab work
Scientific testing and analysis
laboratory research · controlled experiment · laboratory analysis · clinical trial
field studyliterature review
Analysis of prior scholarship
meta-analysis · library research · statistical analysis · thought experiment
study, field, studied, studying, fields, studies, fieldwork, fieldworker, fieldworkers