The researcher does not make any changes in the environment, and without making any interferences, collects as much information as possible. In this kind of research, observation is the key point. On the other hand, the field research is those studies in which the subjects are available to the researcher. For example, when a researcher aims to study the life of farmers inhabiting in a village, or a special group of people of the society, or a group of workers working in a factory, he or she is conducting a field study. The word “field” indicates the direct contact of the researcher with the subjects and environment of the study. Almost, all the studies done in human sciences are a kind of field study. The general principles and methods used in studies in the field of human sciences are based on scientific methods. The structure used for writing field research papers is as follows:
- Introduction: Every research paper starts with an introduction, which is the summary of the first and second chapters of the thesis and represents the general scheme of the research and related literature. The introduction part, should explain the basic logic underlying the study, and demonstrate to the reader why the current study is the continuation of the previously accomplished researches.
- Methodology: In this part, the author should explain all the steps including the measured variables, the tools used, the research scheme, the ways of implementation, and data analysis.
- The subjects: The participants of the study, their characteristics including their number, age, gender, education, and also how they were chosen, and in the case of grouping, the number of groups, and the number of people or subjects in each group should all be included in this part.
- The tools: The tools used in the study including questionnaires, tests, etc. should be specified. If the tool used is something well-known, just mentioning its name is enough. But, if the tool is something self-made, how it has been made, and also the evidence proving its validity should be presented.
- The research design: In this part, all the variables including dependent, independent, and moderating ones first should be determined, then the various tests and ways for data analysis including pre-test, post-test, and so on, should be mentioned.
- The data analysis: The ways used for categorizing, ordering, summarizing, and analyzing, and also descriptive statistics like frequencies, percentages, tables, means, dispersions, along with inferential statistics like t, f, and z tests should be specified in this part.
- Results in field studies: The outcomes obtained from the study are represented briefly. The best way to show the results is by diagrams, figures, and tables. In this part, the research questions are answered, and the research hypotheses are either rejected or accepted. The most common order representing the results is starting with the most important and interesting outcomes and ending in the least important and interesting ones.
- Discussion and interpretation: In this part, all parts of the research are connected to each other, and by combining and linking the different parts, the author directs the reader to obtain a general conclusion. Therefore, it is needed to compare the current study with previously done ones to indicate the similarities and differences, and also to elucidate how the findings of the study have led to clarification of the problem studied in the research. Therefore, in this part after a short explanation of the problem and presentation of the findings, the results and findings should be discussed. At the end, it should be specified that how the accomplished research has helped to the extension of the knowledge in the field of study, and suggestions should be made for further study for the scholars who are interested to accomplish research in the area.
