Fieldwork in China has evolved since the 1980s and in a series of videos filmed by two experts, who have been in China for decades, discusses the elements that have affected Chinese field research and the challenges researchers currently are facing.
The six-part video series is titled "Big Data China." In it Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Scott Rozelle, a Ph.D., a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and co-director at Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, draw on their experiences in China to explain how fieldwork has evolved over the past 40 years.
For the world to understand China, field research and other research methods such as document and media reviews, surveys, use of databases, scraping websites and satellite imagery are needed. On the ground, however, field research is able to capture more nuanced information through interviews, surveys, informal conversations with people, participant and passive observation, Kennedy and Rozelle argue. In addition, original quantitative data is collected and hard copy writings are gathered.
In the first video, Kennedy pointed out that Rozelle has completed in-depth collection of data since the 1980s in China. This is then analyzed and gives insights into China and how it compares to the rest of the world.
"I just can't tell you how much over the years that I've learned when I do this," Rozelle said.
He pointed out that working in academics, an analyst can come up with an idea to work on, then do a literature review on that topic. Next, an outline is proposed on identifying a problem, an objective to solve the problem, and an approach to analyze it and find an answer are the other steps done before going out into the field.
Rozelle pointed out that went academics or others go into the field and speak to people, the problem, objective and approach often change.
"The answer comes out sometimes very different than what you expected in the first place," Rozelle said.
One study Rozelle conducted was to understand why Chinese farmers were adapting a new variety of hybrid rice. He tried to find out what the effect was on output, its effect on China's overall product of rice and the price of rice. He said one farmer told him he had no choice as the village leader determined what was produced.
Kennedy said when he does interviews for qualitative purposes, his goal is "to be surprised," adding, "boy, am I almost always surprised when I go out into the field."
Rozelle recalls being among the first allowed to travel to rural China and seeing the primitive infrastructure. He recalled the only way to communicate was by telegram, traveling for six hours by car, then Jeep and boat. These days, however, that trip takes 45 minutes or 20 minutes via high-speed rail.
In the 1980s, Rozelle said a curiosity of people existed as they and leaders wanted to know "who this foreigner is." Children, he said, would rub his hair and follow him around. Kennedy concurred that it was similar to what he experienced, and people were "willing to talk to us about anything."
Ten years later was the dawn of a new era, and despite China's lack of knowledge of social science in the 1990s, they were interested in learning.
Kennedy recollected that people and many business leaders "had no idea what I was doing." However, he described having productive conversations, which in later years became more challenging.
From 2000 to 2010, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the country's economy grew. Rozelle described that time as a "decade of collaboration."
Rozelle started a survey of 100 villages with Chinese officials from the ministries of agriculture and forestry. The survey involved following the same people every two to three years. He found no young people lived in the villages as they all left, although there were some children left behind. The number of papers he wrote increased, and his findings would be turned into policy briefs.
The video series detailed how U.S. and China relations shaped the engagement between the two countries from the “age of curiosity” to an “age of Chinese learning” to a “period of deep collaboration” to “a decade of challenges.”
That challenging decade is shown in the fifth video of the series.
The period of collaboration changed dramatically in 2010s. If anyone new tried to go into China, they were questioned and denied access to new areas. There was a fear, Rozelle said, of what would be done once they arrived.
He said as U.S. and China relations began to deteriorate it became much more difficult to do fieldwork. Instead of a three-year visa to do work, only three-month visas were issued. This resulted in learning less and less about China and its people.
In the final video of the series, Kennedy asked Rozelle what are the prospects for fieldwork going forward.
He replied his post-doctorate students and young colleagues would love to work there, but are "worried about it." While some of his students and former colleagues are still working collecting data, he said, he and his graduate students are no longer there.
When working remotely, Rozelle said a researcher misses out on personal interaction and he fears much may be lost in this challenging time.
"I think it's going to be an even bigger challenge and we're going to lose a lot in this relationship that is important still, so important to the world and so important to us," Rozelle said. "I think it's going to be faltering because we don't know what's going on."
Kennedy concurred with Rozelle, indicating that fieldwork is "critically important." While there are other ways to gather data, there is a certain "texture" that comes from talking to people on the ground.