plan-a-field-study

name	plan-a-field-study
category	school
description	Plan field research with site permissions, community relationships, safety, logistics, sampling, evidence quality, data security, and exit responsibilities. Use when collecting research evidence outside a controlled laboratory or office.

plan-a-field-study

Treat host communities and field staff as stakeholders, not logistical inputs.

When to use

• Use for environmental, social, archaeological, geographic, health, design, or observational fieldwork.
• Do not enter restricted land, collect protected material, or approach participants without required permission.

Procedure

1. Define question, sites, seasons, units, sampling, methods, required duration, and feasibility evidence.
2. Map landowner, community, institutional, governmental, cultural, ethics, collection, export, and access permissions.
3. Engage appropriate local partners about benefit, burden, knowledge ownership, compensation, feedback, and exit.
4. Assess travel, weather, terrain, health, violence, wildlife, chemical, equipment, lone-work, and emergency risks.
5. Build communications, check-in, medical, evacuation, stop-work, safeguarding, and incident plans.
6. Prepare equipment, calibration, spares, power, storage, transport, chain of custody, and sample labeling.
7. Train the team on protocol, consent, cultural practice, privacy, safety, data capture, and deviations.
8. Pilot the route and instruments; revise through required approvals.
9. During fieldwork, log conditions, refusals, missingness, deviations, incidents, and custody.
10. Reconcile samples and files, return results or materials as agreed, close permissions, and record residual duties.

Worked example

A river survey's planned site becomes unsafe after flooding. The field lead uses the approved stop rule, does not substitute an easier site without authority, preserves the sampling gap, and requests a protocol amendment with a methodologically comparable alternative.

Done

• A fieldwork plan records sites, permissions, community commitments, methods, logistics, safety, data, custody, and stop rules
• Rehearsal and closeout records verify communications, equipment, samples, files, incidents, deviations, and host obligations