"Induced Natural Context" in Context

Folklore students of several generations have grown up on Kenneth Goldstein's A Guide for Field Workers in Folklore (1964). When they prepared to go in the field, they used his Guide, and they consulted it again when they arrived there. His cogent advice followed them, tucked conveniently in their pocket or pocketbook, reassuring them in doubt and offering solutions in uncertain situations. In the loneliness of the field, the Guide became a companion to which researchers turned in crisis and in joy. Make "safety copies of all recordings and notes" (p. 143), Goldstein's sound advice followed them wherever they went. If pay an informant you must, consider it a gesture of "good will and friendship" rather than "a payment of incentive" (p. 170); and for your own sake stay away from any "hostile factionalism" that is inevitably present in any community (p. 73).