Tóth Ferenc szerk.: Fiatal Néprajzkutatók Országos Konferenciája. Makó, 1991. augusztus 26-28. A Makói Múzeum Füzetei 75. (Makó, 1993)

KUTATÁSI BESZÁMOLÓK - PIRÓTH ISTVÁN: Itthon és ott, otthon és itt - Hol "van" a néprajzkutató?

independent field-work the basis of my forthcoming thesis and an experiment to introduce some new methodological principles in our field of research. The location of my systematic ethnographic data collection is the village Ócsa in Pest county. The basic aim of my researc is to analyse systematically the formation and function of microcommunities created spontaneously in the village. I especially wish to understand and survey the mechanism in which people - with individual or collective will, and under spiritual, material, social, or cultural incentives-create groups and circles of friends. The crucial methodological principles that I chose for my research-participatory observation and field-work - called my attention to all of the phenomena which could be described as ethnographic facts but which can only be considered as entirely explored if the ethnographer devotes proper time and attention to the vehicles of the examined culture in a form which is mutually accaptable for both parties. My paper summarizes the conclusions of preparation for anthropological field-work, focusing on the problems of how to create appropriate objective and subjective conditions for selecting key-informants and for undisturbed participatory observation. 129