Abstract

Three young ethnographers tell about their first fieldwork experience, in a sort of confessional tale. The "spy" chooses a covert method to study the topic of gossip among a group of teachers. The "parasite" takes advantage of his job as a barman to describe the social space of a railway station. The "orthodox" applies the traditional methods of organizational ethnography to study the effects of Nhs reform on hospital organizations. In each paper they describe - in a very personal way - emotions, fears, critical events and ethical dilemmas faced while carrying out their researches, as well as what they learnt about "field ethnography" during this first experience.