Overseas Research: A Practical Guide

Scholars and students engaged in overseas research projects often spend much of their time worrying about mundane details never reported in published research. In fact, the quality of scholarship often depends on the researcher's ability to navigate a bewildering array of social, financial, bureaucratic, and logistical obstacles encountered in preparing for, working in, and recovering from "the field."

Overseas Research: A Practical Guide is the first book designed explicitly to prepare scholars and professionals for the real-life challenges of living and working abroad. Opening with a discussion of site selection and project funding, the authors advise researchers on preparing for departure, setting up residence in the field, conducting research in an unfamiliar environment, employing field assistants, and organizing for and adjusting to the return home. The text is supplemented with the insights, anecdotes, and tips from more than sixty scholars in a wide variety of disciplines who conducted research in more than forty countries.

Christopher B. Barrett has conducted research in a dozen countries on four continents. He is currently assistant professor of economics at Utah State University. Jeffrey W. Cason has done extensive research in Latin America over the past ten years. He is currently assistant professor of political science at Middlebury College.