EthnoNotes: An Internet-Based Field Note Management Tool

Abstract

This report describes a field notes database management tool, EthnoNotes. Ethno-Notes makes the process of writing, sharing, and analyzing field notes easier and more systematic. Text can be indexed, coded, and integrated with quantitative data or images, all accessed from the same database system. EthnoNotes can be used by individual researchers or be fully Internet-based, accessible online by teams collaborating in empirical studies. Field notes are easily entered on the Web, then are immediately accessible to other researchers for interpretation and analyses. Built on the FileMaker Pro relational database software, EthnoNotes addresses many practical tasks of multiuser, multisite projects. EthnoNotes text and quantitative data are readily exportable to word-processing and other software for further analysis and integration into research papers.