This book has two central purposes: to demonstrate the importance of qualitative research through an examination of the type of data that it is capable of producing, and, to do so using first-hand research accounts of ethnographic work. In reflecting upon personal experiences of field-work, together with the research strategies employed, the authors illustrate their arguments in a detailed and accessible manner. The themes they discuss include the ethics and politics of field-work, reflexivity and data production, feminist field-work, the publication and production of studies, and an examination of the contrasting cultures of academia and what is normally termed the 'field', where knowledges are authenticated according to different rules and power relations.