What it takes...

One general point about Hammersley and Atkinson: the general idea I get from this book about conducting ethnographic research is that there isn´t a formula or even a method to apply: the success of an interview or even of a whole field study counts as much on the state of things (circumstances) as it does on the researcher's savoir fair, on its ways with people and its means to get on with different situations, all based on ad hoc decisions.