Easier said than done: Fieldwork in educational research

One fully understands educational research when theory faces reality; when the design of a study is set to test in a process of collecting data in a specific context. This article shows a case study which analyzes the experience of a research team in a project carried out in the Mexican state of Tabasco. Taken from field research journals, the experiences of this team are analyzed throughout three axes: explicit expectancies, tacit expectancies, and unexpected situations that research assistants had to face in the process of collecting data. It is concluded that the actions and experiences lived by the research assistants are an opportunity to set the field work as a study object and to better understand research as a social practice.