Definition of "in the field"
in the field
prepositional phrase
Away from the office, classroom, or laboratory; working with people or things in their natural environment.
Quotations
Acknowledgment is also made of the assistance of Professor B. F. Howell, who spent several days in the field with the writer while work was being done on the Paleozoic rocks and who helped with that part of the report.
1934, Arthur Francis Buddington, Rudolf Ruedemann, Geology and Mineral Resources of the Hammond, Antwerp and Lowville Quadrangles, page 6
We have found, and the men and women working in the field out of the unit offices will tell you, that the visits to the homes, the discussion of the problems of the child with the parents are the conditions which bring about a better relation of the Department with the father and mother, and result in a great many immediate adjustments.
1941, Criminal Law Enforcement in the City of New York, page 91
In a real-world setting, as opposed to the controlled conditions of a laboratory or the hypothesized parameters of a theoretical approach.
Quotations
Even though during the course of the present study we succeeded in eliminating ettringite formation and subsequent heave by the use of barium pretreatment agents, we could not develop quantitative relationships that could be used if the proposed pretreatment technology is to be applied in the field.
1995 October 10, Dmitris Dermatas, “Ettringite-Induced Swelling in Soils:State-of-the-art”, in Applied Mechanics Reviews, volume 48, number 10, page 8077
Thus, it is our responsibility as scientists to make practitioners aware of the fact that most of the current findings in social psychology concerning conflict-related interventions were not rigorously tested in the field (Paluck and Green 2009), and convey the importance of conducting an RCT in the field before moving forward to full implementation.
2020, Yasemin Gülsüm Acar, Sigrun Marie Moss, Özden Melis Uluğ, Researching Peace, Conflict, and Power in the Field, page 227
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see in, field.
Quotations
The hand is held as with a single rein, with the thumb pointing to the horse's ears; in turning, however, there is much less power of bear on either side of the bit by raising the thumb or lowering the little finger, because the distance between the snaffle-reins is only half what it was, and therefore the mode of turning by pressure upon the neck is doubly desirable; and hence its general adoption in those cases where doulbe-reined bridles are used, as in the field and on the road.
1861, John Henry Walsh, James Irvine Lupton, The Horse, in the Stable and the Field, page 291
The latter three chapters are memoirs by or about a variety of people who have participated significantly in the field – as teachers, students, and professionals whose careers were bolstered by their acquired Chinese language competence.
2018, Vivian Ling, The Field of Chinese Language Education in the U.S.