Application is not gut feeling, though that may be useful. It is the use of theoretical knowledge to interpret events and their outcomes. There is a vast indigestible amount of ethnographic knowledge. We need Ph. Ds who write about it.
Field work is an important self-informing experience.
I've gone overboard. There's one good reason why not. Young anthropologists are serious, they are motivated, they need encouragement and nurturing rather than elderly cynicism. Go to it your own way. You will find it.