Much of the intangible expressive culture in the United States is folklore. A. Folklore is the aesthetic property of individuals in groups. B. Groups provide the context of meaning for folklore. The meaning includes both a connotative and denotative component. The group also provides the context of response.
Individuals are part of many groups of overlapping membership.
An individual identifies themselves by age, sex, occupation, region, ethnic background, religious affiliation and any of these may make important distinctive cultural differences. The fieldwork that identifies cultural intangibles involves the use of interviews. An interview is a visit to an informant with a purpose. The interview therefore requires preparation. While the interview is an important form of folklore research you can also observe and participate in more on-going contexts of collection.