Comprehensive investigation and research on folklore is conducted through nationwide field work on folk life data or resources. Areas covered include clothing, housing, food, rituals, folk games, folk beliefs, and occupational skills. The comprehensive survey on Korean folklore, started in 1968, is a representative project in the area of folklore heritage. The findings have been published in 30 books as of 2002. Study subjects are selected according to field, and data and related resources are collected for the publication of reports on historical change, regional features, class features, and transmission patterns. Reports are also used as basic data for folklore studies.

The project titled 'Comprehensive Research on Korean Folklore' was planned in 1968 when there was a general consensus that Korean folklore must be studied before they are all lost in the face of Westernization and industrialization. What was worse, the relatively new Korean government carried out far less research works than the Japanese Government-General of Korea.

The research was undertaken by folklorists and folk-related experts. The first phase of the project began in 1969 with the folklore of Jeollanam-do as the subject. It included an extensive study on the province's history, geography, social structure, folk beliefs, trades, lifestyle, folk arts, and oral traditions. In the 13 years since then, folk traditions of other

regions were studied. The Institute has published a total of 30 research papers based on these studies, with the last publication of 'Buddhist Folk Plays' in 2002.

The national folklore survey project was an initiative to document Korea's rapidly-vanishing folklore culture, as a result of westernization and industrialization. The project is aimed also at remedying the dearth of folklore research, compared especially to the Japanese occupation period, during which the Government General produced nearly 40 volumes of reports on related topics. This report containing the results of a massive-scale project, enlisting most of the nation's folklore researchers and covering the full spectrum of Korean folklore, is an important landmark in the history of this field.

In the past 30 years since the ��Comprehensive Research on Korean Folklore�� project began, Korea has undergone substantial social and cultural changes, which have affected the people��s everyday lives.

Considering the extent of the research project, however, researchers did not have adequate financial resources to conduct more elaborate and in-depth studies. So the NRICH decided to launch a full-scale study on Korean seasonal customs. From 2000, three villages in each city and county (gun) have been selected for on-site research. Nine research papers have been published so far.

In Korea, folk beliefs have always been a big part of people��s lives and include everything from fortune-telling, incantation, and geomancy, to folk medicines and new religions. From 1991 to 2000, the NRICH has studied and published reports on the folk beliefs of 167 villages in the nine provinces of South Korea. Villages with the most distinctive regional characteristics were chosen for on-site research.

Villages with the most distinctive regional characteristics were chosen for on-site research.

From 2004 to 2007, the focus was placed on family beliefs, which are at the heart of folk culture and constitute an area that has not been thoroughly researched. A total of 163 cities and districts in South Korea were selected for study.