To get and set a field value generally you get the full tiddler then read or update the specific field:
To get the value:
var tiddler = $tw.wiki.getTiddler(tiddlerTitle)
var value = tiddler.fields.fieldTitle
or in a more concise way:
var value = $tw.wiki.getTiddler(tiddlerTitle).getFieldString(fieldName)
to set the value:
$tw.wiki.setText(tiddlerTitle, fileName, indexName, value, options);
generally you want to set indexName to null or undefined, if you are setting a value in a data tiddler than you use indexName to give the key name.