Download Miller - Chapter 2 (short in-class version

Methods in Cultural Anthropology
(Miller Chapter 2)
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Goals of Research in Cultural
Anthropology
 To study, analyze, and describe
culture(s) in accordance with ethical
principles
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How Do Cultural Anthropologists
Do Research?
 Approaches have changed over time
“Armchair anthropology” – 1870s
Sitting and reading about other cultures and
formulating theories about them
Edward Tylor
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How Do Cultural Anthropologists
Do Research?
“Verandah anthropology” – early 1900s
Living near, but not with the people to be studied
Early Bronislaw Malinowski
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How Do Cultural Anthropologists
Do Research?
“The Field” – 1920s - today
“The Field” – any place where people and
cultures are (p. 28)

Later Bronislaw Malinowski
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The Field and Participant
Observation
 While in the field, the cornerstone method
anthropologists use is participant
observation.
 Participant observation is a research
method for learning about culture that
involves living in (and/or immersing oneself
in) a culture for an extended period while
gathering data (p. 28)
 “Father” of participant observation is
Bronislaw Malinowski
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Key Elements of Participant
Observation
Living with the people
Participating in their everyday life
May be conducted in one or more locations
 If fieldwork is conducted in more than one location it is termed
“multisited research” (p. 29)
Learning and speaking the local language
Often occurs over an extended period of
time
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Steps Involved in Cultural
Anthropology Fieldwork
 Before going into the field…
 Choose a place to do research
 Choose a research topic
 Prepare for the fieldwork
 While in the field…
 Gain rapport
 Collect data
 When come back from the field…
 Data analysis
 Present the data / write up results
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Where to do research?
Cultural anthropologists today go to
“the field”
► “The field” is anywhere people
are
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“The field” has changed since the
early days of cultural anthropology in
terms of where it is
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From the faraway, exotic and
small-scale…
For example, Samoa
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To urban and globalizing sites such as
Tangier, Morocco
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To the field at home: for example,
Tangier, Virginia
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Even to Main Street, USA…
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…and Corporate USA
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What to Study?
Topics have changed since the early days of
cultural anthropology
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From “holistic” studies of small
groups…
 such as indigenous
peoples of the
Andaman Islands,
India
…to focused topical studies such as
gender, health, or conflict in larger
societies
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Gender: women’s lives in a South
Indian urban neighborhood
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Or how globalization affects informal
markets in the Old City of Istanbul,
Turkey
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Or poverty and health in
Johannesburg, South Africa
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Or tourism’s environmental and
social effects in the Andaman Islands
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What should you think about
when choosing a research project?
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What do you do before you go into
the field? How do you prepare?
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Beginning Fieldwork
 Fieldwork is often a difficult process, especially in the
beginning
 Dealing with physical and psychological risks, and
sometimes even violence and warfare
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Beginning Fieldwork
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Beginning Fieldwork

Dealing with culture shock
 Culture shock is persistent feelings
of uneasiness, loneliness, and anxiety
that often occur when a person has
shifted from one culture to a different
one (p. 35)
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Culture Shock discussion
 Think of an occasion in which you
experienced culture shock, even if as
the result of a brief cross-cultural
encounter.
 How did you feel?
 How did you cope?
 What did you learn from the experience?
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Beginning Fieldwork

Primary goal in the early stages of
fieldwork is to gain rapport
 Rapport is a trusting relationship
between the researcher and the study
population (p. 33)
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Fieldwork Approaches
 The goal of fieldwork is to collect data,
or information, about the research topic.
 Research approaches can be
deductive or inductive.
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Deductive Research

Deductive research starts from a
question or hypothesis and then
involves collecting data related to that
question
 Data collected is more likely to be…
 quantitative (numerical)
 etic (fits into categories meaningful to the
cultural outsider/anthropologist)
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Inductive Research

Inductive research involves gathering
data without a hypothesis
 Data collected is more likely to be…
 qualitative (non-numerical)
 emic (fits into categories meaningful to the
cultural insider/local population)
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Two Research Approaches:
Deductive and Inductive
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Two Research Approaches:
Deductive and Inductive
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Fieldwork Techniques
 Participant observation
 Talking with people
 Interview
 Questionnaire/Survey






Life histories
Time allocation studies
Analyzing textual material
Maps and charts
Genealogy
Triangulation
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Participant Observation
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Talking with people
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Talking with people
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Life Histories
 A life history is a qualitative, in-depth
description of an individual’s life as
narrated to the researcher (p. 38)
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Time Allocation Studies

A time allocation study is a quantitative
method that collects data on how people
spend their time each day on particular
activities (p. 38)
Benin
Guatemala City
caretakers
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Analyzing Textual Material


May include written or oral stories,
myths, songs, plays, sayings, speeches,
jokes, and transcripts of people’s
everyday conversations
Also includes written archival and
historical material
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Maps and Charts
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Triangulation

Triangulation is a technique that
involves seeking information on a
particular topic from more than one
angle or perspective (p. 39)
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Recording Culture
 Refers to how an anthropologist keeps
track of all the information collected in
the field and how it is recorded for future
analysis
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Recording Culture
 Anthropologists take many field notes!
 Taking notes is still the trademark method
of recording data for a cultural
anthropologist

Tape recorders, photography, and
videos are also helpful in capturing data
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Recording Culture
Interviews
Field notes
Questionnaires
Watching and asking
Life history
Texts/historical
sources
Tape
recording,
photography,
and videos
Team projects
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Coming Back From the Field
 Data Analysis
 Anthropologists come back from the field
with vast amounts of data!
 Must analyze the data to put it into a
meaningful form
 Systematically studying and processing data
 Qualitative and Quantitative Data Analysis
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Coming Back from the Field
 Qualitative data analysis
 Search for themes or patterns in the data
 Can be done by hand or with the
assistance of qualitative analysis software
programs
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Coming Back from the Field
 Qualitative data analysis
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Coming Back from the Field
 Quantitative data analysis
 Often consists of a statistical analysis of
the data
 Mean, median, mode, correlations
 Can be done by hand (if a relatively small
sample) or with the help of statistical
software programs
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Coming Back from the Field
 Quantitative data analysis
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Quantitative Data on the Food
Stamp Program in Jamaica
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Coming Back from the Field
 Write an ethnography
 Often focuses on a particular cultural aspect
or issue, but considers the culture as a
whole for the sake of context
 Present research at meetings
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Ethics in
Anthropology
Prompted by
Project Camelot
& The Vietnam
War
In 1971, the AAA
adopted a code of
ethics
Does not
condone
“undercover”
research
The anthropologist’s first
responsibility is to ensure
the safety of the people
participating in the research
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Ethics in Anthropology

Informed consent – an aspect of
research ethics requiring that the
researcher inform the research
participants of the intent, scope, and
possible effects of the study and seek
their agreement to be in the study (p. 32)
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Collaborative Research
 Collaborative research – an approach to
learning about culture that involves the
anthropologist working with members of the
study population as partners and
teammates rather than researcher and
“subject” (p. 43)
 Research with the people, by the people, for the
people
 Team approach is better for everyone
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Collaborative Research
 Members of the study population work
as partners with the anthropologist in…
Data collection
Data analysis
Presentation of findings
Sharing credit for results
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History of Fieldwork
1870s
“Armchair” approach
Early
1900s
“Verandah” approach
1920s
“The Field” approach
Today
“The Field” + participant
observation and
collaborative research
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The Gods Must Be Crazy
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Ix
sfUpBck
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Question #1

What is the best way to conduct
anthropological research in literate
societies?
A) survey research
B) ethnography
C) through a combination of survey and
ethnographic techniques
D) observation from a distance
E) There is no good way to conduct
anthropological fieldwork in complex
societies
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Question #2

Which of the following is unique to
anthropology?
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
holistic ethnography
ethics
random sampling
interviews
questionnaires
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Question #3

Unlike questionnaires, in-depth
interviews __________.
A) rely on very short responses.
B) are better suited to urban, complex societies
where most people are literate.
C) are usually administered to a random sample
of a larger population.
D) allow informants to talk about what they see as
important, rather than have to modify their
responses to fit into predetermined categories.
E) are traditionally associated with survey
research.
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Question #4

Unlike ethnography, survey research
_________.
A) studies communities in their entirety.
B) has been traditionally conducted in
nonindustrial, small-scale societies.
C) is conducted with little or no personal
contact between study subjects and
researchers.
D) makes little use of statistics.
E) is based on establishing close personal
ties with the study community.
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Question #5

Which of the following is not an
example of participant-observation?
A)
B)
C)
D)
dancing in a festival
singing during a ritual
taking part in a hunt
competing in the games popular in the
community
E) interviewing key informants
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Question #6

The etic perspective is _________.
A) that of the ethnographer / anthropologist
/ interviewer.
B) that of the local members of the
community being studied.
C) the one held by refugees regarding the
authorities that forced them to leave
their home country.
D) how locals perceive the world in which
they live.
E) that of the person being interviewed.
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Question #7

Rapport is one of the ways
anthropologists present their findings
from their fieldwork.
A) True
B) False
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Question #8

Research starts from a question or
hypothesis and then involves
collecting data related to that
question is inductive research.
A) True
B) False
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Question #9

The “armchair” approach to
anthropology is commonly practiced
today.
A) True
B) False
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Question #10

Qualitative data is non-numerical
data.
A) True
B) False
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