cultural anthropology research methods

7/27/2019 Cultural Anthropology Research Methods

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Methods In Cultural Anthropology: Ethnography


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Culturalanthropologistsconduct research in

libraries and museumsbut they rely mostheavily on experientialfieldwork


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As a research strategy, fieldwork is experiential thisinvolves:

*living with the people they study*learning the language of those they study*asking questions

*surveying environments/material possessions*spending long periods observing everyday behaviors and

interactions in a natural setting


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Has fieldwork always been a central part of thediscipline?


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his or her people No explanation of field methods

or of the fieldwork experience

?how long in the field

?how many interviewed/observed

?how were samples collected

?what data collection techniques

were used?problems encountered

?how was data analyzed


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Shift from fieldwork on small-scale, non-Western cultures toresearch in sites closer to

home, urban neighborhoods,retirement homes, industrialplants, hospitals, elementaryschools, prisons,administrative bureaucraciesto recreational vehicle owners


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Anthropologists have recently blended traditionalethnographic methods with survey methods

Differences between the two:

Ethnographies take a holistic view by studyingcomplete, functioning societies, while survey researchfocuses on a representative sampling of a largerpopulation


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Ethnographies use first-hand experiential methodswhile survey researchers have indirect contact withtheir subjects


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Survey researchers who work almost exclusively inliterate societies, have the luxury of mailingquestionnaires to the intended respondents


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Because surveyresearchers are usingmuch larger samplesizes, they rely muchmore heavily uponstatistical analysis thando ethnographers


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No two fieldwork situations are the same but allfieldworkers have a number of concerns, problems andissues in common


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Obtaining funding


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Health Precautions


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Clearance


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Proficiency inthe locallanguage


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Personal details


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1. Selecting a research problem

2. Formulating a researchdesign

3. Collecting the data4. Analyzing the data

5. Interpreting the data


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Of the techniques used byanthropologists, participant-observation is used moreextensively than any other

*becoming involved in theculture under study while

making systematicobservations of what peopleactually do.


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Because the participant-observer is interested instudying people at the grassroots level, it is alwaysadvisable to work ones way down the politicalhierarchy

1. Research clearance

2. Select one role and use it consistently

3. Proceed slowly

4. Respectfully emphasize that you are a student


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People tend to appreciate the attempt to live according to therules of their culture

Enables the fieldworker to distinguish between normativeand real behavior (what people should do and what theyactually do)


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Small sample sizes

Data is hard to code orcategorize

Difficulties in recordingobservations

Obtrusiveness


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In addition to using participant-observation, culturalanthropologists in the field rely heavily on ethnographicinterviewing

Used for obtaining information on what people think or feel

(attitudinal data) as well as on what they do (behavioral data)


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Unstructured Interviews-involve a minimum of control;interviewer asks open-ended questions on a generaltopic and allows interviewees to respond at their ownpace using their own words

Structured Interviews-large numbers of respondents areasked a set of specific questions in same sequence andpreferably the same set of conditions


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Cultural anthropologists use other techniquesfor collecting cultural data a various stagesof the field study:

Census Taking Mapping

Document Analysis

Collecting Genealogies

Photography


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More collaborative and interdisciplinary

More inclusive of local people in all stages of research

Faced with real-time limitations


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Rapid Ethnographic Assessment

Surveys

Focus Groups


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Reflexive Methods-associated withpostmodernism, focusesmore on the interactionbetween the ethnographerand the informant than onscientific objectivity


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1919 FRANZ BOASPUBLISHED HIS OUTRAGEAGAINST 4ANTHROPOLOGISTS

ENGAGED ININTELLEGENCEGATHERING DURINGWARTIME


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A person who uses science as a coverfor political spying, who demeanshimself to pose before a foreign

government as an investigator, underthis cloak, prostitutes science in anunpardonable way and forfeits the

right to be classed as a scientist.


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BOAS FOUNDED THE AAA, BUT WAS THE ONLYANTHROPOLOGIST EVER CENSURED BY THEAAA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

THE ISSUE RE-EMERGED 50 YEARS LATER


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CARRIED OUT BY DEPT.OF ARMY

TO CONTAIN COUNTER-INSURGENCY &

REVOLUTION IN LATINAMERICA

A CHILEAN SOCIALSCIENTIST PROTESTED

SOCIAL SCIENCESADDRESSED ETHICALISSUES, ADOPTEDCODES OF ETHICS


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CAMELOT FORCED ANTHROPOLOGY TOTAKE A CRITICAL LOOK AT ITSELF

THIS FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE WASEXPRESSED IN THE 1967 PRINCIPLES OFPROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/ethstmnt.htm

50 YEARS LATER, BOAS WAS EXHONORATED
http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/ethstmnt.htmhttp://www.aaanet.org/index.cfmhttp://www.aaanet.org/stmts/ethstmnt.htm


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In 2007 Terence Turner sought to reintroduce theban on clandestine research from the 1971 Codeof Ethics

In the 2009 Code, classified research is not

allowed, but that depends on what classifiedmeans Roberto J Gonzlez and Hugh Gusterson:

Many argue that the AAA should not have agrievance procedure for investigating potential

ethics violations, but shouldnt there be somesort of response when actions clearly defy theassociation and its interpretation of ethicalobligations?


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Janet Levy:

1998 Adjudication/sanctions removed

Definition: Diversityhow to define

violations? Does not license anthropolgists

no means to sanction

Work Load Liability


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Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban

Dilemmas debated among students

An educational model shifts theresponsibility for ethical conduct to theindividual anthropologist


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Ian Harper: In other nations of the global south the government

is a leading employer of anthropologists andcollaboration with the government is routine

Re: counterinsurgency--When does professionalexpertise cease to be expertise and move into theshadowy area ofcollaboration?


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Rena Lederman: Participant Observation vs. Sociology

Disguised observation & informed

consent Psychology experiments & disclosure of aims

(deception & debriefing)

APA forbids deception unless justifiedby significant scientific, educational,or applied value


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Nancy Scheper-Hughes:Organs Watch Project

How do you ask permission to study illegal andcriminal behavior?

IRB exemption to document illegal traffic in humanorgans Posed as donor seeker to Turkish organ traffickers Interviewed poor who sold kidneys out of need of

money


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All the rules of fieldwork practice and ethicsseemed inadequate

In posing as a kidney buyer in order tounderstand the misery that prompts a person to

bargain over the value of his kidneyI wascomplicit in the behavior Anthropologists are not detectives, and we are

trained to hold anthropologistinformantrelations as a sacred trust. But surely this does

not mean that one has to be a bystander tointernational crimes against vulnerablepopulations

cultural anthropology research methods

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