Methods in Cultural Anthropology: Fieldwork Techniques and Ethical Considerations

1. Chapter 5 Methods inCultural Anthropology

2. What We Will Learn • How do cultural anthropologists conduct fieldwork? • What types of data-gathering techniques do cultural anthropologists use? • What are some of the problems faced by cultural anthropologists that make fieldwork somewhat less than romantic? • What ethical dilemmas do applied anthropologists face when conducting fieldwork?

3. Common Issues in Fieldwork • Gaining acceptance in the community. • Selecting the most appropriate data-gathering techniques. • Understanding how to operate within the local political structure. • Taking precautions against investigator bias.

4. Common Issues in Fieldwork • Choosing knowledgeable informants. • Coping with culture shock. • Learning a new language. • Be willing to reevaluate findings in the light of new evidence.

5. Preparing for Fieldwork • Obtain funding from a source that supports anthropological research. • Take the proper health precautions. • Obtain permission or clearance from the host government. • Become proficient in the local language. • Make arrangements for personal possessions while out of the country.

6. Basic Stages of Field Research • Selecting a research problem • Formulating a research design • Collecting the data • Analyzing the data • Interpreting the data

7. Data Gathering Techniques • Participant-Observation • Interviewing • Census Taking • Mapping • Document Analysis • Collecting Genealogies • Photography

8. Guidelines for Participant-Observation Fieldwork • When introducing oneself, select one role and use it consistently. • Proceed slowly. • Assume the role of a student wanting to learn more about a subject on which the people are the experts.

9. Participant-Observation

10. Ethnographic Interview • How it is unique: • The interviewer and the subject almost always speak different first languages. • Much broader in scope because it elicits information on the entire culture. • Used in conjunction with other data-gathering techniques.

11. Structured and Unstructured Interviews • In unstructured interviews the interviewer asks open-ended questions and allows interviewees to respond at their own pace in their own words. • In structured interviews, the interviewer asks all informants the same questions, in the same sequence, and under the same set of conditions.

12. Guidelines for Ethnographic Interviewing • Obtain informed consent before interviewing. • Maintain neutrality by not conveying to the interviewee what may be the “desired” answer. • Pre-test questions to make sure they are understandable and culturally relevant. • Keep the recording unobtrusive.

13. Guidelines for Ethnographic Interviewing • Make certain the conditions under which the interviews are conducted are consistent. • Use simple, clean, and jargon-free language. • Phrase questions positively.

14. Guidelines for Ethnographic Interviewing • Keep the questions and the interview short. • Avoid questions that have two parts to the answer. • Save controversial questions for the end.

15. Choosing A Data-gathering Technique • What is the nature of the problem being investigated? • How receptive are the people being studied?

16. Characteristics of Culture Shock • Confusion over how to behave. • Surprise or disgust after realizing some of the features of the new culture. • Feeling a loss of old familiar surroundings and ways of doing things.

17. Characteristics of Culture Shock • Feeling rejected by members of the new culture. • Loss of self-esteem because you don’t seem to be functioning very effectively. • Doubt over your own cultural values.

18. Symptoms of Culture Shock

19. Narrative Ethnography • Narrative ethnographers are not interested in descriptive accounts of another culture written with scientific detachment. • Their ethnographies are reflections of how their own personalities and cultural influences combine with personal encounters with their informants to produce cultural data.

20. The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) • The world’s largest anthropological data bank. • Developed for the purpose of testing hypotheses and building theory. • Ethnographic data on over 300 cultures organized according to 700 different subjects.

21. Ethics and Anthropology Areas of responsibility for anthropologists: • The people under study • The local communities • The host governments and their own government • Other members of the scholarly community • Organizations that sponsor research • Their own students

22. Quick Quiz

23. 1. Cultural anthropologists collect their data and test their hypotheses by means of: • analyzing data. • reflexive ethnography. • sociometric sampling. • fieldwork.

24. Answer: d • Cultural anthropologists collect their data and test their hypotheses by means of fieldwork.

25. 2. _______ involves selecting the appropriate data-gathering techniques for measuring the research variables. • Interpreting data • Research design • Analyzing data • Collecting data

26. Answer: d • Collecting data involves selecting the appropriate data-gathering techniques for measuring the research variables.

27. 3. Once the data has been gathered, the researcher moves to: • research design. • interpreting data. • analyzing data. • participant observation.

28. Answer: c • Once the data has been gathered, the researcher moves to analyzing data.

29. 4. ______ involve a minimum of control, with the anthropologist asking open-ended questions on general topics. • Structured interviews • Family profile data • Research designs • Unstructured interviews

30. Answered: d • Unstructured interviews involve a minimum of control, with the anthropologist asking open-ended questions on general topics.

31. 5. ________ refers to the psychological disorientation that can be caused by trying to adjust to major differences in lifestyles and living conditions. • Disorientation • Biculturalism • Sociometric tracking • Culture shock

32. Answer: d • Culture shock refers to the psychological disorientation that can be caused by trying to adjust to major differences in lifestyles and living conditions.