Cultural Anthropology
Methods In Cultural Anthropology:
Ethnography
fieldwork
• Cultural anthropologists conduct research in
libraries and museums but they rely most
heavily on experiential fieldwork
fieldwork
• As a research strategy, fieldwork is experiential this
involves:
*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
fieldwork
• Has fieldwork always been a central part of
the discipline?
Fieldwork-Prior to the 1960s
• “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
Fieldwork
• Shift from fieldwork on smallscale, non-Western cultures to
research in sites closer to home,
urban neighborhoods,
retirement homes, industrial
plants, hospitals, elementary
schools, prisons, administrative
bureaucracies to recreational
vehicle owners
Fieldwork & Survey Methods
• Anthropologists have recently blended
traditional ethnographic methods with survey
methods
• Differences between the two:
Ethnographies take a holistic view by studying
complete, functioning societies, while survey
research focuses on a representative sampling
of a larger population
Fieldwork & Survey Methods
• Ethnographies use first-hand experiential
methods while survey researchers have
indirect contact with their subjects
Fieldwork & Survey Methods
• Survey researchers who work almost
exclusively in literate societies, have the luxury
of mailing questionnaires to the intended
respondents
Fieldwork & Survey Methods
• Because survey researchers
are using much larger
sample sizes, they rely
much more heavily upon
statistical analysis than do
ethnographers
Fieldwork-difficulties
• No two fieldwork situations are the same but
all fieldworkers have a number of concerns,
problems and issues in common
Preparing for Fieldwork
• Obtaining funding
Preparing for Fieldwork
• Health Precautions
Preparing for Fieldwork
• Clearance
Preparing for Fieldwork
• Proficiency in the
local language
Preparing for Fieldwork
• Personal details
Stages of Field Research
1. Selecting a research
problem
2. Formulating a research
design
3. Collecting the data
4. Analyzing the data
5. Interpreting the data
Data-Gathering Techniques:
Participant Observation
• Of the techniques used by
anthropologists, participantobservation is used more
extensively than any other
*becoming involved in the culture
under study while making
systematic observations of what
people actually do.
Guidelines for Participant-Observation
Fieldwork
Because the participant-observer is interested
in studying people at the grassroots level, it is
always advisable to work one’s way down the
political hierarchy
1.Research clearance
2. Select one role and use it consistently
3. Proceed slowly
4. Respectfully emphasize that you are a
student
Advantages of Participant-Observation
• People tend to appreciate the attempt to live
according to the rules of their culture
• Enables the fieldworker to distinguish between
normative and real behavior (what people should
do and what they actually do)
Disadvantages of ParticipantObservation
• Small sample sizes
• Data is hard to code or
categorize
• Difficulties in recording
observations
• Obtrusiveness
Participant-Observation/Interviewing
• In addition to using participant-observation, cultural
anthropologists in the field rely heavily on ethnographic
interviewing
• Used for obtaining information on what people think or
feel (attitudinal data) as well as on what they do
(behavioral data)
Interviewing /Structured & Unstructured
Unstructured Interviews-involve a minimum of
control; interviewer asks open-ended questions on
a general topic and allows interviewees to respond
at their own pace using their own words
Structured Interviews-large numbers of respondents
are asked a set of specific questions in same
sequence and preferably the same set of conditions
Other Data-Gathering Techniques
Cultural anthropologists use other
techniques for collecting cultural data a
various stages of the field study:
• Census Taking
• Mapping
• Document Analysis
• Collecting Genealogies
• Photography
Applied Field Methods
• More collaborative and interdisciplinary
• More inclusive of local people in all stages of
research
• Faced with real-time limitations
Techniques of Applied Field Research
• Rapid Ethnographic Assessment
• Surveys
• Focus Groups
Trends in Ethnographic Fieldwork
• Reflexive Methodsassociated with
postmodernism, focuses
more on the interaction
between the ethnographer
and the informant than on
scientific objectivity
Ethics of Cultural Anthropology
• Project Camelot-aborted
U.S. Army research
project designed to study
the cause of civil unrest
and violence in
developing countries;
created a controversy
among anthropologists as
to whether the U.S.
government was using
them as spies