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Methods in Cultural Anthropology: Fieldwork Techniques and Ethical Considerations

This chapter explores how cultural anthropologists conduct fieldwork, the data-gathering techniques they use, and the problems they may encounter. It also discusses the ethical dilemmas faced by applied anthropologists during fieldwork. The chapter covers common issues in fieldwork, the stages of field research, and various data-gathering techniques such as participant-observation, interviews, census taking, mapping, and document analysis. It also addresses guidelines for participant-observation fieldwork and ethnographic interviewing, as well as the challenges of culture shock. Additionally, it introduces narrative ethnography and the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) as valuable resources. The chapter concludes by examining the ethics of anthropology and the responsibilities of anthropologists towards the people under study, local communities, host governments, the scholarly community, research sponsors, and their own students.

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Methods in Cultural Anthropology: Fieldwork Techniques and Ethical Considerations

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  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.

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