Transcript Doing Social Research

Doing Social Research
AIM: HOW DO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS STUDY
THE SOCIAL WORLD?
What is Anthropology?
 The discipline of anthropology studies
humankind in its entirety and aims to
produce useful generalizations about the
behavior of people around the world and
throughout time.
 Anthropology follows the holistic
perspective, meaning that through crosscultural comparison we can recognize
both the great diversity between people
as well as the human characteristics that
unite us all.
Holism
 Study of a culture by looking at all the parts
of the system and how those parts are
interrelated
Anthropology
 Anthropology – the systematic study of humankind.
 What do we mean by systematic?
 Scientific Method
 Empirical – based on observation and experiment
 Positivism - only authentic knowledge is that which is based on
sense, experience and positive verification
 Concept – a cognitive unit of meaning, an abstract idea or a
mental symbol
 Variable – logical set of characteristics of an object
 Hypothesis
 Theory
Quantitative v. Qualitative
 Social Research Methods May Be Divided into two
broad schools:
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Quantitative research approaches social phenomena through
numerical tabulations and statistical comparisons made
possible by systematic surveys, observations, or analysis of
records. Data is used to test hypotheses and create valid and
reliable, general claims.
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Qualitative research uses rich descriptions of cultural
situations obtained from interviewing, participant observation,
and collection of oral and textual materials.
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Ethnographies are reports from qualitative research.
Scientific Explanation
 Empirical Evidence (data)  information we can verify with our
common sense
 Science  a logical system that bases knowledge on direct,
systematic observations concerning human behavior
 The goal of scientific explanation is to permit the scientist to
move beyond simple descriptions to make reliable statements
concerning the nature of relationships existing in observed
phenomena. Reliable statements posses a high degree of certainty
that what is predicted will be the successful combination of
theory and relevant research.
Systematic plan for conducting research
 Experiment  a research method for investigating cause and
effect under highly controlled conditions
 Hypothesis  an unverified statement of a relationship between
variables
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A hunch or guess that is generally stated as a proposition of the
“if…then…” variety
 Hawthron Effect  a change in the subject’s behavior caused by
the awareness of being studied
Science
The Basic Elements and Limitations
 Positivism  only authentic knowledge is that which is based on
sense, experience and positive verification
 Concept  refers to either relations or descriptions. Concepts are not
statements and are neither true nor false
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When concepts are interrelated in a scheme, a theory begins to emerge
 Variable  a trait or characteristic that can vary in value from case to
case
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Characteristics that are variables can be made constant through
experimental design, as when a researcher focuses on people of the same
age, sex, social class, etc., in order to study variation in other traits
 Measurement  a set of rules for the assignment of numbers to the
different outcomes a variable can exhibit
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Concepts such as an inch, meter, etc., do not exist in nature but are
arbitrary measures of length, with agreed upon meanings, invented by
scientists
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Examples: Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree
 Reliability  consistency in measure
 In order to have reliability, the test must be able to be replicated and
receive the same results
 Validity  precision in measuring exactly what one intends to
measure. A test must measure exactly what it says it will
measure
 In order for research to be true, it must have both reliability and
validity
 Correlation  measured strength between two variables
 Control  holding constant all variables except one in order to
see clearly the effect of that variable
Ethnography
 Ethnos (Greek) = to describe a people
Grapho = to write
 Ethnography aims to describe the nature of those who
are studied through writing.
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Might be called a ‘field study’ or ‘case report.’
 Description of a culture, usually based on the method
of participant observation and field work.
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Field Work: living among a group of people for the purpose of
learning about their culture.
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Employed for gathering empirical data on human societies and
cultures.
Ethnography
 Anthropological texts are usually written in the present.
 Many societies have changed since original fieldwork was done.
 Importance of studies of these peoples does not lie primarily in
their historical or genealogical explanatory power, but rather in
their contribution to our understanding of similarities and
differences of social life in general.
Cultural & Social Anthropology
 Developed around ethnographic research and their
canonical texts which are mostly ethnographies
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Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1928) by Bronislaw
Malinowski
Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) by Margaret Mead
The Nuer (1940) by E.E. Evans-Pritchard
The Range of Ethnographies
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We Eat the Mines and the Mines Eat Us (1979) – June
Nash’s description of Bolivian tin miners and the ways in which
transnational economic processes affect their lives.
Tuhami: Portrait of a Moroccan (1980) – Vincent
Crapanzano’s ethnographic biography describes his encounter
with ‘an illiterate Moroccan tile maker who believes himself
married to a camel-footed she-demon.’
The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an
Anxious Age (1997) – Michael Brown presents a fascinating
look at the lives and experiences of New Age ‘channellers’ and
their place in contemporary American spiritual life.
Medusa’s Hair (1981) – Gananath Obeyesekere brings insight
from psychoanalysis to bear on ‘personal symbols and religious
experience’ among ecstatic priests and priestesses in Sri Lanka.
Geisha (1983) – Liza Dalby trained as a geisha in Kyoto and
provides a fascinating look at the ‘willow world.’
Javanese Shadow Plays, Javanese Selves (1987) – Ward
Keeler lived with a Javanese puppeteer for several years and
wrote this fascinating account of an ancient art form, is
practitioners, and its place in modern culture
Typical Ethnography
 Attempts to be holistic
 Typically follows an outline:
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Brief history of culture being studied
Analysis of physical geography / terrain
inhabited by the people, including climate and
habitat
Material Culture, technology and means of
subsistence (associated with physical
geography and include descriptions of
infrastructure)
Kinship & Social Structure (age grading, peer
groups, gender, voluntarily association, clans,
etc. )
Languages spoken, dialects and history of
language change
Practices of childrearing, acculturation and
‘native’ (emic) views and values
(1955)
Data Collection
 Participant Observation
 Interviews
 Questionnaires
 Surveys…just to list a few
Participant Observation
 Direct, first-hand observation of daily participation.
 Living among the people being studied – observing,
questioning, and taking part in the important events of the
group while also keeping a detailed record of your
observations and interviews.
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Obtrusive Effect – you thrust yourself into the culture, changing
what is taking place.
Participant Observation
 Generally agreed that the
anthropologist ought to
stay in the field long
enough for his or her
presence to be considered
more or less ‘natural’ by
the permanent residence.
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Anthropologist should also
learn the local language as not
have mistakes in translation
or meaning.
Participant Observation
 The anthropologist is the most important ‘scientific
instrument’ used, investing a great deal of his or her
own personality in the process.
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Anthropological writings are shaped by each author’s biography,
literary style, and rhetoric, as wells as the historical period in
which they are writing (such as colonialism).
The gender, age, ‘race’ and class of the anthropologist
inadvertently influences the field work.
Doing Anthropology
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhCruPBvSjQ
Emic v. Etic Perspective
 Emic: life as experienced and described by the members
of a society themselves.
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“Native’s point of view’
 Etic: Analytical description or explanation of the
researcher.
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Cultural Relativism: understanding the ways of other cultures and
not judging these practices according to one's own cultural ways.
Emic v. Etic Perspective
 Reasons why anthropologists view may never be an
emic description:
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Usually have to translate between two different languages
Use a written medium to reproduce oral statements
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Meaning of utterances changes when they are transformed into
writing
Anthropologist can never become identical with the people he or
she writes about.
 Only true emic descriptions possible in anthropology
are therefore accounts written by natives in their
vernacular
Types of Data Collected during Observation
 Census Taking
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Population, age, sex, marital status, household composition, age/sex relationship
 Mapping
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Locate people, material culture (villages, fields, pasture, livestock), environmental
features (rivers, lakes, mountains)
 Document Analysis
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Public records, news papers, diaries, scientific publications
 Geneologies
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Writing down relatives of informants, kinship relationships, how they are referred to,
addressed, treated
 Event Analysis
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Documenting an event as it takes place (fight, puberty rite, cooking, marriage)
Problems with Participant Observation
 Precludes a large sample size
 Problems in recording
 Limited knowledge of language
 One’s informants may fail to represent society as a
whole
The Problem of Translation
 How can we translate an alien way
of experiencing the world into our
own mode of thought?
 How can we be certain that we do
not misinterpret or distort the
society when we try to describe it in
our own terms?
 How can we be entirely certain that
we understand the alien society and
culture at all?
The Problem of Translation
 It is necessary to use abstract terms: kinship, social
organization, social control, religion, etc.
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Terms are necessary for the discipline to be comparative in scope
 Abstract, technical terms used by anthropologists rarely
exist in societies studied.
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Descriptive: usually close to native conceptualization of the world,
and a major challenge lies in translating native concepts into the
anthropologist’s working language.
Analysis: trying to connect the society to other societies by
describing it in the comparative terms of anthropology.
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Will describe the society with concepts which do not exist in the society
itself
Dichotomies
 Dichotomy – separation
of different or
contradictory things.
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Small-scale / Large-scale
Oral / Written
Traditional / Modern
 The world as it is studied by
anthropologists is not characterized by
clear, binary boundaries, but rather by
grey areas and differences in degree.
 Models are not identical with the social
world but a aid in organizing facts from
the social world.
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Dichotomies may be used as scales marked
by differences in degree rather than absolute
contrasts.
Interviewing
 May include conversation with different levels of
form and can involve small talk to long interviews
Questionnaires
 Can be used to aid in the discovery of local beliefs
and perceptions
Asking Questions: Survey Questions
 Survey  research method in which subjects respond to a series
of statements or questions in a questionnaire or an interview
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Population  the larger the population the better
Sample  part of the population that represents the whole. The
participants in a survey are the sample population of that survey
 Using Available Data
 Secondary Analysis  a researcher uses the data available
 Inductive Logic  from inside out. The researcher works from the specific
to the general. (Individual problem to larger social issue)
 Deductive Logic  from outside in. The researcher works from the general
to the specific. The theory is stated first then a hypothesis is formed and a
method is found to test it
Anthropology vs. Sociology
 Anthropology has traditionally distinguished itself from
sociology through:
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Emphasis placed on participant observation and fieldwork
Mainly study non-industrial societies
Sociology has concentrated on understanding, criticizing, and managing
modern societies
Anthropologist try to account for variations and similarities in human
existence and to record disappearing peoples ways of life in writing.
Ethical Guidelines for Internal Assessment
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Do no harm to the people who participate in the
fieldwork.
Respect the well-being of humans and the
environment.
Obtain informed consent from the people who
are the subjects of the fieldwork in a form
appropriate to the context before you begin,
providing sufficient information about the aims
and procedures of the fieldwork.
Fieldwork involving children needs the
written consent of parent(s) or
guardian(s).
Maintain the anonymity of the people
participating in the fieldwork, unless participants
have given explicit permission to the contrary.
Store all data collected securely in order to
maintain confidentiality.
Be honest about the limits of your training.
Do not falsify or make up fieldwork data.
Report on research findings accurately and
completely.
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Do not use data for any purpose other than
the fieldwork for which it was collected.
Develop and maintain a working
relationship with the people that you study so
that other researchers can continue to work with
them.
Check with your teacher when the right way to
behave is not clear.
Participate in reviews of the ethical
considerations in the fieldwork proposals of your
peers.
Fieldwork conducted online is subject to the same
guide lines.
Covered Girls (2003)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkfXHB48rrs