ANTH205 Ch. 3 -- Doing Anthropology

Purdue University

Generally, statistical training has been more prevalent in ___.

Sociology

An anthropologist goes to live in a community to gather firsthand information to understand the way of life of that group. What is the name of this research strategy?

Ethnography

One technique commonly used by ethnographers is ___ ___, which means taking part in community life, participating in the events one is observing, describing, and analyzing.

Participant observation

A form that is used by sociologists to obtain comparable information from respondents but that does not require face-to-face contact is a ___.

Questionnaire

The genealogical method is used to examine what building block in the social organization of nonindustrial societies?

Kinship

In early studies of society, anthropologists focused on ______ while sociologists focused on ______.

Nonindustrial societies; the industrial West

The research strategy that originated to study small-scale, relatively isolated societies with simple technologies and economies in order to understand the whole of a particular culture is known as ___.

Ethnography

Instead of doing a random sample of all the residents in a community to choose individuals to formally interview, anthropologists select a few individuals who are extremely knowledgeable to interview. What is the term used to describe these few select individuals?

Key informant or key consultant

Which of the following is the best illustration of the ethnographic technique called participant observation?

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A) A linguist obtains the recordings of a new language and analyzes the tapes to compile the phonetics and a dictionary.

B) An anthropologist establishes an observation post to observe workers in a factory and is careful not to get directly involved in their activities.

C) An archaeologist goes to a field site and personally surveys the area, observing the landmarks and mapping the site.

D) An anthropologist gets to know the local people, takes part in daily life, and writes a report describing the community.

D

How can life histories illustrate diversity in a community?

They can show how different people interpreted and dealt with the same problem.

A guide that is used to structure a formal, but personal, interview in which the ethnographer talks face-to-face with people, asks questions, and writes down the answers is referred to as ___.

an interview schedule

Which of the following uses diagrams and symbols to record kin connections?

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A) Life histories

B) Participant observation

C) Genealogical method

D) Problem-oriented ethnography

C

Anthropologists work to understand how local people interpret cultural events in their own communities. This “insider” perspective is known as the ___ perspective.

Emic

Ethnographers might know about the scientific explanations of disease based on germ theory, but they might learn about other types of explanations for the causes of illness from the local people. For example, local people may claim that they are sick because of "the evil eye"—that a spell was put on them because of jealousy. The ethnographers' "outsider" perception based strictly on germ theory is called the ______ perspective.

Etic

When cultural anthropologists do fieldwork in a community, they may rely on just a few chosen people who can provide special knowledge and details about community life. What is the term (or terms) used for the people chosen?

Key informants or key consultants

People within a cultural community may say that a person is experiencing minor falls and accidents because of bad luck, perhaps because he or she walked under a ladder or saw a black cat. What is the term ethnographers use to describe this type of explanation?

An emic explanation

Which statement best describes why ethnographers collect life histories?

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A) Because it is the only field technique available

B) To correct the distortions of cultural history that have been perpetuated by European historians

C) To learn about the personal experiences of a few community members over a long period of time in order to understand responses to change

D) Intrinsic nosiness

C

The style that dominated classic ethnography was ______.

Ethnographic realism

It has become more common today than in the past for ethnographers to focus on ______.

A specific problem

Li, an ethnographer, observes some North Americans "crossing their fingers" by bending their middle fingers around their index fingers. When Li asks them to explain this behavior, they say that it means that they are lying. What do ethnographers call this type of "insider" explanation?

An emic explanation

The ___ perspective is an interpretation of a cultural event or behaviour by a scientific observer.

Etic

Ethnographers typically maintain their connection to the community they study and may return to it several times to see how the community life has changed. For example, Margaret Mead first described her fieldwork in *Growing Up in New Guinea*, detailing her study of the Manus, a New Guinea people still mostly untouched by the outside world when she visited them in 1928. She lived in their noisy fishing village of Peri at a pivotal time—after World War I was over but before missions and global commerce had begun to change their lives. She continued her relationship with this same village for 50 years until her death, and it helped her to describe how these villagers maintained their unique cultural values even with increasing global influence. What is the term used to describe this type of ethnographic research?

Longitudinal research

Which of the following statements best describes what ethnographers refer to as an etic explanation?

A) "I got sick with this sore throat because I was spreading bad gossip about my neighbor, and he has put a spell on me."

B) "I have this rash on my skin because I killed a snake for no reason."

C) "I have a cold because I was walking around outside in the cold rain without any coat or hat on."

D) "I have the flu because I have been exposed to the flu virus."

D

Who is generally considered the founder of ethnography?

Malinowski

As work that began at Arembepe, Brazil, in the 1960s continued into the present, ______.

Team research has become longitudinal research

Ethnographers most commonly use which three of the following data sources? Select all that apply.

A) Local people's answers to questions

B) Direct measurement of such things as rainfall, temperature, or crop yield

C) Garbology

D) Government records or archives

E) Poetry about the local people

A, B, D

When ethnography is multitimed, it means it ______.

Studies people through time

The study of society through sampling and statistical analysis is ______, and the study of firsthand culture and living people is ______.

Survey research; ethnographic research

The Gwembe study included which of the following?

Multiple select question.

A) A study of education and its impact

B) Team research

C) A general focus for the initial study

D) Research that spans decades

A, B, D

When archaeologists excavate at home or abroad and when biological anthropologists conduct research with primates, they must take steps to ensure the protection of the materials, remains, and animals involved. Government agencies and other agencies grant permission to these anthropologists by giving ______.

Their informed consent

What is NAGPRA?

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

Team research is coordinated by multiple ethnographers whereas longitudinal research ______.

Is the long-term study of an area or a population

What, ultimately, did Danish scientists' DNA tests reveal about Kennewick Man?

He was indeed a genetic relative of one of the claimant tribes.

When ethnography is multisited, it means it ______.

Studies people in multiple places

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) has established a Code of Ethics that requires that anthropologists be guided by a principle that has been compared to a doctor's Hippocratic oath, which essentially says, ______.

“First do no harm”

Which statement best represents the relationship between anthropological research and survey research?

A) Survey research must be used to study complex societies, but anthropological research must be used to study traditional small-scale communities.

B) Survey research relies on questionnaires to gather data, whereas ethnographic research relies on firsthand observations.

C) Survey research is better than anthropological research because it is based on random samples and it is more objective.

D) Anthropological research has become almost indistinguishable from survey research as anthropologists study large-scale modern communities.

B

Which is *not* true about the American Anthropological Association?

A) Informed consent is a key part of AAA's Code of Ethics.

B) The AAA has a Code of Ethics.

C) The AAA has threatened to censure any anthropologist who studies terrorism.

D) The AAA recognizes that anthropologists have obligations to their scholarly field, society, and the environment.

C

The ethics of archaeologists and biological anthropologists require that they negotiate with local officials and colleagues to establish who owns the bones, artifacts, and other materials recovered at excavation sites. These agreements between anthropologists and colleagues in the host countries are established through the procedure known as ______.

Informed consent

Which statement best describes the principal ethical guideline stated in the Code of Ethics of the American Anthropological Association?

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A) The anthropologist's first obligation is to the people in the study community.

B) The anthropologist's primary goal is to further the goals of science by publishing a detailed field report.

C) The anthropologist's first obligation is to the agency funding his or her fieldwork.

D) The anthropologist's primary goal is to avoid being investigated for ethical violations.

A

During the past 100 years, the skeletal remains and artifacts from many Native American burials excavated by archaeologists became the property of museums and universities. What is the name of the law that now requires that they be returned to the original tribal groups?

NAGPRA

Who or what ultimately gained possession of the remains of Kennewick Man?

The five Native American Nations living in the area where the skeleton was found

Launched in February 2007 and ended in September 2014, the Pentagon’s ___ ___ ___ program embedded anthropologists and other social scientists in military teams in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Human Terrain System

What is the anthropologist's primary ethical concern?

To ensure that their research causes no harm to the people, animals, or artifacts involved

The American Anthropological Association recognizes that anthropologists have obligations to ______.

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A) Their scholarly field

B) Humans and other species

C) The Central Intelligence Agency

D) The environment

E) The wider society

A, B, D, E

The primary ethical obligation of the anthropologist is ______.

To do no harm to the people being studied

Which of the following was *not* one of the reasons the AAA issued a statement disapproving of HTS—the Human Terrain System research?

A) Information supplied by the HTS anthropologists could help target specific groups for military action and thus bring harm to people.

B) The anthropologists’ responsibilities to their units may conflict with their obligations to the local people.

C) It may be impossible for anthropologists in war zones to identify themselves as anthropologists as distinct from military personnel.

D) In an active war zone, it is much easier to obtain informed consent, because people feel grateful for the military presence.

D