Methods of Investigation in Cultural Anthropology
Objectives of Cultural Research
The study of cultural anthropology through methods of investigation is guided by several major objectives:
Discussing the major objectives of cultural research.
Understanding that research requires different methods depending on the context.
Describing the methods used to study the culture of a contemporary or living society.
Describing the method used to study the past culture of a society.
Understanding the purpose of comparative research.
Explaining cross-cultural comparisons.
Describing controlled comparative ideas.
Core Categorizations: Ethnography and Ethnology
Anthropological research serves two primary purposes:
Ethnography: The collection and recording of descriptive data about the cultures of specific peoples.
Ethnology: The attempt to explain the past and present diversity found in cultural systems throughout the world.
Anthropologists categorize their descriptions of culture based on time:
Synchronic: Describing a culture at one specific period in time.
Diachronic: Describing the changes in a culture over time.
Ethnographic Research Methods
There are two primary sources of cultural data:
Accounts by others: Utilizing documents and records written by people other than the group members themselves. This is known as ethnohistoric research.
Living members of the society: Studying and interviewing group members directly, known as ethnographic fieldwork.
Ethnographic Fieldwork characteristics:
It is the most common method in the field.
It is an immersive experience for the anthropologist.
Anthropologists employ a variety of data-gathering techniques during fieldwork.
Fieldwork Techniques
Interviewing:
This involves collecting cultural data through systematic questioning.
Interviews can be Structured or Unstructured.
Challenges include determining the correct questions to ask and how to accurately interpret the responses.
Recall Ethnography:
This technique involves interviewing older individuals to reconstruct a cultural system as it existed at a slightly earlier period.
It is specifically used when a culture has undergone significant and recent changes.
Participant Observation:
This is the main technique used in ethnographic fieldwork.
Fieldworkers live among a people and participate in their daily activities.
The primary emphasis remains on observation, rather than participation.
It allows the researcher to observe "ideal behavior" (cultural norms) as well as instances of individual deviations from those norms.
Challenges and Professional Dynamics in Field Research
Stereotyping:
Stereotyping consists of having preconceived mental images of a group that bias the way one perceives group members and interprets their behavior.
This is a bidirectional problem: Anthropologists may stereotype the people they study, and the people being studied often stereotype the anthropologists.
Developing Rapport:
Rapport is the development of a working relationship between the researcher and the community members.
This is often difficult as many people feel a natural mistrust of the anthropologist.
Defining the Researcher's Role:
Anthropologists are often assigned specific roles by the community, such as:
A material resource (e.g., providing money or use of a vehicle).
Comic relief (due to their ignorance of local customs).
A source of information about the outside world.
A harmless nuisance.
Identifying and Interviewing Consultants:
Consultant (Informant): A member of the society who provides information to a fieldworker, usually via a formal interview or survey.
Key Consultant (Key Informant): A specific consultant who is especially knowledgeable about a particular subject.
Potential Issues: Consultants may be misinformed or may choose to deliberately mislead the researcher.
Fieldwork as a Rite of Passage
Fieldwork is considered a key aspect of an anthropologist’s education.
It serves to test the notion of cultural relativity.
Researchers often experience culture shock, characterized by uncertainty and anxiety when placed in a strange cultural setting.
Anthropologists are usually uninvited guests of the community, present primarily to serve their own interests.
Responsibility: If a serious problem arises, the anthropologist must shoulder the responsibility for their presence and actions.
Ethical and Historical Shifts in Anthropology
Until the late century, there was a high sense of urgency regarding "vanishing" cultures, which sometimes drove the use of invasive methods.
Recent changes in the relationship between anthropologists and indigenous peoples include:
Many governments have enacted laws to protect indigenous interests.
Indigenous peoples have organized to safeguard artifacts and confidential knowledge from intentional or unintentional exploitation.
AAA Code of Ethics:
The American Anthropological Association states the primary rule is to "do no harm."
However, there remains a debate over who determines what constitutes "harmful" behavior.
Ethnohistory: Studying the Past through Records
Ethnohistory is defined as the study of past cultures using written accounts and other documents.
Distinction from History:
For ethnohistorians, historical events are of interest only if they assist in understanding the cultural system or changes within that system.
Because the people being studied are often nonliterate, ethnohistorians rely on accounts recorded by members of other, literate societies (e.g., explorers, missionaires).
Critical Evaluation: Researchers must ask if the original observer was knowledgeable or biased.
Comparative Methods and Generalization
Anthropologists use comparative methods to make generalizations about cultural systems and to test hypotheses.
This involve systematically comparing elements from many different cultures.
The two common comparative methods are:
Cross-cultural comparison.
Controlled comparison.
Cross-Cultural Comparison
The Procedure:
State a testable hypothesis.
Choose a sample of societies from around the world and study existing ethnographies describing them.
Classify and group data to examine correlations.
Hypothetical Example:
Hypothesis: "Sorcery is more important in societies with no formal means of punishment than in societies with a specialized legal system."
Data Set: Statistics from societies.
Results Supporting Hypothesis:
Important Sorcery and Specialized Legal Apparatus Absent: societies.
Important Sorcery and Specialized Legal Apparatus Present: societies.
Unimportant Sorcery and Specialized Legal Apparatus Absent: societies.
Unimportant Sorcery and Specialized Legal Apparatus Present: societies.
Potential Drawback of Cross-Cultural Comparison:
Confusion of correlation with causation.
Bias toward supporting the hypothesis can lead to misclassification of ambiguous data.
It can be reductive, ignoring nuances and isolating cultural variables from the whole culture.
It typically uses synchronic data, ignoring system changes over time.
Research Question Example: Regarding Christianity, Judaism, and Islam being monotheistic with common roots but different prayer practices (e.g., prostrating toward Mecca). Should researchers consider them one kind of religion or distinct categories?
Controlled Historical Comparison
This method uses changes in cultural variables over time (diachronic data) to define general cultural patterns and test hypotheses.
Challenges:
Determining if the societies and variables chosen are truly comparable.
Identifying the significant factor that determines the differences observed.
Example (Michael Allen's Research):
Hypothesis: "Given the same disruptive external pressures, matrilineal societies maintain their population levels better over time than patrilineal societies."
Findings:
Year : Matrilineal population: ; Patrilineal population: . Total: .
Year : Matrilineal population: ; Patrilineal population: . Total: .
Percent remaining: Matrilineal: ; Patrilineal: . Total: .
This data supports the hypothesis.
Summary of Investigation Methods
Ethnographic methods: Collection of descriptive cultural data on a particular society or group.
Ethnographic fieldwork: Collection of data from living individuals; requires living with or near the subjects.
Ethnohistoric research: Study of past cultural systems through written records.
Comparative methods: Comparative study of systems across different societies to explain differences and test hypotheses.
Cross-cultural comparisons: Testing hypotheses using synchronic data from multiple societies.
Controlled comparisons: Using historically documented changes (diachronic data) in specific groupings of societies to define patterns.
Questions & Discussion
Check Your Understanding Questions:
Which do you feel is more important today: ethnography or ethnology?
What kinds of questions can a diachronic study answer that a synchronic study cannot?
Imagine that you are engaged in ethnographic fieldwork. What kinds of things might you learn about the culture you are studying? What might you learn about yourself?
Now imagine that you want to study a culture as it existed before the Internet. How would you gather and interpret data?
Say you want to investigate whether rigidly defined gender roles tend to correlate with a state of frequent warfare in societies. What approach would you use?
Say you want to investigate whether ethnic minorities within a larger group retain more of their culture when explicit legal protections are in place or when such protections are not in place. What approach would you use?