Anthropology Fieldwork
From KstructIB
Fieldwork : Working on gathering information, data, research etc. on a certain people.
Contents |
[edit] Research methods
Quantitative (give number and/or ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers)
- Surveys- a broad overview of particular subjects
- Sampling- investigating a small part of a larger whole
[edit] Surveys
[edit] Advantages and Disadvantages
- Easier to analyse
- Analysis of a lot of data
- General
- Too general
- Covers a large area
- Bias
[edit] Qualitative (detailed answers)
- PO : involvement of anthropologist in daily activities of community.
- Interviews : conversations between ethnographer and informants.
- Focus groups : a group of people brought together to help explain a particular subject.
- Network analysis : focusing on individuals/small groups and studying their relationships with others
- Genealogies : tracing links between individuals to find out about relations.
- Life histories : personal study of an informant’s life and all that influenced it
- Case Studies : focusing on a single individual/episode
- Filmed and taped records
- Team research : teams of ethnographers travelling together to study cultures etc.
[edit] Sampling
[edit] Advantages and Disadvantages
- More specific
- Can influence person’s answers
- Informal and relaxed
- Time consuming (sometimes info is irrelevant)
- Less ‘power’ relations
- Hard to extract information
- Bias
Variables : Things which can change the process /outcome of research. The object is to minimise the variables, by looking at the same or similar group of people- the control group.
The control group : A group, similar in size and composition to the study group, is used for purposes of comparison or a cross-check on the data provided by the study group.
