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Paolisso - Anthropological Research Methods

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12 views17 pages

Paolisso - Anthropological Research Methods

Uploaded by

M Shoaib Ayub
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Anthropological

Research Methods
Michael Paolisso
University of Maryland, College Park
Department of Anthropology

Anthropology Immersion Workshop


National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center
Feb 29, 2016
Anthropological Research Methods:
Caveats and Promises
• Wide range of methods depending on theoretical
orientation and problem
• Methods vary depending on subfield of anthropology
(socio-cultural anthropology)
• Methods have multidimensional flexibility depending
on epistemological and ontological positioning
• Methods provide a fundamental platform from which
to engage in trans-disciplinary and synthesis research
Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology
(Bernard & Gravlee 2015)
Research Methods:
Principles and Practices

Holism Cultural relativism

Fieldwork Ethnography

Multi-sited Large tool kit

People Centered Culture, Structure and


Process
Holism
• Meaning, understanding and behavior
are generated by interconnections of a
whole
• The specific cannot be understood
without reference to that whole, or
some subset of that whole
• Reductionism and parsimony are
suspect unless holistically
contextualized
Cultural Relativism

• Resistance to universal assumptions about


socio-cultural processes
• Focus on cross cultural or group patterns
and also exceptions and alternatives to
those patterns
• Provide a voice and articulate value to socio-
cultural phenomena in marginalized, under-
served and under-represented populations
• Focus on inter-cultural or group patterns of
agreement and disagreement
Fieldwork: Then and Now
• The real-
world places
for engaging
pe0ple;
• Still
fundamental
to our
discipline both
Margaret Mead and Gregory real and
Bateson, New Guinea 1938 imagined;
• Opportunity Susan Crate, Pacific Islands
for grounding (2012)
and validating
our theories,
methods, and
goals;
• Professionally
and
personally
challenging
Bronislaw Malinowski, Joshua Bell, Papua New Guinea
(rite of
Trobriand Islands (1918) (200s)
Ethnography • Empirical grounding of our
research during fieldwork

• Engaged, inductive and


reflective

• Focused but flexible

• Triangulation of practices and


tools

• Participatory and Collaborative


Multi-Sited

• Ethnographic fieldwork across more than


one geographic, community or institution
site
• Examination of linkages among sites at
different spatial and temporal scales
• Focuses on inter-site flows of knowledge,
values, power, materials and their human
and environmental consequences (justice,
decisions, polices)
Methodological Toolkit
Participant Observation

Interviews and Surveys

Qualitative-Quantitative
Analysis

Modeling
Participant Observation
• A defining method for anthropology
• Participate in and observe people and groups
• The anthropologist as instrument or interlocutor
• Data or information subject to post modern,
scientific and humanistic analysis
• Stand alone or complementary to other methods
Interviews and Surveys
• Use informal interviews to identify relevant issues and topics and to complement
participant observation
– Key informants and collaborators
– Very open ended

• Use semi-structured interviews to simulate natural discourse


– Large group of experts that represent diverse views (n=10-40)
– Set open-ended questions asked to all with probing
– Non quantitative but amenable to qualitative analysis/modeling

• Surveys
– Developed from interview data for statistical and model analysis
– Used to transition from subset of interviewees to larger populations
– Results validated and interpreted using qualitative interview and p/o data
Anthropological Modeling
Examples Text Model: Harmful Algae Bloom

• Text Models (Atlas.ti)


• Cultural Modeling
• Cultural Consensus
• Social Network Analysis
• Complex Adaptive Systems
• Agent Based Modeling
• Participatory GIS
Outcomes of Methodological Goals,
Principles, and Practices
• Ethnography or case study
• Comparative research
• Inter- and trans-disciplinary research
• Participatory and collaborative research
• Valuation and agency of knowledge, values and practices
within and between groups
• Attention to structures and processes across time and
space
Methods tell much about
Anthropology
• We produce ethnographies and people-centered
accounts
• Our methods organize our goal to talk and understand
people and their contexts
• Produce data that are valid ethnographically
• Essential to evaluating our theoretical assumptions
Thanks

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