FIELD METHODS

FIELD METHODS

1. Direct Observation

   • "Record what they see as they see it"
   • Personal diaries
     • Early impressions
   • Field notes

2. Conversations

   • From chit chat to interviews
   • Structured or unstructured

3. Interview Schedule

   • Not the same as questionaires
   • Face to face talk
     • More personal
   • Give structure to the research, but doesn't limit it

4. Genealogical Method

   • Developed to deal with the social building blocks of nonindustrial cultures
   • Recording of genealogical data to reconstruct history and understand current relationships

5. Well-informed Informants

   • People who can provide the most complete or useful information about particular aspects of life

6. Life Histories

   • They illustrate diversity
   • Reveal how specific people perceive, react to, and contribute to changes that affect their lives

7. Emic and Etic Research Strategies

   • EMIC
     • Investigates how natives think
     • "Native viewpoint"
   • ETIC
     • Anthropologist's point of view

8. Problem Oriented Research

   • Entering the field with a specific problem to investigate

9. Longitudinal Research

   • Long-term study of a certain community, region. society, culture or other unit
   • Repeated visits

10. SURVEY RESEARCH vs. ETHNOGRAPHY

    • ETHNOGRAPHY
      • Normally study whole, functioning communities
      • Firsthand field work: personal contact with the people the study
      • Interested in the totality of their informants' lives
      • Usually study people who don't read nor write
      • Don't need detailed knowledge of statistics
      • Studied societies are smaller and less diverse
    • SURVEY RESEARCH
      • The object of study is usually a sample chosen by the researcher.
      • No personal contact with respondants
      • Focuses on a small number of variables, not people's entire lives
      • Normally work in modern nations, where most people are literate
      • Results are statistically analyzed
      • Deals with large and diverse groups: uses samples

11. Estefanía Hernández Rodríguez A01377061