ARCH 21266126

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ARCH 2126/6126 BIAN 3010/6510

• Co-ordinators for these 3-unit honours
  preparation classes-
• Robert Attenborough (ARCH2126)
• Colin Groves (BIAN3010)

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How these courses link

• They are distinct courses with partially
  different time slots
• ARCH 2126 runs 2 x 1 ½ hours per week, Mon
  1-2.30, Wed 10-11.30
• BIAN 3010 runs Wed 10-11.30, Fri 10-11.30 see
  separate info
• ARCH 2126 runs in first 7 weeks, July-August,
  BIAN 3010 after that

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Techniques in Biological Anthropology

• Lecturer Prof Colin Groves

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Analytical Methods for Anthropology Archaeology

• ARCH 2126/6126
• Session 1
• Introduction

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for Anthropology Archaeology

• Basically, though not exclusively, an Honours
  preparation course for the anthropological
  disciplines (incl. arch.)
• How many here intending Honours or MA in-
• ? Social/cultural anthropology?? Biological
  anthropology?? Archaeology?
• Anyone else?

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Analytical Methods

• Analysis in the anthropological disciplines can
  be of many kinds verbal, linguistic,
  intellectual etc.
• For this course, the focus is on analysis through
  the use of numbers
• Lets be blunt statistics
• The textbooks already give this away

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Textbooks

• Main textbook Robert Drennan (1996) Statistics
  for Archaeologists a Commonsense Approach.
  Plenum, NY.
• Also recommended Lorena Madrigal (1998)
  Statistics for Anthropology. Cambridge University
  Press.
• Important difference between Drennan Madrigal
  is more in their approach than in their
  discipline or their merit

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Historically

• Historically, Statistics is no more than State
  Arithmetic It has been used indeed still is
  used to enable rulers to know how far they may
  safely go in picking the pockets of their
  subjects Taxation and military service were
  the earliest fields for the use of Statistics.
  For this reason was the Domesday book compiled.
  M.J. Moroney 1956

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Various senses of the word

• National statistics as in Australian Bureau of
  Statistics, cf. Moroney
• Statistics is also a branch of the mathematical
  sciences probability
• Statisticians are not necessarily enthusiasts for
  calculation
• Nor do they necessarily always share the same
  opinions on statistics

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Why should anthropologists archaeologists study
statistics?

• I assume that, for most of you, it is not sheer
  love of it that brings you here
• Anyone taken a statistics course?
• Anyone afraid of statistics or convinced they are
  incapable of it? proudly innumerate?
• Anyone feel statistical analysis is a badge of
  academic respectability rather than a truly
  necessary step in the research process?
• Or that if figures show it, it must be true?

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So why are numerical analyses so common in our
disciplines?

• After all, we (mostly) became anthropologists/arch
  aeologists out of curiosity excitement about
  human beings, societies, cultures, artefacts,
  biology, evolution not numbers
• Lets accept for the moment that numbers are
  helpful to us will return to the reasons later

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The purpose of this course

• You could have attended a formal statistics
  course run by a statistician
• Here you do not get a statistician, but you get
  someone more familiar with the uses you have for
  numerical analysis
• I aim for us to break down barriers to
  comprehension, develop confidence competence,
  encourage thought in terms of probability
  quantity, practise a few basic methods of data
  presentation analysis
• We do not become statisticians

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Assessment two items (three for postgrads)

• Take-home open-book test week 7
• Results interpretation exerciseweek 8
• Weighting 5050
• For postgrads only, a third item review of
  selected academic paperweek 10 (weighting
  1/31/31/3)

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Structure of the course

• 14 sessions, 1½-hours (maximum)
• Normally no more than one hour lecture, ½-hr for
  questions, discussion, problems
• Please draw my attention to good/bad uses of
  numerical data that you see in the media or in
  your academic reading
• Self-paced STEPS tutorials (ADH LG29)
• Adjunct ILP Excel SPSS sessions pls sign up
  http//ilp.anu.edu.au/ARCH

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A little history the role of computers

• Classical statistical theory and many of the
  tests in common use to this day were developed in
  the 1920s 1930s
• Choices made then were guided in part by need to
  keep calculations within feasible tolerable
  limits
• Since then especially since 1970s computers
  have become able to do massive amounts of tedious
  arithmetic

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Hands on

• This growth in computing power has implications
  for us at several levels
• Practical statistics no longer involves facility
  with calculation rather, ability to use
  computers to run packages
• We have a laboratory at our disposal AD Hope
  LG29, with 3 computers we have priority use of
  it for self-paced work Wednesdays 1-5 pm

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Gathering data in the anthropological disciplines

• Empirical research in any of these disciplines
  involves data gathering at times though in very
  different styles
• A socio-cultural anthropologist may collect a
  myth or a genealogy, observe a conversation or a
  ceremony, interview an informant, map and census
  a village or suburb

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And

• An archaeologist may describe, photograph or
  survey a site, draw a section, reconstruct a pot
  or a stone artefact, measure an artefact, sieve
  and analyse a soil sample, collect pollen or
  phytoliths, interview a traditional land owner,
  collect carbon or another material from which to
  estimate a date

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And

• A biological anthropologist may categorise a
  bone, fingerprint or blood group, count
  occurrences of a type of behaviour, undertake a
  craniometric or anthropometric measurement, weigh
  a baby, count malaria parasites in a blood
  sample, measure actual or self-reported food
  intake

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What are the data like?

• Some are purely qualitative interview
  transcripts etc.
• But some are categorizations we can count the
  numbers in the different categories
• And others are actual measurements
• Both of the last two are quantitative

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Our analytical methods here are for quantitative
data

• Why? The world is complex there are few
  absolutes in the biological and social sciences
  we need to be able to detect trends, patterns,
  relationships (e.g. smoking cancer) which may
  not be simple or obvious, may have
  counter-examples this is where good statistics
  can help
• So the discipline of statistics

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The purpose of statistics

• To provide insight into situations and problems
  by means of numbers
• How is this provided?
• Numerical data are available or are collected
• Data are organized, summarized, analysed and
  results presented
• Conclusions are drawn, in context
• Whole process is often guided by critical
  appraisal of similar work already done