On the Conduct of Inquiry in Anthropology

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On the Conduct of Inquiryin Anthropology
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Major method of research

• Fieldwork, or
• Participant observation

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On Participant Observation

• If our understanding of other societies has
  improved over the last century, it is not because
  we have sat around a table exchanging ideas but
  because we have collected a special kind of
  evidence by a special method. . . .
  Understanding is gained not just by observation,
  but by participation (being, in a way, a Nuer),
  interpreting not just with the mind, but with the
  heart and the whole personality.
• ----George Stocking, reviewing a book on
  fieldwork(1992), p. 400

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Previous methods of research

• Armchair anthropology

• Verandah anthropology

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Bronislaw Malinowski

• 1884 - 1942

http//www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1604/v
ideo/Verandah.html Miller, B., (2007). Cultural
Anthropology. Pearson Education Boston.
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Malinowski, B. (1964). Argonauts of the Western
Pacific. London.
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Malinowski, B. (1964). Argonauts of the Western
Pacific. London.
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Long-Term Participation

• Pros
• Enhances rapport
• Enters a particular social position
• Overcomes Hawthorne effect, in which participants
  change their behavior to conform to the perceived
  expectations of the researcher
• Allows way of life to be deeply felt and
  understood (in the bones) of the ethnographer
• Allows one to become fluent in the local language

• Cons
• One cannot be everywhere, so one needs to choose
  where to be
• Ones role opens and closes possibilities
• Difficult to obtain standardized comparable data
• Takes a lot of time

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Observation

• An ethnographer needs to find out how much his or
  her own experience is true for others
• An ethnographer needs to take notes and record
  conversation (something that regular participants
  wouldnt do)

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Looking for patterns

• What is present here? (descriptive pattern of
  central tendency)
• Why is this pattern present here? (associational
  patterns)
• What is the range of variations?
• Examples city and countryside, government and
  politics, and gender relations

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In addition to participant observation.

• Talking with people (informal conversations)
• Life history
• Photography and video
• Collecting songs, speeches, jokes, myths, and
  stories
• Archival or historical sources
• Census data
• Genealogies
• Maps
• Letters and columns in newspapers
• Triangulation of data

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