Chapter 5

Methods in
Cultural Anthropology
What We Will Learn
How do cultural anthropologists conduct
fieldwork?
What types of data-gathering techniques do
cultural anthropologists use?
What are some of the problems faced by cultural
anthropologists that make fieldwork somewhat
less than romantic?
What ethical dilemmas do applied
anthropologists face when conducting fieldwork?
Common Issues in Fieldwork
Gaining acceptance in the community.
Selecting the most appropriate data-
gathering techniques.
Understanding how to operate within the
local political structure.
Taking precautions against investigator
bias.
Common Issues in Fieldwork
Choosing knowledgeable informants.
Coping with culture shock.
Learning a new language.
Be willing to reevaluate findings in the
light of new evidence.
Fieldwork
The study of everyday
life in the state of Bahia
in Brazil (above) presents
different problems and
challenges to the field
anthropologist than does
the study of village life in
Namibia (below).
Participant Observation
Cultural
anthropologist Steve
Winn conducts
participant
observation fieldwork
in central Africa
among the Efe of
Zaire.
Preparing for Fieldwork
Obtain funding from a source that
supports anthropological research.
Take the proper health precautions.
Obtain permission or clearance from the
host government.
Become proficient in the local language.
Make arrangements for personal
possessions while out of the country.
Basic Stages of Field Research
1. Selecting a research problem
2. Formulating a research design
3. Collecting the data
4. Analyzing the data
5. Interpreting the data
Kenya Kinship Study (KKS)
Studied the relationship between family
interaction and urbanization.
The KKS identified several ways to identify
concrete measures of family interaction:
1. Residence patterns

2. Visitation patterns

3. Mutual assistance

4. Formal family gatherings

Cultural anthropologists collect their data
and test their hypotheses by means of:

1. analyzing data.
2. reflexive
ethnography.
3. sociometric
sampling.
4. fieldwork.
Answer: 4
Cultural anthropologists collect their data
and test their hypotheses by means of
fieldwork.
Data Gathering Techniques
Participant-Observation
Interviewing
Census Taking
Mapping
Document Analysis
Collecting Genealogies
Photography
Collecting Data
Alan Rumsey listens
to a warrior from
Highland New
Guinea while
collecting linguistic
anthropological data.
Guidelines for Participant-
Observation Fieldwork
When introducing oneself, select one role
and use it consistently.
Proceed slowly.
Assume the role of a student wanting to
learn more about a subject on which the
people are the experts.
Participant-Observation
Advantages Disadvantages
Enhances rapport Small sample size.
Enables Difficult to obtain
fieldworkers to standardized comparable
distinguish actual data.
and expected Problems of recording.
behavior. Obtrusive effect on subject
Permits observation matter
of nonverbal
behavior.
Participant Observation
Anthropologist Mark
Jenike weighs a
duiker that was
caught by a Lese
hunter in Zaire,
central Africa.
_____ involves selecting the appropriate
data-gathering techniques for measuring
the research variables.

1. Interpreting data
2. Research design
3. Analyzing data
4. Collecting data
Answer: 4
Collecting data involves selecting the
appropriate data-gathering techniques for
measuring the research variables.
Once the data has been gathered, the
researcher moves to:

1. research design.
2. interpreting data.
3. analyzing data.
4. participant
observation.
Answer: 3
Once the data has been gathered, the
researcher moves to analyzing data.
Anthropological Fieldwork
Anthropologist
Marjorie Shostak
conducting
anthropological
fieldwork among the
indigenous peoples
of the Kalahari Desert
in Botswana,
southern Africa.
Anthropological Research and
AIDS
In 2003 AIDS claimed 3 million lives, or more
than 8,200 people each day.
95% of all new AIDS cases are occurring in the
poorest countries that are least equipped to
handle the epidemic.
The life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is
currently 47 years, but without the AIDS
epidemic, life expectancy would be 62 years.
Anthropological Research and
AIDS
One study was conducted by anthropologist
Michelle Renaud who worked with registered
prostitutes in Kaolack, Senegal.
It was estimated that 4 of every 10 of Kaolacks
registered prostitutes were HIV positive, as
compared to 10% of prostitutes nationally.
Almost all prostitutes enforced condom use with
clients, but as girlfriends, they required their
partners to use condoms only 71% of the time.
Anthropological Research and
AIDS
Nonprostitutes sample were reluctant to insist
that their sexual partners use condoms.
Renaud concluded that both prostitutes and
nonprostitutes did not want to risk losing their
partners by implying that one of them might be
HIV positive.
She recommended to Senegalese health officials
that future AIDS education programs target
groups other than just prostitutes, including
clients of prostitutes and their boyfriends.
Distribution of HIV/AIDS
Ethnographic Interview
How it is unique:
The interviewer and the subject almost
always speak different first languages.
Much broader in scope because it
elicits information on the entire culture.
Used in conjunction with other data-
gathering techniques.
Structured and Unstructured
Interviews
In unstructured interviews the
interviewer asks open-ended questions
and allows interviewees to respond at
their own pace in their own words.
In structured interviews, the interviewer
asks all informants the same questions, in
the same sequence, and under the same
set of conditions.
Guidelines for Ethnographic
Interviewing
1. Obtain informed consent before
interviewing.
2. Maintain neutrality by not conveying to
the interviewee what may be the
desired answer.
3. Pre-test questions to make sure they are
understandable and culturally relevant.
4. Keep the recording unobtrusive.
Guidelines for Ethnographic
Interviewing
5. Make certain the conditions under which
the interviews are conducted are
consistent.
6. Use simple, clean, and jargon-free
language.
7. Phrase questions positively.
Guidelines for Ethnographic
Interviewing
8. Keep the questions and the interview
short.
9. Avoid questions that have two parts to
the answer.
10. Save controversial questions for the
end.
_____ involve a minimum of control, with the
anthropologist asking open-ended questions
on general topics.

1. Structured
interviews
2. Family profile data
3. Research designs
4. Unstructured
interviews
Answered: 4
Unstructured interviews involve a
minimum of control, with the
anthropologist asking open-ended
questions on general topics.
Ethnographers in the Field
Ethnographers in the
field are interested in
studying all segments
of a population.
They would include
these children from
Guizhou Province in
China as well as their
parents.
Choosing A Data-gathering
Technique
What is the nature of the problem being
investigated?
How receptive are the people being
studied?
Characteristics of Culture
Shock
Confusion over how to behave.
Surprise or disgust after realizing some of
the features of the new culture.
Feeling a loss of old familiar surroundings
and ways of doing things.
Characteristics of Culture
Shock
Feeling rejected by members of the new
culture.
Loss of self-esteem because you dont
seem to be functioning very effectively.
Doubt over your own cultural values.
Symptoms of Culture Shock
Compulsive eating Chauvinistic
Homesickness
or drinking excesses
Stereotyping and
Boredom Irritability hostility toward host
nationals
Withdrawal Exaggerated Loss of ability to
cleanliness work effectively

Excessive Marital stress and Unexplainable

sleep family tension weeping
Narrative Ethnography
Narrative ethnographers are not
interested in descriptive accounts of
another culture written with scientific
detachment.
Their ethnographies are reflections of how
their own personalities and cultural
influences combine with personal
encounters with their informants to
produce cultural data.
The Far Side by Gary Larson
Cultural
anthropologists often
have an obstructive
effect on the people
they study.
The Human Relations Area
Files (HRAF)
The worlds largest anthropological data
bank.
Developed for the purpose of testing
hypotheses and building theory.
Ethnographic data on over 300 cultures
organized according to 700 different
subjects.
Ethics and Anthropology
Areas of responsibility for anthropologists:
The people under study
The local communities
The host governments and their own
government
Other members of the scholarly community
Organizations that sponsor research
Their own students
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Herman Shaw, 94, a
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
victim, smiles after
receiving an official
apology from President
Clinton.
Clinton apologized to
black men whose syphilis
went untreated by
government doctors.