Please consult the Rural Studies listing for a detailed description. Those faculty members whose research and teaching expertise includes aspects of international development studies may serve as advisers for MA students. Please consult the International Development Studies listing for a detailed description of the MA collaborative program and the special additional requirements for each of the participating departments. The critical review of current methodological issues, such as research design, the ethics of social research, model building, formulation of hypotheses, causal inference, operationalization of concepts, measurement of variables, sampling, and techniques of data collection and analysis. The proseminar concerns matters involved in graduate studies and later work as a professional sociologist or anthropologist, including how to form a graduate advisory committee, assistantship responsibilities, presentation skills preparation of research proposals for theses and major papers, exploration of careers in sociology and anthropology, writing grant proposals, reports and articles, and teaching.
Faculty participate and discuss their research or teaching interests.
A central concern will be to develop the student's ability to assess theory critically and to understand how theory and research relate to each other. An examination of classical and contemporary anthropological theory, including an emphasis on the most recent directions in the discipline. An examination of the methods of qualitative research, including participant observation and unstructured interviews, as well as the ethical considerations of fieldwork. Other topics, such as comparative and historical methods, may be included. A cultural interpretation of technology in industrial and industrializing societies.