Anthropological research
Subtitle: the structure of inquiry
By: [by] Pertti J. Pelto.
Publisher: Harper & Row
Published: 1970
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 370
Subjects: Ethnology -- Methodology.; Anthropology -- Research.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction. Elements of research methodology -- Assessing the usefulness of definitions -- Inductive and deductive approaches -- Theory, method, and empiricism -- Science and anthropology. Science and history -- Science and controlled experiments -- The problem of cross-cultural comparisons -- Science : a definition -- Anthropology and problems of methodology -- Conclusions -- Operationalism in anthropological research. Operationalism and intersubjectivity -- Operationalism and operationism -- Operationalism in anthropology -- Theory vs. reality : the operational compromise -- Summary and conclusions -- Units of observation : emic and etic approaches. The emic or “new ethnography” approach -- The eticists -- Emic, etic, and the goals of anthropology -- The emic-etic compromise : “imbedded emicism” -- Tools of research. Participant observation -- Key-informant interviewing -- Collection of life histories -- Structured interviews -- Questionnaires -- Ratings and rankings -- The semantic differential technique -- Projective techniques -- Other psychological research instruments -- Unobtrusive measures -- Technical equipment in field work -- Multi-instrument research -- Counting and sampling. Examples of counting in ethnographic reports -- Problems of representativeness : sampling -- Patterning and sampling -- Summary and conclusions -- Measurement, scales, and statistics. Murdock, social structure, and the chi-square test -- Types of measurements: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales -- Tests of independence and measures of association -- Parametric and nonparametric statistics -- More complicated statistical operations -- Tests of independence do not prove causation -- The Meehl paradox: some problems in hypothesis testing -- Specialized competence in statistics -- Art and science in field work. Strategies in the art of field work -- Hazards and punishments of field work -- Sources of tension in field work -- Elements of community study -- Description and hypothesis testing -- Multi-community research projects -- Assistants -- Communication among fieldworkers -- Team research at special events -- Interdisciplinary research -- Summary -- Building anthropological theory : methods of comparative research. Statistical cross-cultural comparisons -- Causal inferences from correlational data -- Small sample studies, controlled comparisons, and “natural experiments” -- Multiple hypotheses : the strategic elimination of alternatives -- Methodology and the culture of anthropology -- Epilogue. Relevance, ethics, and the future of anthropology -- Appendixes. Appendix A : Notes on research design -- Appendix B : The Guttmann scale : a special type of ordinal measure -- Appendix C : On using computers -- Appendix D : Field guide to North American celebrations.