+Video: I Am Canadian

+What is Canadian culture? Hey, I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader.... I don't live in

an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled.... and I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada, although I'm certain they're really really nice. I have a Prime Minister, not a president. I speak English and French, not American. And I pronounce it 'about', not 'a boot'. I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack. I believe in peace keeping, not policing, diversity, not assimilation, and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal. A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch, and it is pronounced 'zed' not 'zee', 'zed' !!!! Canada is the second largest landmass! The first nation of hockey! and the best part of North America My name is Joe!! And I am Canadian!!!

http://vimeo.com/26274869

+Toronto Cultural Guide

In your groups make a guide to living in Toronto

What are the unwritten rules?

Where are the cool/interesting/good places to go?

How does the city work? Who runs it? How do people get around?

+

Social Science Research Methods

+The Social Science Inquiry Model

1) Questions

2) Focus

3) Formulate a Hypothesis

4) Collect Data

5) Assemble and Analyze Data

6) Stop and Check

7) Present Results

8) Reflection

+Social Science Inquiry Model

Questions: begin with questions about a topic that interests you, that can be answered through investigation. Create a central research question

Focus: Take notes about what you already know and research what has been previously learned.

Hypothesis: Turn your question into a hypothesis

Collect Data: select the research method that will provide the most relevant information to confirm your hypothesis

+Social Science Inquiry Model

Assemble and Analyze Data: organize your data into charts, graphs or another format that communicates your main ideas

Stop and Check: Have you collected enough data?

Present results: Draw conclusions, identify any limitations of your research, and make recommendations for next steps.

Reflection: Reflect and evaluate your research process and results.

+

Research Tools of Cultural Anthropologists

+Finding Informants

Anthropologists rely on informants: people in the community who are willing to share information about their culture and their community, who are reliable and knowledgeable.

The relationship between an anthropologist and an informant is a partnership and without the help of the informant the research cannot be completed.

+Interviews

Several types:

Unstructured Unstructured: between an anthropologist

and an informant, allows the researcher to test out their initial ideas.

The informant must know that they are being interviewed, and no questions can be pre-established

Useful when researchers are in the field for several months or years

+Interviews

Semi-Structured Often used by anthropologists who are in a

community for only a few weeks Researcher goes into interview with an

outline of information they want, but not a strict list of questions.

Interview is flexible, allowing for more in-depth coverage of some questions

+Interviews

Structured Use a set list of questions that do not change This method should be used when the researcher

is very clear on the topic and there is other information that is easily available

Can be administered by non-experts Does not require development of relationship

between interviewer and interviewee Produces consistent data that can be compared No open-ended questions, which could lead to

limited answers

+Counting People, Photographs, and Mapping

At the beginning of their research, anthropologists often count all the people they are studying and map their physical locations.

They may take photographs and draw diagrams

This information can be compared to interview answers or informants, which can help anthropologists verify what people are telling them.

+Participant Observation Participant observation is the main method of study

that ethnologists use to gather information about cultures

Bronislaw Malinowski pioneered this method in his 1915 study of the Trobiand Islanders in the South Pacific

Might have to learn a new language, adapt to new foods, new hygiene standards, different social conventions, and sometimes different climates Because they must face these challenges

anthropologists feel that fieldwork provides them with a deep and intimate knowledge

+Problems of Participant Observation

Highly subjective; the researcher’s point of view and cultural background can shape his or her conclusions

Important for researchers using PO to use objective data (based on facts, ex. Mapping, counting populations) along with notes from observation

Important for researchers to use reflexivity (practice of reflecting on your own world view, biases and impact on the culture you are studying)