chapter 2 ethics and methods © 2008 mcgraw-hill higher education. all right reserved

Chapter 2

Ethics and Methods

© 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

Anthropological Approach

Holistic perspective

Cultural relativity

Cross-cultural comparisons

Terms for Chapter 2

Ethnocentric

Adaptation

Ethnography

EthnologyEmic – insiders view

Etic – outsiders view

© 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All right reserved.

Ethics and Anthropology

American Anthropological Association

Code of EthicsInformed consent

Collaborative relationships

Inclusion of host country colleagues in planning, funding requests, and dissemination of results

“Giving something back”

Western Science Methods

AnalysisInductive

Deductive

Scientific Method

Data

Hypothesis

Theory/Law

Publish

Methods Empirical observations

Objective

Subjective

Methods in Cultural Anthropology

Two brief categories of investigationEthnographic

Comparative

Each one has two partsPresent

Recent past

Ethnographic Methods

Fieldwork Deals with the present time

Primary method of collecting data

Three main methods for fieldworkParticipant Observation

Interview

Media

Ethnohistory

Deals with people in recent past

Get data from the textual sources

Comparative Methods

Cross-cultural comparisons

Controlled Historical Comparisons

Cultural Anthropology and Sociology

Share interest in social relations, organization, and behavior

Sociology traditionally focused on large, industrialized Western nations

Anthropology traditionally focused on small, nonliterate populations

Ethnography: Anthropology’s Distinctive Strategy

Firsthand, personal study of local cultural settings

Extended period of time in a given society or community

Ethnographic Techniques

Observation and participant observation

Ethnographic Techniques

Conversation, interviewing, and interview schedules

Ethnographic Techniques

The genealogical method

Key cultural consultants (key informants)Life histories

Ethnographic Techniques

Local beliefs and perceptions versus

those of the ethnographerEmic (native-oriented) approach

Etic (science-oriented) approach

Types of Ethnography

Problem-oriented EthnographyMost ethnographers investigate a specific problem

Collection of data on range of variables

Longitudinal Research

Team Research

Survey Research

Becoming more popular

Impersonal

LimitationsRace

Gender

Culture Shock

What is culture shock?

How could anthropologists get it?