Journal of Anthropological ResearchI’m happy to announce that a new paper with colleagues David Kennedy, Ricardo Godoy, and Bill Leonard just appeared in the Journal of Anthropological Research.

The article, “Methods for collecting panel data: What can cultural anthropology learn from other disciplines?” argues that the key theoretical concerns of cultural anthropology imply a need for panel data, but that we lag behind other disciplines in making use of panel designs. Drawing on Godoy and Leonard’s experience running the Tsimane’ Amazonian Panel Study (TAPS), we make practical suggestions for how and why to collect panel data in cultural anthropology.

Here’s the abstract:

In this article, we argue for the increased use of panel data in cultural anthropology. Panel data, or repeated measures from the same units of observation at different times, have proliferated across the social sciences, with the exception of anthropology. The lack of panel data in anthropology is puzzling, since panel data are among the best for analyzing continuity and change—central concerns of anthropological theory. Panel data also establish temporal order in causal analysis and potentially improve the reliability and accuracy of measurement. We review how researchers in anthropology and neighboring disciplines have dealt with the unique challenges of collecting panel data and draw lessons for minimizing the adverse consequences of measurement error, for reducing attrition, and for ensuring continuity in management, archiving, documentation, financing, and leadership. We argue that increased use of panel data has the potential to advance empirical knowledge and contribute to anthropological theory.

A manuscript version of the article is available here. I’d be happy to send a PDF of the final, published version to anyone who’s interested — leave a comment below or drop me a line.