Course Schedule and Readings

Week 1 (Aug. 24) Introduction

  • Overview of the course
  • Proposals and pedagogy
  • Funding sources
Recommended reading

Bestor, T, J Comaroff, L Garro, G Ryan, S Weller (2007). Guidelines for research proposals in anthropology. In, M Lamont, P White: Workshop on Interdisciplinary Standards for Systematic Qualitative Research (Appendix 3), Workshop report submitted to NSF.

Pzreworski, A., & Salomon, F. (1998). The art of writing proposals. Brooklyn, NY: Social Science Research Council.

Silverman, S. (1991). Writing grant proposals for anthropological research. Current Anthropology, 32(4), 485–489.

Winslow, D. (2007). What makes an NSF proposal successful? Anthropology News, 48(7), 31–31.

Winslow, D. (2008). Writing a dissertation research proposal? Be specific, be clear and proofread! Anthropology News, 49(8), 27.

Winslow, D. (2010). Funding a “healthy mix” of research: Peer review at NSF. Anthropology News, 51(4), 27–27.

Winslow, D. (2010). Cultural anthropology grows at NSF. Anthropology News, 51(2), 29–29.

Winslow, D. (2011). Anthropology without borders. Anthropology News, 52(2), 29–30.

Week 2 (Aug. 31) Foundations

  • Language and logic of social science
  • Concepts, variables, and measurement
  • Validity, reliability, accuracy, and precision
  • Causal inference

Due – Research interests

Bernard, Ch. 1-2 (pp. 1-53)

Agar, M. (2006). An ethnography by any other name Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(4).

Fanelli, D. (2010). Do pressures to publish increase scientists’ bias? An empirical support from US states data. PLoS ONE, 5(4), e10271.

Lewis, J., DeGusta, D., Meyer, M., & Monge, J. (2011). The mismeasure of science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on skulls and bias. PLoS Biology, 9(6), e1001071.

Further reading

Greenfield, P. M. 2000. What psychology can do for anthropology, or why anthropology took postmodernism on the chin. American Anthropologist 102:564-576.

Aunger, R. 2004. Chapter 1 (p. 1-20) “A crisis in confidence,” Reflexive ethnographic science. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Bernard, H. R., P. J. Pelto, O. Werner, J. Boster, A. K. Romney, A. Johnson, C. R. Ember, and A. Kasakoff. (1986). The construction of primary data in cultural anthropology. Current Anthropology 27:382-395.

McEwen, W. J. (1963). Forms and problems of validation in social anthropology. Current Anthropology 4:155-183.

Week 3 (Sept. 7) Developing research questions

  • The research cycle
  • Types of research questions
  • Matching questions and methods
  • Literature search strategies

Bernard, Ch. 3 (pp. 54-81)

Gravlee, Clarence C. (2011). “Research design and methods in medical anthropology,” in A companion to medical anthropology. Edited by Merrill Singer and Pamela Erickson, p. 69-91. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Handwerker, W. P. 2001. Chapter 2, “Identify the question,” Quick ethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Further reading

Hart, C. 1999. Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Week 4 (Sept. 14) Ethics

  • Professional ethical codes
  • Current controversies
  • Working with the IRB

Due – Research question exercise

Fluehr-Lobban, C. 1998. “Ethics,” in Handbook of methods in cultural anthropology. Edited by H. R. Bernard, pp. 173-202. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.

González, R. J. (2008). “Human terrain” Anthropology Today, Past, present and future applications, 24(1), 21–26.

AAA Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with the US Security and Intelligence Communities (CEAUSSIC), Executive Summary (2009).

Gregor, T. A., and D. R. Gross. (2004). Guilt by association: The culture of accusation and the American Anthropological Association’s investigation of Darkness in El Dorado. American Anthropologist 106:687-698.

U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. 1979.The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research.

Nathan, R. 2005. “An anthropologist goes under cover,” in Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. B11-B13.

Further reading

AAA Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with the US Security and Intelligence Communities, Final Report (2007).

Meskell, L., and P. Pels. Editors. (2005). Embedding ethics. New York: Berg Publishers.

Armbruster, H., & Lærke, A. (2008). Taking sides: Ethics, politics and fieldwork in anthropology. New York: Berghahn Books.

Week 5 (Sept. 21) Experimental thinking and research design

  • Experimental and nonexperimental research
  • Internal validity and causation
  • Threats to validity and ways to manage them

Due – problem statement

Bernard, Ch. 4 (pp. 82-112)

Johnson, J. C. (1998). Research design and research strategies. In H. R. Bernard, Ed., Handbook of methods in cultural anthropology (p. 131-171). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.

Aunger, R. 2004. Chapter 5 (p. 94-115), “Reflexive realism: A new way of doing ethnography,” Reflexive ethnographic science. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Fowler, J. H. (2008). The Colbert bump in campaign donations: more truthful than truthy. PS: Political Science & Politics, 41(03).

Further reading

Campbell, D. T., and J. C. Stanley. (1966). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Company.

Brim, J. A., and D. H. Spain. (1974). Research design in anthropology: Paradigms and pragmatics in the testing of hypotheses. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Gil-White, F. (2002). The cognition of ethnicity: native category systems under the field experimental microscope. Field Methods, 14(2), 161–189.

Paluck, E. L. (2010). Is it better not to talk? Group polarization, extended contact, and perspective taking in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(9), 1170–1185.

Week 6 (Sept. 28) Sampling

  • Central limit theorem
  • Representativeness and generalizability
  • Selecting ethnographic informants

Due – Literature review

Bernard, Ch. 5-7 (p. 113-155)

Handwerker, W. P., and D. F. Wozniak. 1997. Sampling strategies for the collection of cultural data: an extension of Boas’s answer to Galton’s problem. Current Anthropology38:869-875.

Benfer, R. A. 1968. The desirability of small samples for anthropological inference. American Anthropologist 70:949-951.

Further reading

Johnson, J. C. 1990. Selecting ethnographic informants. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Cohen, J. 1992. A power primer. Psychological Bulletin 112:155-159.

Thomas, D. H. 1986. Chapter 15 (pp. 439-456), “Sampling problems in anthropology” Refiguring anthropology: First principles of probability and statistics. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.

Week 7 (Oct. 5) Participant observation

  • Levels of participation
  • Basic skills: informal interviews, observing, recording, managing roles
  • Writing and managing fieldnotes

Due – Research setting

Bernard, Ch. 12-13 (pp. 256-305)

Collings, P. (2009). Participant observation and phased assertion as research strategies in the Canadian Arctic. Field Methods, 21(2), 133.

Winchatz, M. R. (2010). Participant observation and the nonnative ethnographer: Implications of positioning on discourse-centered fieldwork. Field Methods, 22(4), 340–356.

Johnson, J., Avenarius, C., & Weatherford, J. (2006). The active participant-observer: Applying social role analysis to participant observation. Field Methods, 18(2), 111.

Further reading

Becker, H. (1958). Problems of inference and proof in participant observation. American Sociological Review, 23(6), 652–660.

Bourgois, P. (2003). In search of respect: selling crack in El Barrio (Second Edition), Ch. 1 (pp. 19-47). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Dewalt, K. M., & DeWalt, B. R. (2010). Participant observation. A guide for fieldworkers (Second Edition). Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.

Emerson, R., Fretz, R., & Shaw, L. (1995). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Spradley, J. (1980). Participant observation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Week 8 (Oct. 12) Direct and indirect observation

  • Continuous monitoring
  • Time allocation
  • Experience sampling
  • Behavior trace methods

Bernard, Ch. 14 (pp. 306-336)

Paolisso, M., & Hames, R. (2010). Time diary versus instantaneous sampling: A comparison of two behavioral research methods. Field Methods, 22(4), 357–377.

Wutich, A. (2009). Estimating household water use: A comparison of diary, prompted recall, and free recall methods. Field Methods, 21(1), 49.

Further reading

Johnson, A., & Sackett, R. (1998). Direct systematic observation of behavior. In H. R. Bernard (Ed.), Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology (pp. 301–331). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Graham, M. A. (2003). Adaptation of the weighed food record method to households in the Peruvian Andes and ethnographic insights on hunger. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 15(2), 143–160.

Harvey, S. A., Olortegui, M. P., Leontsini, E., & Winch, P. J. (2008). “They’ll change what they’re doing if they know that you‘re watching”: Measuring reactivity in health behavior because of an observer’s presence—a case from the Peruvian Amazon. Field Methods, 21(1), 3–25.

Week 9 (Oct. 19) Unstructured and semistructured interviewing

  • Basic skills: interview guides, active listening, probes
  • Group interviews
  • Transcription

Bernard, Ch. 8 (p. 156-186)

Wutich, A., Lant, T., White, D. D., Larson, K. L., & Gartin, M. (2010). Comparing focus group and individual responses on sensitive topics: A study of water decision makers in a desert city. Field Methods, 22(1), 88–110.

McLellan, E., MacQueen, K., & Neidig, J. (2003). Beyond the qualitative interview: Data preparation and transcription. Field Methods, 15(1), 63–84.

Further reading

Briggs, C. (2007). Anthropology, interviewing, and communicability in contemporary society. Current Anthropology, 48(4), 551–580.

Gorden, R. (1992). Basic interviewing skills. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Week 10 (Oct. 26) Structured interviewing

  • Questionnaire design
  • Cultural domain analysis
  • Scale construction

Due – Research plan and methods

Bernard, Ch. 9-11 (p. 187-255)

Further reading

Weller, S. C., & Romney, A. K. (1988). Systematic data collection. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Weller, S. (1998). Structured interviewing and questionnaire construction. In H. R. Bernard (Ed.), Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology (pp. 365–409). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Johnson, J. C., & Weller, S. C. (2002). Elicitiation techniques for interviewing. In J. F. Gubrium & J. A. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of Interview Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Reyes-Garcia, V., Byron, E., Vadez, V., Godoy, R., Apaza, L., Limache, E., Leonard, W., et al. (2004). Measuring culture as shared knowledge: Do data collection formats matter? Cultural knowledge of plant uses among Tsimane’ Amerindians, Bolivia. Field Methods, 16(2), 135–156.

Kennedy, D. (2005). Scale adaptation and ethnography. Field Methods, 17(4), 412–431.

Week 11 (Nov. 2) Analyzing qualitative data

  • Thinking with matrices
  • Basic skills: identifying themes, building codebooks and coding
  • Traditions of text analysis

Due – Significance

Further reading

Bernard, Ch. 15 (pp. 337-345) and Ch. 18-19 (pp. 407-457)

Ryan, G., & Bernard, H. (2003). Techniques to identify themes. Field Methods, 15(1), 85–109.

DeCuir-Gunby, J. T., Marshall, P. L., & McCulloch, A. W. (2011). Developing and using a codebook for the analysis of interview data: An example from a professional development research project. Field Methods, 23(2), 136–155.

Wutich, Amber and Clarence C. Gravlee. (2010). Water decision-makers in a desert city: text analysis and environmental social science. In I. Vaccaro, E. A. Smith, S. Aswani (Eds.), Environmental Social Sciences: Methods and Research Design (p. 188-211). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Further reading

Bernard, H. Russell and Gery W. Ryan. 2010. Analyzing qualitative data: Systematic approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Week 12 (Nov. 9) Analyzing quantitative data

  • Basic skills: data management, descriptive and inferential statistics
  • Visualization
  • Statistical literacy

Due – Complete draft of proposal

Utts, J. 2003. What educated citizens should know about statistics and probability. The American Statistician 57:74-79.

Handwerker, W. P., and S. P. Borgatti. (1998). Reasoning with numbers. In H. R. Bernard (Ed.), Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. (p. 549-587). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.

Whallon, R. (1987). Simple statistics. In M. Aldenderfer (Ed.), Quantitative research in archaeology: Progress and prospects (pp. 135–150). Sage Publications.

Weller, S. (2007). Cultural consensus theory: Applications and frequently asked questions. Field Methods, 19, 339–368.

Chavez, L., Hubbell, F., McMullin, J., Martinez, R., & Mishra, S. (1995). Structure and meaning in models of breast and cervical cancer risk factors: A comparison of perceptions among Latinas, Anglo Women, and physicians. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 9(1), 40–47.

Further reading

Bernard, Ch. 20-22 (p. 458-558)

Freedman, D. A. (1991). Statistical models and shoe leather. Sociological Methodology, 21, 291–313. American Sociological Association.

Long, J. S. (2009). The workflow of data analysis using Stata (p. 379). College Station, TX: Stata Press.

Salkind, N. J. (2010). Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics (Fourth Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Tufte, E. R. (2001). The visual display of quantitative information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

Week 13 (Nov. 16) Proposal workshop

  • Corey de Souza
  • Camee Maddox
  • David Markus
  • Jessica Jean Casler

Week 14 (Nov. 23) No class — Thanksgiving

Due – peer review

Week 15 (Nov. 30) Proposal workshop

  • Marlon Carranza
  • Caitlin Baird
  • June Carrington
  • Erik Timmons
  • Yasemin Akdas

Week 16 (Dec. 7) Proposal workshop

  • Justin Dunnavant
  • Justin Hosbey
  • Deborah Andrews
  • Stephanie Borios
  • Ann Laffey