ANTH 304 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Trust Law, Opencable Application Platform, Karyotype
ANTH 304
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Sept 12, 2017
Principles and Methods of Field Work
Research Methodology is:
● A process
● A sequence of activities
3 key phases
Phase 1- Selecting the problem
● Selecting a problem- what is the research objective (narrow and clarify)
● Define the variables and ways to measure them
● Choose research design
● Choose sample population
Phase 2- data collection
● Ethical responsibilities ( Do No Harm)
● Secure research ethics approval
● Informed consent
● Data storage
Phase 3- Analysis
● Analysis & interpretation
● Writing reports
● Creating documentaries
● Knowledge mobilization & translation activities
Knowledge
● Is a product of social processes
● If a state of knowledge is inadequate in a particular area funding bodies (name some)
ask for proposals to conduct research and select the most relevant & deserving of
support
● Researchers produce findings
● New knowledge gets applied (or not)
How do we answer our questions?
● Consult an authority
● Who do you consult? Why?
● What are the factors influencing authoritative knowledge
● What do you do if you trusted authorities disagree?
In research
● We must evaluate the opinion of authorities
● We need to review their research process
● We need to study our research process
● Can we validate our research?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Research as a discipline
Require:
● Discipline
● CLear thinking ( thinking it through)
● Careful observation
● Honesty & accuracy (strive for objectivity) increases reliability
● Record-keeping = show your work
● Assess Limitation
Asking the right questions
● What does it take to achieve world peace?
● Think of how to move this global question into researchable questions
● Understand what peace is, and understand what the community thinks
Researchable questions
2 basic properties:
1) They are limited in scope, narrowed in focus, confined to certain times, places & sets of
conditions
2) Identify some observable, tangible, gatherable evidence
Empirical & Nonempirical
Empirical:
What are we looking for?
● FInding patterns
● Understanding how people think and act
● Diversity
● How people make decisions
● Context of social and cultural life.
Great Research Methods Debates
● Ongoing
● Positivism vs empiricism
● Objectivity vs subjectivity
● Inductive vs deductive
● Exploratory vs confirmatory
Positivist VIew
● External reality awaits our discovery through approximations to the truth
● All knowledge of fact is based on the positive data of experience
● Seeing is believing
● Causal explanations
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Selecting a problem- what is the research objective (narrow and clarify) Define the variables and ways to measure them. If a state of knowledge is inadequate in a particular area funding bodies (name some) ask for proposals to conduct research and select the most relevant & deserving of support. What are the factors influencing authoritative knowledge. We must evaluate the opinion of authorities. We need to review their research process. We need to study our research process. Honesty & accuracy (strive for objectivity) increases reliability. Think of how to move this global question into researchable questions. Understand what peace is, and understand what the community thinks. 2 basic properties: they are limited in scope, narrowed in focus, confined to certain times, places & sets of conditions. External reality awaits our discovery through approximations to the truth. All knowledge of fact is based on the positive data of experience. How reality is constructed uniquely by each person.
