Ch. 2

Question 1

Define: Quantitative Research

Answer 1

research methods that involve the generation of statistical data. Examples include surveys and censuses

Question 2

Define: Qualitative Research

Answer 2

research methods that aim to explore, rather than measure, various phenomena, often through forms of observation such as interviews, focus groups, and direct participant observation

Question 3

Define: Ethnographic Fieldwork

Answer 3

a research method in which sociocultural anthropologists have intensive, long-term engagements with a group of people. It may involve the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods including interviews, participant observation and survey-based research

Question 4

Define: Rapport

Answer 4

a feeling of affinity, friendship, and responsibility between an anthropologist and an informant. It is often developed through the use of long-term ethnographic fieldwork

Question 5

Define: Emic Perspective

Answer 5

traditionally refers to an “insider perspective.” The gal of most fieldwork is to employ cultural relativism to understand an issue or perspective from the point of view of one’s informant

Question 6

Define: Etic Perspective

Answer 6

refers to the analysis of an aspect of culture using comparative categories, explanations, and interpretation from the perspective of an outside observer

Question 7

Define: Representation

Answer 7

the way in which a group of people is depicted in writing or through images. Anthropologists are increasingly conscious of the fact that when they write about a group of people, they are constructing particular representations that may have positive or negative long-term effects for a group of people

Question 8

Define: Armchair Anthropology

Answer 8

refers to an approach to the study of various societies that dominated anthropology in the late 1800’s. It involved the collection, study, and analysis of the writings of missionaries, explorers, and colonists who had sustained contact with non-Western peoples. Armchair anthropologists used these documents to make comparisons and generalizations about the ways of life of various groups

Question 9

Define: Participant Observation

Answer 9

an element of fieldwork that can can involve participating in daily tasks, and observing daily interactions among a particular group

Question 10

Define: Ethnography

Answer 10

a written description and analysis of a particular group of people, usually based upon anthropological fieldwork

Question 11

Define: Salvage Anthropology

Answer 11

an approach to anthropology that arose in the late 1800s when anthropologists witnessed the extinction or assimilation of Indigenous peoples throughout the world. In response, some anthropologists, such as Franz Boas, suggested that anthropologists rapidly document the oral stories, songs, histories and other traditions of Indigenous peoples before they disappeared.

Question 12

Define: Multi-sited fieldwork

Answer 12

this term, coined by George Marcus in 1995, refers to the process of connecting localized experiences of fieldwork with broader, global processes. It necessitates understanding various issues from multiple “sites” or perspectives

Question 13

Define: Culture Shock

Answer 13

refers to a feeling of disorientation in the initial stages of fieldwork when an anthropologist is adjusting to a new language, beliefs, food, or even climate.

Question 14

Define: Informed Consent

Answer 14

the ongoing process of ensuring that research participants understand the goals, methods, and potential outcomes of the research process, and give permission for the researcher to conduct said research

Question 15

Define: Essentialism

Answer 15

the act of creating generalizations or stereotypes about the behaviour or culture of a group of people