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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Anthropology > Fieldwork and Research
Fieldwork
Working on gathering information, data, research etc. on a certain people.
Research methods
Quantitative
(Give number and/or 'yes' and 'no' answers)
- Surveys - a broad overview of particular subjects
- Sampling - investigating a small part of a larger whole
| Advantages
| Disadvantages
|
| Easier to analyse
| Analysis of a lot of data
|
| General
| Too general
|
| Covers a large area
| Bias
|
Qualitative
(Detailed answers)
- PO - involvement of anthropologist in daily activities of community.
- Interviews - conversations between ethnographer and informants.
- Focus groups - a group of people brought together to help explain a particular subject.
- Network analysis - focusing on individuals/small groups and studying their relationships with others.
- Genealogies - tracing links between individuals to find out about relations.
- Life histories - personal study of an informants life and all that influenced it.
- Case Studies - focusing on a single individual/episode.
- Filmed and taped records
- Team research - teams of ethnographers travelling together to study cultures etc.
| Advantages
| Disadvantages
|
| More specific
| Can influence persons answers
|
| Informal & relaxed
| Time consuming (sometimes info is irrelevant)
|
| Less 'power' relations
| Hard to extract information
|
| Bias
|
|
Variables
Things which can change the process /outcome of research. The object is to minimise the variables, by looking at the same or similar group of people- the control group.
The control group
A group, similar in size and composition to the study group, is used for purposes of comparison or a cross-check on the data provided by the study group.
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