Sociology and Cultural Anthropology Research

When studying society, sociologists use several different methods to help them gather
information for the study. One of these methods is through a survey. Survey or questionnaires are
good for gathering data from large groups of individuals. If you want to study political attitudes
of high school sophomores, you might put together a questionnaire addressing political views
held and then send it out to several hundred high school sophomores and ask them to fill it out
and return it to you for your study. This is a good way to reach a large group. The US ensus
uses this method initially to reach every household in !merica "which would definitely qualify as
a large group#. ! survey might $e used as only part of the study. Surveys are good to help
uncover the distri$ution or range of values for certain varia$les. So you might use a survey first
with a small group say three classes of sophomores and let them fill in the $lank as to how they
feel. %o you consider your political $eliefs to $e more democratic or repu$lican or other& This
way you can use this survey to determine a range of values used on the questionnaire to $e sent
out to the hundreds of high school sophomores, after all they may come up with ideas you may
not have thought of like tea party or communist. 'ou can also use a survey to determine
interrelationships $etween values. (ike are more males responding democratic and more females
are responding tea party or are more students taking political science from Teacher ) responding
repu$lican. This shows that a relationship may e*ist $etween students of +r. ) and considering
their political $eliefs to $e repu$lican. One of the pro$lems that may occur with this method is
that you may get a poor response to your survey. !lso the participants may $e less than truthful
in their responses. They may try to respond how they feel you will want them too, or they may
,ust not feel the choices represented reflect their answer. One other negative in using this method
is that you lose data $y selecting a $o* to check, it may not reveal the whole picture "Tischler, -.
./01#.
! second method used in Sociology is secondary analysis, in this method the sociologist
use data collected $y others. Sometimes they use data that was collected $y scientist in another
study or sometimes they use data that was collected for record keeping like the information
gathered $y the US census. +uch of the data collected $y the government is used in secondary
analysis studies. This method can $e valua$le in that they can look at data collected from several
sources or studies. It can also $e less e*pensive $ecause the researcher does not have to fund the
data collection2 you ,ust use data that was previously collected. This method also saves time
$ecause you only have to interpret data already collected rather than collecting the data and then
trying to apply it to your hypothesis. This method is good when looking at historical data or data
that was collected over a long period of time also called longitudinal data. It would demand a
great deal of time and money to compare results on information collected on respondents at age
03 and 1/ if you had to collect the information first hand, $ut $y using secondary analysis you
can look over information previously collected in the past and find data that was already
collected. One downfall to this method is that it may $e difficult to insure the quality of your
data. !lso you may not $e aware of any investigator $ias in the collection or dissemination of the
information. Sometime researchers will use a com$ination of methods like secondary analysis
for data previously collected and then do a follow up study and collect new data on the same
su$,ect "Tischler, -. ./01#.
One ,ustification for using the survey method is it can $e a cost effective way to reach a
large portion of the group you are interested in studying and when given in a multiple choice
form it can $e easy to quantify your results. 4or e*ample 567 of those responding to the survey
said that they consider their political $eliefs to $e more democratic while 517 considered their
political $eliefs to $e more repu$lican. If you want to find details on how society $ehaves would
it not $e wise to ask hundreds or thousands of mem$ers of the society as opposed to only asking
a few mem$ers and $asing your research on that small sampling& 'our results if taken from such
a small piece of the whole may provide a distorted image of what the whole picture truly is. In a
survey you can receive input from a larger cross section of the population you are studying. 'ou
can also do follow up studies to narrow in on the data you are trying to retrieve. 'ou can use the
first survey to identify and define your values and the second survey can apply those values to
receive the most accurate data possi$le. We have all filled out surveys where we thought the
answer choices were too limited2 properly defining the most pro$a$le answers will help you to
receive a $etter response to your questionnaire.
When studying cultural anthropology the methods that are used tend to $e a $it different
than those used in sociology $ecause in cultural anthropology you are studying the development
of a culture, how it came a$out, and why it functions as it does and not ,ust the current society.
So you are learning a$out the past and its effect on the current culture. The hardest and most
costly to achieve $ut the $est in learning a culture from its first person perspective is called
participant o$servation. This is one of the main methods used in cultural anthropology. In
participant o$servation the researcher actually lives in the culture he is studying and $ecomes a
part of the culture so he can understand first hand why a culture functions the way it does.
8ernard "0665# says of participant o$servation that the researcher must maintain a distance from
the target of his study, a professional sort of deceit and self control. The anthropologist needs to
maintain their o$,ectivity which can $e difficult when immersed in the culture you are studying.
The researcher usually finds a guide within the culture and develops a $ond that ena$les the
researcher to see into parts of the culture not shown to outsiders. It can $e hard to navigate the
fine line $etween $uilding rapport, $lending into the culture and maintaining a professional
distance. 9lus the anthropologist must find personal time away to develop the research and
understand the data collected. 9articipant o$servation includes much more than ,ust participating
and o$serving the researcher includes conversations held with mem$ers of the culture,
interviews, questionnaires, checklist, and o$servations learned from prying into the lives of the
mem$ers of the culture in uno$trusive ways. In order to succeed in participant o$servation the
researcher needs to clear his mind of preconceived notions and personal pre,udices. The
anthropologist may also find that the morals in the culture $eing studied are in direct conflict
with their own and must $e a$le to resolve or put aside those conflicts in order to $e o$,ective. It
is important to $e a vigilant o$server and an e*cellent listener while $eing aware that one may
o$serve une*pected even trou$ling things ":awulich .//3#.
! second type of method used in cultural anthropology is cross cultural comparison
where the researcher compares and contrasts two or more different cultures looking for common
cultural traits. ross;culture analysis takes statistical information a$out two or more cultures and
compares them, looking to find traits that are similar $etween the cultures and develop theories
a$out universal commonalities. <esearchers and cross;cultural analysts develop hypotheses then
search the data to uncover correlations that may e*ist in cultural traits. This approach was
developed early in cultural anthropology $ut was advanced greatly $y =eorge 9eter +urdock
who $rought together ethnographic studies to form a data$ase known as the -uman <elation
!rea 4iles "-<!4#. The >ournal of ross;ultural <esearch is known today as the main location
for works pu$lished using cross;cultural analysis ":in?er @ =illies .//6#.
The participant o$servation method is ,ustified for use as a scientific method for studying
a culture $ecause the $est way to know and understand a culture is to live and $e a part of it. It is
like walking a mile in a manAs shoes to help you understand him. It is hard to understand all of
the comple*ities of a culture from the outside, we may see what goes on $ut will never
understand the reason $ehind the actions unless we are there and can feel the emotion,
understand the history, and know of the cultural e*pectations of the participants. There are
pro$lems that can develop. In introduction to Sociology $y Tischler "./01# a researcher told of
witnessing a girl $eing gang raped and felt torn to o$serve and not interfere or to stop it and
impress his morals on this culture. +any anthropologists who have participated in this sort of
immersed o$servation have had times when their roles were difficult to fulfill and maintain. 8ut
o$servation ends when interference $egins and that interference can compromise all of the data
collected up to that point, with all of its ethical dilemmas participant o$servation is a proven
method to gather important clues a$out a culture.
omparing and contrasting the different methods for research mentioned here for
Sociology and ultural !nthropology, they are similar in that they all are trying to e*tract
information a$out why people $ehave as they do. In order to gather accurate data you have to
insure that the values and varia$les for the collection of data are correct in the survey method for
sociology. In using $oth secondary analysis in Sociology or cross;cultural analysis in ultural
!nthropology you need to make sure the data you use is quality data and has not $een
improperly collected or skewed $y researcher $ias. 8oth methods review previously collected
data and compare the results to prove or disprove the hypothesis. The survey method is a much
simpler way of collecting data than in participant o$servation. The survey method asks for a
minimal amount of the researcherAs time and energy. Whereas the participant o$servation method
asks for a huge commitment of time and of the researchers life in order for the !nthropologist to
live with and among the su$,ects of your research essentially $ecoming one of them for an
e*tended period of time. The results and data collected will include the full array of emotions,
attitudes, and motives to why a culture $ehaves as it does. This is something that will $e missing
in the other three methods mentioned here. I $elieve if performed correctly all of these methods
can $ring us valua$le insights to those around us and more importantly into ourselves.
<eferences
:awulich, 8. ".//3#. 9articipant O$servation as a %ata ollection +ethod. Forum Qualitative
Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, B.., !rt. 51,
httpCDDn$n;resolving.deDurnCn$nCdeC/005;fqs/3/.51/.
:in?er, -. @ =illies, >. ".//6# ross;ultural !nalysis. %epartment of !nthropology, The
University of !la$ama. retrieved from httpCDDanthropology.ua.eduDculturesDcultures.php&
cultureEross;ultural7./!nalysis
Tischler, -. "./01#. engage !dvantage 8ooksC Introduction to Sociology "0/th ed#. Wadsworth.
<etrieved from httpCDDonline.vitalsource.comD$ooksD6FG0.G316BG13DidDch.;90/B