Research Methods in Anthropology

3 units

As a critical examination of the nature of evidence and explanation within anthropology, this course provides an introduction to a broad range of methods essential for collecting ethnographic data in a systematic manner. Interviewing skills are developed as a basis for using methodologies such as life histories, free listing, pile sorting, rank ordering, social mapping, and decision tree modeling. Issues of qualitative data analysis are discussed in conjunction with software packages designed for organizing ethnographic information. This course is intended for graduate students only. Undergraduates may be enrolled with permission of the instructor.