Anthropological way of research?

Question

Please, I need urgent help.

How would I conduct research as an anthropologist??

I know free association is phycho and surveys are sociology.

I don't want to do personal interviews because I don't know if that is anthropological.

Answer 1

If you are a high-school student, it is hard to do anthropological research because the techniques are taught only in college courses of anthropology.

On the other hand, if you are in high school, you may be able to dig up some interesting information if you interview, say, five representatives of two different ethnic groups that are in conflict with each other and ask your interviewees what they don't like about the group they are in conflict with.

Harleigh Kyson Jr.

Answer 2

I assume from your examples that you are talking about social or cultural anthropology.  We do fieldwork using participant observation which is just as it sounds - we join the society to learn about it.  If you're doing a school project, you might want to pick a group that you've been involved in for a while already so you will already have background information.  This might be an ethnic or religious group you/family members/friends belong to or a sports team/scouting troop/volunteer society/musical ensemble/theater group.  For a small paper, you will probably want to focus in on a particular aspect of the culture of the group - a celebration, a set of rules, an important symbolic association/system etc.  Hopefully, you know some theories about culture that anthropologists use becuase these would help you.  You will need to understand and write about what your topic of study means to the members of the group, how they perform or acknowledge it, what it could tell you about the larger culture, etc.  Part of this participant observation research will involve interviewing.  We call the people we interview informants.  In anthropological fieldwork, anthropological relativism is important when studying a culture which is different from your own - this means knowing your own culture and the assumptions it makes and going into research with an open mind in case the culture you study makes different assumptions.  When studying a culture you belong to, the fieldwork and the process of recognizing your own assumptions are concurrent.  Since some of what we assume, we never question, this may be very difficult.  Try to think back to when you first joined the group or initially began learning about it.  Some of the first mistakes you made or things you said wrong or rules and rituals you had to be taught can help you with this.  Generally, even though you may choose a culture you know well, you should still take 2 to 4 hours minimum to participate and observe, keeping you research in mind.  This is important becuase you are expected to research for a paper but also to refresh your memory.  Remember when you write that you are trying to explain the culture or an aspect of it to people who aren't familiar with the culture so keep your audience in mind when deciding what details you need to explain versus what people might know and what they might assume falsely.