Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

5
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Research Design: Experiments and
Experimental Thinking
Early in the 20th century, F. C. Bartlett went to Cambridge University to
study with W. H. R. Rivers, an experimental psychologist. In 1899, Rivers
had been invited to join the Torres Straits Expedition and saw the opportunity
to do comparative psychology studies of non-Western people (Tooker
1997:xiv). When Bartlett got to Cambridge, he asked Rivers for some advice.
Bartlett expected a quick lecture on how to go out and stay out, about the
rigors of fieldwork, and so on. Instead, Rivers told him: ‘‘The best training
you can possibly have is a thorough drilling in the experimental methods of
the psychological laboratory’’ (Bartlett 1937:416).
Bartlett found himself spending hours in the lab, ‘‘lifting weights, judging
the brightness of lights, learning nonsense syllables, and engaging in a number
of similarly abstract occupations’’ that seemed to be ‘‘particularly distant from
the lives of normal human beings.’’ In the end, though, Bartlett concluded that
Rivers was right. Training in the experimental method, said Bartlett, gives
one ‘‘a sense of evidence, a realization of the difficulties of human observation,
and a kind of scientific conscience which no other field of study can
impart so well’’ (ibid.:417).
I agree. Most anthropologists don’t do experiments, but a solid grounding
in the logic of experiments is one of the keys to good research skills, no matter
what kind of research you’re doing.
At the end of this chapter, you should understand the variety of research
designs. You should also understand the concept of threats to validity and
how we can respond to those threats.
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