Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

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Anthropology and the
Social Sciences
The Craft of Research
This book is about research methods in anthropology—methods for
designing research, methods for sampling, methods for collecting data,
and methods for analyzing data. And in anthropology, this all has to be done
twice, once for qualitative data and once for quantitative data.
No one is expert in all the methods for research. But by the time you get
through this book, you’ll know about the range of methods used in anthropology
and you’ll know which kinds of research problems are best addressed by
which methods.
Research is a craft. I’m not talking analogy here. Research isn’t like a craft.
It is a craft. If you know what people have to go through to become skilled
carpenters or makers of clothes, you have some idea of what it takes to learn
the skills for doing research. It takes practice, practice, and more practice.
Have you ever known a professional seamstress? My wife and I were doing
fieldwork in Ixmiquilpan, a small town in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico, in
1962 when we met Florencia. She made dresses for little girls—Communion
dresses, mostly. Mothers would bring their girls to Florencia’s house. Florencia
would look at the girls and say ‘‘turn around . . . turn again . . . OK,’’ and
that was that. The mother and daughter would leave, and Florencia would start
making a dress. No pattern, no elaborate measurement. There would be one
fitting to make some adjustments, and that was it.
Carole and I were amazed at Florencia’s ability to pick up a scissors and
start cutting fabric without a pattern. Then, 2 years later, in 1964, we went to
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