Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

418 Chapter 15
focal child observation, Fry’s data contain 764 episodes of what he calls ‘‘play
aggression’’ and 85 episodes of ‘‘serious aggression.’’
Play aggression is a punch, kick, tackle, etc., accompanied by smiles,
laughs, and playfaces. Serious aggression are episodes accompanied by low
frowns, bared teeth, fixated gazes, and crying. Fry found that when girls initiated
serious aggression, it was almost always with other girls (93% of cases).
But when boys initiated serious aggression, it was just as likely to be with
girls as with other boys.
For more on methods of studying children’s behavior under natural conditions,
see Fine and Sandstrom (1988) and Pellegrini (1996). See Longabaugh
(1980) for a review of the uses of direct observation in cross-cultural psychology.
The Samoan Energy Study
Pearson (1990) used CM to study how Samoans in Western Samoa, American
Samoa, and Honolulu used energy. Pearson had the idea that, as Samoans
moved to Honolulu and became more urbanized, there would be changes in
lifestyle and that these changes would show up in their energy intake and
expenditure. Pearson asked people to recall their activities over the past 24
hours, and then, to check the 24-hour recall data, he and a female assistant
monitored 47 men and 43 women.
The team did 825 hours of observation and had their subjects in direct view
92% of the time. The estimates of energy expenditure from direct observation
of the 47 men were 33%–80% lower than the estimates from the recall data.
For women, the estimates were 27%–53% lower. Women had better recall of
their activities, but men and women were both way off the mark, particularly
in recalling their light-to-moderate work of the previous day. Pearson’s work
makes it clear that, when it comes to measuring energy expenditure, recall is
not a good substitute for observation.
The Shopping Study
Martin Murtagh (1985) used CM to study the use of arithmetic by grocery
shoppers. He recruited 24 adults in Orange County, California. Accompanied
by two observers, each informant wore a tape recorder while shopping at a
supermarket. As the informants went about their shopping, they talked into
the tape recorder about how they were deciding which product to buy, what
size to choose, and so on.
One observer mapped the shopper’s route through the store and recorded
the prices and amounts of everything purchased. The other researcher kept up