Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

18
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Qualitative Data Analysis II:
Models and Matrices
In chapter 17, I focused on the analysis of texts—analyses that require identifying
and organizing themes. I focus in this chapter on an altogether different
set of qualitative analyses: ethnographic decision models, folk taxonomies
or taxonomic analysis, componential analysis, and analytic
induction. These methods all have one thing in common: They are based on
some principles of systematic logic. More about this as we move along. Let’s
get right to the first method: ethnographic decision modeling.
Ethnographic Decision Models (EDMs)
Ethnographic decision models predict the choices that people will make
under specific circumstances. There is absolutely nothing quantitative about
ethnographic decision models (EDMs), but they are highly formal and it takes
some practice to get the hang of them. They have been used to study how
fishermen decide where to fish (Gatewood 1983b) or what price to place on
their products (Gladwin 1971; Quinn 1978), and how people decide on which
treatment to use for an illness (Young and Garro 1994 [1981]).
Here’s the idea behind decision models. Suppose I could ask a farmer some
questions, none of which is ‘‘What did you plant last year?’’ When I’m done,
I make a prediction about what the farmer planted. Then I ask the farmer what
crop he or she planted and see if I got it right. Christina Gladwin has modeled
these decisions among farmers around the world—in Malawi, Guatemala, the
United States, Mexico, Peru and gets it right between 80% and 90% of the
time (Gladwin 1976, 1980, 1983, 1989, and personal communication).
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