Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

Preface
Since 1988, when I wrote the first edition of this book, I’ve heard from
many colleagues that their departments are offering courses in research
methods. This is wonderful. Anthropologists of my generation, trained in the
1950s and 1960s, were hard-pressed to find courses we could take on how do
research. There was something rather mystical about the how-to of fieldwork;
it seemed inappropriate to make the experience too methodical.
The mystique is still there. Anthropological fieldwork is fascinating and
dangerous. Seriously: Read Nancy Howell’s 1990 book on the physical hazards
of fieldwork if you think this is a joke. But many anthropologists have
found that participant observation loses none of its allure when they collect
data systematically and according to a research design. Instead, they learn that
having lots of reliable data when they return from fieldwork makes the experience
all the more magical.
I wrote this book to make it easier for students to collect reliable data beginning
with their first fieldwork experience. We properly challenge one another’s
explanations for why Hindus don’t eat their cattle and why, in some cultures,
mothers are more likely than fathers are to abuse their children. That’s how
knowledge grows. Whatever our theories, though, all of us need data on which
to test those theories. The methods for collecting and analyzing data belong
to all of us.
What’s in This Book
The book begins with a chapter about where I think anthropology fits in the
social sciences. With one foot planted squarely in the humanities and the other
in the sciences, there has always been a certain tension in the discipline
between those who would make anthropology a quantitative science and those
whose goal it is to produce documents that convey the richness—indeed, the
uniqueness—of human thought and experience.
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