Doing Anthropology: Exploring Sociocultural Anthropological Methods

As this blog is dedicated to all things anthropology a blog post dedicated to how anthropologists conduct their work seems appropriate.  Today’s blog post is dedicated to just such a topic, specifically the methods used by sociocultural anthropologists.  As sociocultural anthropologists focus on the study of modern human groups and their cultures their methods are tailored specifically to such pursuits and vary widely as a result.  This blog post will provide a brief summary of the different options sociocultural anthropologists have available to them in their pursuits of understanding the people and cultures they study and work with.

Figure 1: Margaret Mead & Samoan Women (from the film Anthropology on Trial)

 

One of the most common and popular sociocultural methods is participant observation (Figure 1).  Participant observation is a characteristic ethnographic technique in which the anthropologist joins in the events of daily life of the people and culture he or she is observing, describing, and studying.  The motivation for this method is that one must experience the culture to truly understand the culture, and it is believed that by doing so the anthropologist avoids any bias and ethnocentric views in regards to the culture/group/community under study.  

Figure 2: Anthropologist interviewing a Mongolian pastoralist (Image Source: Colorado State University Anthropology)

Another method is to interview (Figure 2), or focus on talking to locals to learn more about culture and research “problem”.  When one uses this method the anthropologist typically starts with simple questions and eventually moves on to more complex questions.  There are several reasons for this, ranging from the anthropologist gaining a better understanding of the language and culture of the group they are studying to taking the time to gain the group’s trust.  In the pursuit of this methods anthropologists will oftentimes employ an interview schedule, which is a means of creating a formal interview structure that includes a series of questions and identifies specific individuals one should talk with. This method allows for qualitative and quantitative research to be collected, as well as provides options for discovering side avenues of research.

Figure 3: Natalia Escobar acted as my key consultant when I worked in Chile in 2009.  (Photo is my own)

The last method anthropologists will also often times employ is a key consultants/informant (Figure 3), which is an individual who has a great deal of knowledge on local life and assists the anthropologist understand that aspect.  Key consultants/informants are primarily used to help the anthropologist understand that specific aspect of the culture under study, but these individuals are also useful in acting as a gateway into the community and culture.  In this way the key consultant/informant is very helpful to anthropologists in many ways.

In conclusion, sociocultural anthropologists have a wide array of methods available to them.  While participant observation is both common and popular, the other two methods, the interview and key consultant/informant, serve a purpose both in combination with and separate from the participant observation method.  Ultimately, none of these methods is best in all sociocultural anthropological studies, and the sociocultural anthropologists ultimately choose the method(s) that work best for their goals and the culture they seek to understand better.

Works Cited

Gezon, L., & Kottak, C. (2014).  Cultural Anthropology McGraw-Hill.

Welsch, R.L. & L.A. Vivanco.  (2015).  Cultural Anthropology: Asking Questions About Humanity.  Oxford University Press.