1. METHODS OF GATHERING DATA

2. OBSERVATION
PARTICIPANT-Refer to notes in Cultural Anthro Participant Observation
UNSTRUCTURED-Study people without a predetermined idea of what to look for.
E.g. Researcher sits in cafeteria & observes/records anything that occurs
STRUCTURED-Planned what will be observed before hand.
E.g. Researcher sits in cafeteria & observes/records how many times students eat, swear, laugh, etc…
NOTE: Used when researcher wants to watch participants in their natural environment

3. EXPERIMENT
A controlled experiment where tests are conducted to determine how one factor is related to another.
E.g. Researcher might study the relationship b/w sleep and grades. Researcher will record how much students sleep and record their grades, etc…
NOTE: Used when researcher wants total control of the environment in order to test something.

4. CASE STUDY
A case study is the observation of an individual, a situation or a group over a period of time. By studying one situation in depth, a lot of detail can be gathered and hypotheses about similar situations can be developed.
NOTE: A case study is used when a researcher is studying a rare or unique situation, culture, etc…

5. INTERVIEW
Interviews take place in the form of dialogue between the interviewer(s) and the subject.
When preparing for an interview one must:
Have 8-10 questions, approx. 30 min in length
Write down specific questions
Have open ended questions
NOTE: Interviews are used when a researcher requires detailed information for a few people.

6. SURVEY
A survey is a questionnaire that asks participants several questions on a related subject matter.
When designing a survey one must:
Design questions
Questions should be close ended
Questions should move from general to specific
NOTE: Surveys are used when researcher wants to gather detailed info from a large group of people

7. LONGITUDINAL STUDY
Research that involves repeated collection of data over a long period of time.
E.g. Studying students self concept throughout their lives. May study them as children, as adolescents and as adults.

8. CONTENT ANALYSIS
Researcher examines and classifies the ideas presented in communications such as books, letters, movies, etc…
Is very useful for anthropological or historical research
Sometimes hard to get a reliable sample b/c researcher is relying on other sources.