Research Design and Methods for Studying Cultures

Victor C. de Munck

doi:10.5771/9780759118683

Summary

This is a practical guidebook for conducting field research on cultural issues. The first third of the book describes how one constructs a research design. The rest of the book describes different methods that the author used during his own NSF sponsored cross-cultural research on romantic love in Russia, Lithuania, and the U.S. The methods described are: freelists, pile or Q sorts questionnaires, consensus analysis, interviews, process analysis, and participant observation. Participant observation is intentionally left to the end, to emphasize that it is the most difficult of all methods and also to show that participant observations is a more powerful tool when preceded by more structured and systematic methods of data collection. The strengths and weaknesses of these methods are discussed as are the 'pitfalls' that occur when a research design is implemented in the field. The book is useful for anyone who is preparing to conduct fieldwork on socio- cultural issues.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2009
Copyright year: 2009
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7591-1143-1
ISBN-Online: 978-0-7591-1868-3
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 221
Product type: Book Titles

1. Table of Contents No access
2. Preface No access
1. 1: Step 1: What is it That you Want to Study? No access
2. 2: Research Design No access
1. 3: Freelisting No access
2. 4: Pile Sorting No access
3. 5: Designing Questionnaires No access
4. 6: Consensus Analysis No access
5. 7: Long Interviews No access
6. 8: Process Methods No access
7. 9: Participant Observation No access
8. 10: Conclusion No access
Glossary No access Pages 205 - 212
References No access Pages 213 - 216
Index No access Pages 217 - 220
About the Author No access Pages 221 - 221