1. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CONRAD PHILLIP KOTTAK CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods This chapter introduces students to the ethical standards of anthropology and the field methods employed by anthropologists. It pays special attention to the multidiscipline nature of archaeology and biological anthropology and discusses the field methods of ethnographers and survey research.

2. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods Ethics and Anthropology –Researchers must create and maintain proper relations between themselves and the host nations, regions, and communities where they work.

3. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –The AAA Code of Ethics states that anthropologists should recognize their debt to the people with whom they work and should reciprocate in appropriate ways. Researchers should obtain informed consent from anyone who provides information or who might be affected by the research. Researchers should include host country colleagues in their research planning and requests for funding. Researchers should establish collaborative relationships with host country institutions and colleagues before, during, and after their fieldwork. Researchers should include host country colleagues in dissemination of the research results. Researchers should ensure that something is “given back” to host country colleagues.

4. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods Research Methods in Physical Anthropology and Archaeology –Multidisciplinary Approaches Physical anthropologist and archaeologists collaborate with scientists from diverse fields in the study of sites, fossils, and artifacts. Remote sensing plays an important role for locating archaeological features not visible to the naked eye.

5. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Primatology is the close study of primates. Primate studies have been conducted in both zoos and natural settings. Like ethnographers, primatologists must establish rapport with the individuals they are studying.

6. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Anthropometry is the measurement of human body parts and dimensions. Anthropometry can be used to evaluate a person’s fitness. Knowledge about how contemporary humans adapt and use energy can be used to understand human evolution.

7. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Bone biology is the study of bone as a biological tissue, including its genetics; cell structure; growth; development; decay; and patterns of movement. Paleopathology is the study of disease and injury in skeletons from archaeological sites. Forensic anthropologists work in a legal context to recover, analyze, and identify human remains and determining the cause of death.

8. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Molecular anthropology uses genetic analysis to assess evolutionary distance among species, along with dates of the most recent common ancestor.

9. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Paleoanthropology is the study of early hominids using fossil remains. Paleoanthropologists work to reconstruct the structure, behavior, and ecology of early hominids. Working with multidisciplinary teams, paleoanthropologists locate and excavate sites where hominid fossils are found.

10. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Systematic survey provides a regional perspective on the archaeological record. Survey collects information on settlement patterns (e.g., the location of cities, towns, villages, and hamlets) over a large area. Survey is one of the ways in which archaeologists locate sites that might be excavated in the future. During a survey, the team records the location, the size, and the approximate age of the site.

11. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Excavation complements the regional survey data with more fine-grained data collected at the level of a specific site. The layers or strata that make up a site help archaeologists establish a relative chronology for the material recovered.

12. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods Kinds of Archaeology –Experimental archaeologists try to replicate ancient techniques and processes under controlled conditions. –Historical archaeologists use written records as guides and supplements in their study of societies with written histories. –Classical archaeologists study the literate civilizations of the eastern region of the Mediterranean, such as Greece, Rome, and Egypt. –Underwater archaeologists investigate submerged sites.

13. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods Dating the Past –Fundamental Concepts Paleontology is the study of ancient life through the fossil record. Anthropology and paleontology both are interested in establishing a chronology for primate and human evolution. Taphonomy is the study of the processes that affect the remains of dead animals. Much dating depends upon stratigraphy, which is the study of the sequence of geographical layers.

14. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Relative Dating Relative dating uses the natural layers or strata to establish a relative chronology – material from this layer is older than the material from that layer.

15. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Absolute Dating Whereas relative dating techniques allow you to say only what is older or younger, absolute dating techniques produce dates in years so differences in age can be quantified. Radiometric techniques are based on known rates of radioactive decay in elements found in or around fossils. Examples are 14C and potassium argon (K/A) dating (both of which are radiometric techniques), thermoluminescence (TL), and electron spin resonance (ESR).

16. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology –Cultural anthropology and sociology share an interest in social relations, organization, and behavior. –Sociologists have traditionally worked in the large-scale, complex nations of the industrialized West. They rely heavily on questionnaires and other means of collecting masses of quantifiable data. Sampling and statistical techniques are basic to sociology. –Traditionally ethnographers used ethnographic techniques to study small, nonliterate populations.

17. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods Ethnography –Ethnography is the firsthand personal study of a local cultural setting. –Ethnographers try to understand the whole of a particular culture, not just fragments. –In pursuit of this holistic goal, ethnographers usually spend an extended period of time living with the group they are studying and employ a series of techniques to gather information. –The early ethnographers conducted research almost exclusively among small-scale, relatively isolated societies, with simple technologies and economics.

18. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods Ethnographic Techniques –Observation and Participant Observation Ethnographers are trained to be aware of and record details from daily events, the significance of which may not be apparent until much later. Participant observation involves the researcher taking part in the activities being observed. Unlike laboratory research, ethnographers do not isolate variables or attempt to manipulate the outcome of events they are observing.

19. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Conservation, Interviewing, and Interview Schedules Increasingly, more than one of these methods are used to accomplish complementary ends on a single ethnographic research project.

20. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –The Genealogical Method Early anthropologists identified types of relatedness, such as kinship, descent, and marriage, as being the fundamental organizing principals of nonindustrial societies. The genealogical method of diagramming such kin relations was developed as a formalized means of comparing kin-based societies.

21. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Key Cultural Consultants are particularly well-informed members of the culture being studied that can provide the ethnographer with some of the most useful or complete information.

22. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Life Histories are intimate and personal collections of a lifetime of experiences from certain members of the community being studied. Life histories reveal how specific people perceive, react to, and contribute to changes that affect their lives. Since life histories are focused on how different people interpret and deal with similar issues, they can be used to illustrate the diversity within a given community.

23. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Local Beliefs and Perceptions and the Ethnographer An emic (native-oriented) approach investigates how locals think, categorize the world, express thoughts, and interpret stimuli. An etic (science-oriented) approach emphasizes the categories, interpretations, and features that the anthropologist considers important.

24. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Problem-Oriented Ethnography Ethnographers typically address a specific problem or set of problems, within the context of broader depictions of cultures. Variables with the most significant relationship to the problem being addressed are given priority in the analysis.

25. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods –Longitudinal Research is the long-term study of a community, region, society, or culture based on a series of repeated visits. Longitudinal research study has become increasingly common among ethnographic studies, as repeat visits to field sites have become easier. –Team Research involves a series of ethnographers conducting complimentary research in a given community, culture, or region.

26. McGraw-Hill © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 2 Ethics and Methods Survey Research –Anthropologists working in large-scale societies are increasingly using survey methodologies to complement more traditional ethnographic techniques. Survey involves drawing a study group or sample from the larger study population, collecting impersonal data, and performing statistical analyses on these data. By studying a properly selected and representative sample, social scientists can make accurate inferences about the larger population. –Survey research is considerably more impersonal than ethnography. Survey researchers call the people who make up their study sample respondents. Respondents answer a series of formally administered questions.