Overview
This is a senior-level course in anthropological research methods that reviews issues in ethnographic research. The focus is on gaining skills and practice in doing ethnographic research. The course involves learning about research methods and then applying them to a subject of each student’s interest. You will gain practical experience in defining a research problem, doing background literature research, writing a research proposal, and carrying out and presenting a small independent field project. This course allows the opportunity to learn through experience and complements Anthropology 401: Ethnography, the Writing of Culture.
Outline
The course consists of the following units:
- Unit 1: Introduction and the Nature of Ethnographic Research
- Unit 2: Ethnography as Qualitative Research
- Unit 3: Defining a Research Problem or Question
- Unit 4: Research Design—Matching Methods, Locale, and Time Frame
- Unit 5: Ethics in Human Research
- Unit 6: Documentary Research and Literature Review
- Unit 7: Research Techniques—Participant Observation and Interviewing
- Unit 8: Visual Methods—Ethnographic Film, Video, and Photography in Ethnography
- Unit 9: Organizing Data and Data Analysis
- Unit 10: Research Proposals and Project Design
Evaluation
To receive credit for ANTH 402, you must achieve a grade of at least D (50 percent) on each of the assignments. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Assignment 1: Essay on Ethnographic Research Methods | 20% |
| Assignment 2: Statement of Research Area | 5% |
| Assignment 3: Ethics Form for Field Research Project (for the field assignment) | 5% |
| Assignment 4: Annotated Bibliography | 15% |
| Assignment 5: Field Research Assignment | 25% |
| Assignment 6: Research Proposal with Literature Review and Ethics Form | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Marshall, Catherine, and Gretchen B. Rossman. Designing Qualitative Research. 7th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2022.
Physical course materials
The following course materials are included in a course package that will be shipped to your home prior to your course’s start date:
Watson, C. W., ed. Being There: Fieldwork in Anthropology. London, Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 1999.
Ellen, R. F., ed. Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Conduct. London: Academic Press, 1987.
Other Materials
All other materials are available online.