Building Quantitative Cross-Cultural Databases From Ethnographic Records: Promise, Problems and Principles

2021 ◽  
pp. 106939712110657
Author(s):  
Joseph Watts ◽  
Joshua Conrad Jackson ◽  
Chris Arnison ◽  
Elise M. Hamerslag ◽  
John H. Shaver ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Meta Data ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Database Construction ◽  
The Social ◽  
Promise Problems

Quantitative cross-cultural databases can help uncover structure and diversity across human populations. These databases have been constructed using a variety of methodologies and have been instrumental for building and testing theories in the social sciences. The processes and assumptions behind the construction of cross-cultural databases are not always openly discussed by creators or fully appreciated by their users. Here, we scrutinize the processes used to generate quantitative cross-cultural databases, from the point of ethnographic fieldwork to the processing of quantitative cross-cultural data. We outline challenges that arise at each stage of this process and discuss the strengths and limitations of how existing databases have handled these challenges. We suggest a host of best practices for cross-cultural database construction, and stress the importance of coding source meta-data and using this meta-data to identify and adjust for source biases. This paper explicitly discusses the processes, problems, and principles behind cross-cultural database construction, and ultimately seeks to promote rigorous cross-cultural comparative research.

scholarly journals The contribution of cognitive anthropolinguistics to educational linguistics

1999 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
José Manuel Martín Morillas
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
Educational Linguistics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pedagogical Grammar ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Linguistics

In this paper it is argued that, despite the welcome psycho-social emphasis in educational linguistic theories witnessed in recent decades, and with it, a rapprochement of the social sciences to the psychological sciences, the relationship between these fields has not gone far enough. The actual challenge is a move towards the unification of the social, psychological and language sciences (anthropology and sociology; cognitive science; and linguistics). A step in this interdisciplinary direction is offered by the discipline called 'cognitive anthropolinguistics', and its central concept of 'cultural cognition'. The paper discusses the implication of this concept for the field of educational linguistics, followed by a brief illustration of a cognitive-cultural application of that concept, namely the concept of 'ethnic stereotype', as part of a socio-cultural guide for a cross-cultural pedagogical grammar.

Who owns 'culture'?1

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Thomas Lawson ◽  
Robert N. McCauley
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Early Childhood Development ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Childhood Development ◽  
Cross Cultural Study ◽  
Fieldwork Experience ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractNo one owns the concept 'culture'. Anthropology's long-standing proprietary claim on the concept rests on three sorts of contentions - none of which are convincing. Anthropology's overwhelmingly interpretive approaches to cultural materials have led to a preoccupation with the details of cultural materials at the expense of formulating explanatory theories. This has, among other things, rendered fieldwork experience sufficient for professional credentials. However, if the details are all that matter, then comparative and cross-cultural research, as well as most of the social sciences, make no sense. Contrary to this view, it is proposed here that theories reveal which details matter. Cognitive accounts of the sort we advanced in Rethinking Religion (1990) offer a firm theoretical basis for cross-cultural study of religious materials. Other types of research concerning non-human primates, early childhood development, and various social and cognitive impairments also offer insight into culture (without relying on fieldwork studies).

13. Ethnography and Participant Observation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Halperin ◽  
Oliver Heath
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Political Ethnography ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The Social ◽  
Terrorist Groups

This chapter discusses the principles of ethnography and participant observation: what they are, how (if) they became standardized as a research method, what form of evidence they constitute, and what place they occupy in the study of Politics. Participant observation has emerged as a popular research tool across the social sciences. In particular, political ethnographies are now widely carried out in a wide variety of contexts, from the study of political institutions and organizations to the investigation of social movements and informal networks, such as terrorist groups and drugs cartels. Political ethnography is also becoming a research method of choice in the field of International Relations. The chapter examines the strengths of ethnographic fieldwork, focusing on issues relating to sampling, access, key informants, and collecting observational data. It also addresses the weaknesses of ethnography, especially issues of subjectivity, reliability, and generalizability.

“Life Begins When They Steal Your Bicycle”: Cross-Cultural Practices of Personhood at the Beginnings and Ends of Life

2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn M. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Policy ◽  
To Come

A friend once told me I was wasting my time writing about cross-cultural perspectives on the beginnings of life. “Your work is interesting for its curiosity value,” he said, “but fundamentally worthless. What happens in other cultures is totally irrelevant to what is happening here.” Those were discouraging words, but as I followed the American debates about the beginnings and ends of life, it seemed he was right. Anthropologists have written a great deal about birth and death rites in other societies and about non-western notions of personhood, but to date our findings have had little impact on American policy, ethics, or law. The recognized experts on contentious topics such as abortion and euthanasia tend to come from the fields of philosophy, bioethics, theology, law, and biology, but rarely from the social sciences. I was a bit surprised, therefore, to be invited to address the Thomas A. Pitts Memorial Lectureship on “Defining the Beginning and the End of Human Life.”

scholarly journals “I’ve had it!” Group therapy for interdisciplinary researchers

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Jurmu ◽  
Johanna Ylipulli ◽  
Anna Luusua
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Group Therapy ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Human Computer Interaction ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Industrial Design ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Problems

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>In this workshop, we reflect on and share the fun and frustrations of working in interdisciplinary research. We ask participants to openly reflect on their experiences of interdisciplinarity. What approaches have worked and what have failed? In addition to identifying phenomena, we aim to sketch out the next decade of interdisciplinary research in computing, especially in HCI. The third paradigm of Human-Computer Interaction focuses on the qualitative aspects of use experience and the situatedness of technologies. This new orientation has drawn in researchers from various other research and arts backgrounds and traditions, including the social sciences, architecture and industrial design among others. Therefore, we consider this third paradigm to be inherently interdisciplinary. Through workshop participants’ reflection of their own experiences, we strive to identify the common problems and pitfalls of interdisciplinary research, and to celebrate successes, as well as share best practices. </span></p></div></div></div>

scholarly journals Building sustainable global collaborative networks: Recommendations from music studies and the social sciences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick E. Savage ◽  
Nori Jacoby ◽  
Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis ◽  
Hideo Daikoku ◽  
Manuel Anglada-Tort ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Collaborative Networks ◽  
Research Practices ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Music Making ◽  
The Social ◽  
Epistemological Perspectives

Global collaborative networks have been established in multiple fields to move beyond research that over-relies on “WEIRD” participants and to consider central questions from cross-cultural and epistemological perspectives. As researchers in music and the social sciences with experience building and sustaining such networks, we participated in a virtual symposium on February 7, 2021. to exchange knowledge, ideas, and recommendations, with an emphasis on developing global networks to investigate human music-making. We present 14 key take-home recommendations, particularly regarding 1) enhancing representation of researchers and research participants, 2) minimizing logistical challenges, 3) ensuring meaningful, reproducible comparisons, and 4) incentivizing sustainable collaboration and shared research practices that circumvent research hierarchies. Two overarching conclusions are that sustainable global collaborations should attempt shared research practices including diverse stake-holders, and that we should fundamentally re-evaluate the nature of research credit attribution.

Interviews as a Means to Understand (and Silence) Contemporary Africa and Its Voices

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrycja Stys
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rich Data ◽  
Context Specific

Interviewing is commonly utilized in all disciplines of the social sciences. Across Africa, interviews are undertaken in a variety of diverse contexts by researchers from within and without the continent. Although the challenges many face are context specific, they are certainly not Africa specific: from research design and preparation, to implementation in cross-cultural, extremely rural, or conflict-affected environments. In order to overcome these challenges, researchers must first recognize that interview data encompass much more than respondents’ answers to posed questions. Interview data, obtained in the process of organizing and conducting interviews, are the information collected before, during, and after the interview encounter; and analyses of the context in which they are pursued, including encountered difficulties. Together, these rich data further our understanding of contemporary Africa, as they do of other continents. It is rare, however, for published outputs to fully engage with the processes of preparing for, enacting, and interpreting the interview encounter. Such omissions limit our understanding of the research process and impede methodological transparency, thereby obscuring possible biases in data and the conclusions drawn from it.

Challenges for Science

2021 ◽  
pp. 170-195
Author(s):  
Harvey Whitehouse
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Transdisciplinary Research ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Transdisciplinary Collaboration

The book ends by calling for a new kind of science of the social, one that recognizes the immense challenges posed by the sheer complexity of sociocultural phenomena and the fact that our evolved psychology is not well designed to grasp, let alone address, those challenges. Nevetheless, we live in a time when the potential rewards of transdisciplinary collaboration are richer than they have ever been before. This chapter describes some of the main hurdles to achieving that potential and discusses how these might be overcome. The very enterprise of social science is inherently unnatural, given our uniquely human evolved psychology, and this may explain why the study of the social has proven harder to get off the ground, in comparison with many other life sciences. The resulting lack of consensus on basic matters of epistemology and method has contributed to the creation of theoretical and methodological divisions in the social sciences in the alternate guises of the ‘two cultures problem’ and the ‘silo effect’. The solutions proposed here advocate new forms of problem-centred transdisciplinary research based on the kinds of cross-cultural collaborative programmes described in detail throughout the book.

scholarly journals The Comparative Method in Practice: Case Selection and the Social Science of Revolution

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Selection Strategies ◽  
Case Methodology ◽  
Case Selection ◽  
The Social ◽  
Comparative Methodology ◽  
Methodological Practice ◽  
Over Time

Formalization of comparative case methodology has given the appearance of growing consensus and cross-disciplinary acceptance around a set of best practices. Yet how researchers use a method may differ widely from what methodologists believe, which is the crux of institutionalization of a method. This study examines whether comparative methodology has, in fact, institutionalized within the social sciences using evidence from the entire corpus of comparative studies of revolution published from 1970 to 2009. Content analysis of methods of case selection within the revolution subfield reveals a wide diversity of strategies with only modest methodological awareness by practitioners, a lack of consensus among which case selection strategies to use, and little convergence over time. Thus, the comparative method has not yet institutionalized in its practice. Methodological practice has implications for the coverage of cases of revolution and what is substantively known about the phenomenon.

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