Cultural Anthropology and Understanding Vegetarianism. Imagine that the Student Health Service wants to understand vegetarianism among undergraduates and is offering $20,000 for a research project that identifies how and why students become vegetarians.
Design a mixed methods study using at least two distinct methods that you learned in the class.
- Propose an initial theory/explanation/hypothesis that your research will address, stated precisely and with details.
- Clearly describe, explain, and justify your sampling plan.
- Describe your methods very explicitly and precisely, providing clear justification for:
- Why you chose each of your particular methods and what type of data or evidence each method would produce.
- b. Why you selected the combination of the two n=methods and how the two complement one another.
- c. How you determined the order in which you would carry out your methods in your research design.
- Describe precisely how you would implement your methods. If you use any sort of structured “instrument,” such as an interview protocol, experimental procedure, or questionnaire, attach it as an appendix at the end of your exam. If you use unstructured methods, such as participant observation or open-ended interviews, be explicit about what exactly you plan to do, for instance, describing any practices in which you would participate, when, with whom, and how that method would contribute to answering the research question.
- Discuss the merits and pitfalls or possible limitations to each of your research methods and how, in conjunction, the two methods would enable you to best answer the research question.
- Persuade the Student Health Service that your research design and methods will provide data that will answer the original question (why students initially become vegetarians).
DO NOT COLLECT DATA, but rather think through and discuss how the methods you choose would best answer the research question.
Grading will be based in part on how well you make appropriate use of the concepts from the readings, lectures, and discussions this quarter. Cite relevant readings, lectures, or discussions to support your research design. Citations to course materials can be simply the author and page, or the date of the lecture or discussion section. You must include at least 2 lecture and 2 reading citations relevant to your proposal.
Cultural Anthropology and Understanding Vegetarianism Text Sources
- Douglas Raybeck, Mad Dogs, Englishmen, and the Errant Anthropologist;
- H. Russell Bernard, Research Methods in Anthropology (6th Edition).
Lecture SOURCES: ( what was discussed in lecture) – same sources
- Thursday, October 11 Participant Observation I
Bernard Chapter 8 & 9; Raybeck Chapter 4.
- Thursday, November 29 How to combine methods Bernard Chapter 18.
