Deck 2: Research Methods in Anthropology

Question 1

Participant-observation refers to the __________.

A) practice of immersing oneself in the language and customs of a society
B) use of a laboratory to standardize measurements
C) observation of how people interact in carefully contrived situations
D) employment of natives to gather information from their peers

Answer 1

practice of immersing oneself in the language and customs of a society

Question 2

Anything made or modified by a human is called a(n)__________.

A) artifact
B) fossil
C) ecofact
D) feature

Answer 2

artifact

Question 3

The method of __________ shows that a theory seems to be wrong.

A) falsification
B) proving
C) guessing
D) testing

Answer 3

falsification

Question 4

Which of the following is true of the archive known as the Human Relations Area Files?

A) Its collections have been indexed to make them easier to consult.
B) It specializes in providing information on social problems in societies around the world.
C) It is available only to qualified researchers.
D) It is available only in a select few universities, and only on paper and microfiche.

Question 5

Whiting predicated that societies with a __________would have long postpartum sex taboos.

A) low-protein diet
B) high-protein diet
C) means of birth control
D) history of overcrowding

Question 6

Dual-inheritance theory relates to the roles of __________ and __________ in transmitting traits to future generations.

A) genes; culture
B) culture; lineage
C) genes; diet
D) diet; lineage

Question 7

Theories are __________.

A) explanations of laws and statistical associations
B) ideas which explain untested hypotheses
C) guesses as to how things are related
D) precise answers to a question that had been unanswerable

Question 8

Which theorist was pivotal in the theoretical approach of evolutionism?

A) Lewis Henry Morgan
B) Franz Boas
C) Clifford Geertz
D) Julian Steward

Question 9

What is a statistical association?

A) It is a relationship between two variables that is unlikely to be due to chance.
B) It is a relationship between two variables that may be meaningful, but that may equally well be due to chance.
C) It is a chance association between two variables.
D) It is an organization devoted to the documentation of numerical information from different societies.

Question 10

In any field of investigation,__________ are generally the most plentiful commodity.

A) theories
B) data
C) tests
D) formulae

Question 11

How is a law defined in the physical sciences?

A) It is a relationship between variables whose existence is suggested by repeated observation.
B) It is a narrative statement.
C) It is a statement about how things ought to be if we are right in our theories.
D) It is a detailed explanation about why things occur the way they do.

Question 12

How a researcher describes the procedure that will be followed to measure a variable is __________.

A) the operational definition
B) the theory
C) the hypothesis
D) only a guess

Question 13

Some estimate that there have been around 6,000 primate species in existence.What percentage of these has been found in the fossil record?

A) 3
B) 5
C) 10
D) 20

Question 14

What was one of the ways that Franz Boas brought about the end of the evolutionism period in early anthropology?

A) He was strongly opposed to "race" theory, and emphasized the importance of cultural context.
B) He disagreed with the dependence on field work and encouraged more theoretical research.
C) Boas was the first to consider adaptation to environmental conditions as a major factor for cultural traits.
D) Boas was the only anthropologist to work with subjects from developing nations.

Question 15

The goal of interpretive anthropology is to __________.

A) understand what it means to be a person living in a particular culture
B) explain why cultures vary
C) identify cultural universals
D) determine why people in different cultures have different ethics and morals

Question 16

Interpretive anthropology can be contrasted with more __________ approaches.

A) scientific
B) philosophical
C) traditional
D) aesthetic

Question 17

To measure something is to say how it compares with other things on some scale of __________.

A) variation
B) classification
C) society
D) quality

Question 18

From where do we derive most anthropological data?

A) ethnographic fieldwork
B) accounts of early explorers
C) government censuses and reports
D) controlled studies

Question 19

An explanation is an answer to a __________ question.

A) "why"
B) "what"
C) "who"
D) "where"

Question 20

Which of these fields focuses on the relationship between a society and its environment?

A) cultural ecology
B) cultural biology
C) social ecology
D) social biology

Question 21

Which of the following is an example of a hypothesis?

A) Kinship terminology is associated with marital patterns.
B) Democracy is the best form of government.
C) We will interview 400 people for this study.
D) Our data support the idea that English and German are in the same language family.

Question 22

Potassium-argon dating is an example of a(n)__________ dating technique.

A) absolute
B) complete
C) relative
D) comparative

Question 23

What is the difference between a feature and an artifact?

A) A feature is simply an artifact that cannot be removed from the archaeological site.
B) An artifact is simply a feature that cannot be removed from the archaeological site.
C) A feature is an item made by humans, while an artifact is something that was only modified for use.
D) An artifact is an item made by humans, while a feature is something that was only modified for use.

Question 24

Archaeologists are concerned with recovering intact __________,while paleoanthropologists are concerned with recovering intact __________.

A) features; fossils
B) ecofacts; artifacts
C) fossils; artifacts
D) features; ecofacts

Question 25

Which of these gives an accurate example of a researcher's sampling universe?

A) An investigator wants to understand high school drop-out rates, so she draws her sample from all the high school students in her city.
B) An investigator wishes to understand parent's vaccination decisions, so he reads a selection of papers already published on the anti-vaccination movement.
C) A researcher hopes to explain the relationship between divorce rates and religious belief, so she interviews one divorced couple about their faith.
D) A researcher plans to teach safe sex to teens, so he provides leaflets and workshops to local clinics.

Question 26

What is the relationship between associations and theories?

A) Theories are more complicated explanations for observed associations.
B) Associations are required before theories can be made.
C) Theories are required before associations can be made.
D) Associations are more complicated explanations for observed theories.

Question 27

Why is in incorrect to explain a cultural feature by saying it is "traditional"?

A) It is an unsatisfactory answer because it is a tautology.
B) It is incorrect because, by definition, traditions are not cultural features.
C) Cultural features are too variable to be considered traditional.
D) Tradition always precedes the adoption of cultural features.

Question 28

Which of these is a common ecofact found at archaeological sites?

A) pollen
B) human skeletons
C) broken pottery
D) tools

Question 29

What should be taken into account when using ethnographic information from multiple cultures?

A) You should make sure that all of the information was gathered in the same time period.
B) It is important that all information was collected by the same anthropologist.
C) It is necessary for all of the cultures to live in the same type of environment.
D) You must ensure that all of the ethnographies are written from the same theoretical perspective.

Question 30

Which of these is an example of cultural lag?

A) A society has recently changed their diet but still maintains a food-related taboo.
B) A sedentary society relies on more grains than a nomadic society in the same environment.
C) Women in one society learn new trends later than men, because they are less likely to be literate.
D) A community adopts English words for pop culture, but not for other aspects of language.

Question 31

What is the benefit of stratified archaeological sites?

A) Stratification provides a relative date for materials as they are excavated.
B) Stratified sites are better preserved than non-stratified sites.
C) Stratified sites are easier to locate than non-stratified sites.
D) Stratification allows for absolute dating of the artifacts.

Question 32

What type of research allows anthropologists to generate interpretations on the basis of worldwide comparisons of particular characteristics?

A) cross-cultural research
B) within-culture comparison
C) nonhistorical controlled comparisons
D) historical research

Question 33

When would you use a statistical test of significance?

A) to measure the differences among variables
B) to definitively prove a theory
C) to determine the level of importance to attach to a theoretical construct
D) to determine whether your conclusion was right or wrong

Question 34

Anthropologists have realized that __________ their experiences and personal interactions is an important part of understanding.

A) reflecting on
B) documenting
C) reporting
D) theorizing on

Question 35

Anthropological research can be classified by its __________ and __________ scope.

A) spatial; temporal
B) temporal; ecological
C) ecological; economic
D) economic; spatial

Question 36

__________ is the study of descriptive materials about a single society at more than one point in time.

A) Ethnohistory
B) A within-culture comparison
C) A nonhistorical controlled comparison
D) Cross-cultural research

Question 37

In __________,anthropologists compare ethnographic information obtained from societies found in a particular region.

A) regional controlled comparisons
B) within-culture comparisons
C) cross-cultural research
D) historical research

Question 38

Why is Pompeii such a well-preserved site?

A) It was covered quickly by a volcanic eruption.
B) It is in a particularly arid region of the world.
C) It was sunk deep under the sea by an earthquake.
D) Local superstition prevented anyone from disturbing the remains.

Question 39

What is one major impediment to historical research?

A) Collecting and analyzing historical data is very time consuming.
B) There is no historical data for most of the world.
C) Historical data is less respected than ethnographic data.
D) There is no way to statistically analyze historical data.

Question 40

Why can theories not be proven?

A) Many of the concepts and ideas in theories are not directly observable.
B) They are too complex to be tested.
C) Theories are too vague to be tested.
D) Human behavior is basically unpredictable.

Question 41

Discuss the pros and cons of anthropologists using pseudonyms and fake community names when publishing their research.

Question 42

Why are archaeologists,in particular,ethically obligated to publish the results of their research?

A) The very act of excavating a site destroys it for future archaeologists.
B) There are more ethical concerns in archaeological research than in research on living populations.
C) Archaeological research is of greater interest to the general public than other anthropological pursuits.
D) There is very little published information on archaeological research, and this gap in the publication record must be corrected.

Question 43

How does archaeology differ from other approaches to cultural anthropology?

A) Only archaeology can look through long stretches of time and directly examine evolutionary trends.
B) Archaeology is the only approach that uses historical records in addition to studying living peoples.
C) Archaeology studies both humans and other animals, which aids our understanding of evolutionary trends.
D) Only archaeology uses cultures around the world to explain global trends.

Question 44

What are anthropological theoretical orientations? Explain this term using your newly developed understanding of the scientific definitions of theories,hypotheses,and laws.Give specific examples to support your essay.

Question 45

What influence did Darwin's theory of evolution have on 19th-century anthropology?

A) Early anthropologists believed that cultures develop in a uniform manner, as Darwin suggested species do.
B) It was assumed that only European societies were humans, and that other peoples constituted different species.
C) Their acceptance of Darwinian evolution placed early anthropologists in a position of conflict with the church.
D) Cultural anthropology was approached from the perspectives of biologists.

Question 46

What method should be used to test a theory concerning only one society?

A) within-culture comparison
B) regional controlled comparison
C) cross-cultural research
D) historical research

Question 47

In your opinion,do the results of archaeological research justify the inevitable destruction of archaeological sites through excavation? Support your answer.

Question 48

Choose either ecological anthropology,interpretive anthropology,or Boasian anthropology.Describe what sorts of questions an anthropologist following this theoretical perspective would be interested in if they were to study the social life of American university students.

Question 49

How does the sampling universe vary based on the types of research in anthropology? Explain what a typical sampling universe would look like for within-culture comparisons,cross-cultural research,and historical research.

Question 50

While anthropologists often use pseudonyms to protect their study populations,what problem might arise from this practice?

A) It is difficult to conduct follow-up research if the community has been disguised.
B) Using a fake name for the community reduces the credibility of the study's findings.
C) Most anthropologists find the practice disrespectful to study populations.
D) It is unethical to conceal the locations of illegal or otherwise improper behaviors.