Week 3 Quiz

At the running fieldwork site (an illustrative weekly farmers' market), Visit 1 ran from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. and produced 10 field-note entries. About how many minutes passed between entries on average?

Select one.

• 10 minutes, because the visit produced 10 entries
• 2 minutes, because the visit lasted 2 hours
• 12 minutes, because 2 × 60 = 120 and 120 ÷ 10 = 12
• 20 minutes, because each hour holds 10 of the entries

Which statement matches this course's definition of participant observation?

Select one.

• long-term fieldwork in which the researcher takes part in daily life and records it
• watching a group from a distance so the researcher never changes what happens
• a single visit in which the researcher asks everyone the same set questions
• reading reports by travelers and officials and comparing the customs they describe

In Visit 1's entry 4, at 8:20 a.m. at the produce stall, a vendor greets a shopper with "The usual?" and bags two pounds of apples before the shopper asks. Which part belongs in the possible-interpretation column rather than the observed column?

Select one.

• the vendor says "The usual?" to the shopper
• the vendor bags two pounds of apples
• the time, 8:20 a.m., and the setting, the produce stall
• the shopper may be one of the vendor's "regulars"

The vendors speak of their "regulars", while an observer counts repeat buyers, people seen buying at the same stall on at least 3 of 4 weekly visits. Which statement is accurate?

Select one.

• "regulars" is etic and repeat buyers is emic, since the observer is an insider
• "regulars" is emic and repeat buyers is etic, and neither view is wrong
• "regulars" is emic, so it is the right term and repeat buyers is the wrong one
• both are etic, because each one sorts shoppers into a group

Geertz (1973), The Interpretation of Cultures, made thick description central in its opening essay. Where did the term itself come from?

Select one.

• Geertz coined it himself for that essay
• Malinowski coined it in his 1922 account of Trobriand fieldwork
• Geertz took it from the philosopher Gilbert Ryle and credited him
• Pike coined it when he coined the terms emic and etic

A researcher sets the course's market beside markets described in many other studies to find patterns and differences among them. Which term names this work?

Select one.

• ethnology, the comparison of many cultures
• ethnography, the detailed study of one community
• participant observation, taking part while recording
• reflexivity, noticing the observer's own position

A vendor agrees to an interview after hearing the consent script, then asks to stop halfway through. Under the American Anthropological Association's Principles of Professional Responsibility (2012) and this course's rules, what should the student do?

Select one.

• finish the questions, because the vendor already said yes at the start
• keep going but leave the vendor's name out of the notes
• ask a different vendor to finish the interview for the first one
• stop, because informed consent is an ongoing agreement that can be withdrawn

Malinowski (1922), Argonauts of the Western Pacific, set out participant observation from his fieldwork in the Trobriand Islands in the 1910s. Which earlier approach did long-term fieldwork turn away from?

Select one.

• the four-field approach, which split anthropology into subfields
• the "armchair" approach of comparing customs from other people's reports
• cultural relativism, describing practices in their own terms
• holism, looking at how the parts of a way of life fit together

A student plans an observation for this course. Which planned steps follow the course's fieldwork rules? Select all that apply.

Select every option that applies.

• Observe the open seating area of a public library at exam time.
• Write "a student with three highlighters" instead of anyone's name.
• Photograph the line at a coffee counter to check the notes later.
• Interview one consenting adult about how they choose a coffee order.
• Copy a barista's name from a name tag to keep the notes accurate.

True or false: describing the vendors' bell rule in the market's own terms before deciding what you think of it is an example of cultural relativism as a method.

True or false.

• True
• False