QualQuant – Training in Qualitative and Quantitative Social Research Methods

Cultural Domain Analysis

Cultural domain analysis (CDA) is the study of how people in a group think about lists of things that somehow go together. The class covers the theory behind these matrices and how they can be used in many different areas of research, including the analysis of qualitative data (like text and images) and in social network analysis. Participants get hands-on practice with data collection techniques and with data analysis using Anthropac and Ucinet software.

Text Analysis

This course lays out a broad range of systematic methods for analyzing qualitative data (e.g., text and images) and provides guidance on when the methods should be used. We will cover the basics of qualitative research, including: techniques for identifying themes, tips for developing and using codebooks, and suggestions on how to produce qualitative descriptions, make systematic comparisons, and build and formally test models.

Geospatial Analysis

This intensive course introduces different components of Geospatial analysis and their applications in Anthropology: Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), and their integration. The course covers basic concepts necessary to work with geospatial data. Participants will be exposed to the basic features of GIS and remote sensing software and will understand the types of analyses that can be conducted with the software.

Social Network Analysis

Social Network Analysis is an approach that allows researchers to quantify the pattern of relations among a set of actors. The actors are usually people, but they can also be animals, organizations, or nations. Social networks analysis can be applied to substantive problems that cut across many subjects and disciplines. Any research problem where social context is important may benefit from social network analysis.

Analyzing Video Data

This course prepares participants to collect and analyze anthropological data gathered through video recording. Participants will learn to use high quality video and audio recording equipment and the basics of video interviewing, including location of audio and lighting, camera handling, and scene composition. These basic skills will allow participants to generate higher-quality footage for their research projects.

Behavioral Observation

The goal of this course is to instruct professional anthropologists in the use of a variety of behavior measurement methods employed in a naturalistic or field setting — many of which are commonly used in the behavioral, medical, and social sciences — that are useful in empirically answering a variety of questions of anthropological interest. Methods range from traditional direct observations to time diary techniques to newer computer mediated recordings.

Statistics in Ethnographic Research

This five-day course covers the concepts and skills needed for analyzing and interpreting quantitative data collected as part of ethnographic field research. Researchers will learn how to: (1) develop quantitative measures of behaviors, attitudes, and material objects; (2) provide group-level summaries of quantitative data; (3) frame expectations about group differences and relationships between variables; (4) test those expectations with quantitative data; and (5) justify why a specific test is appropriate for a given kind of data.

Methods in Ethnoecology

This course will acquaint participants with the approaches, methods and analyses used by ethnoecologists who are researching contemporary issues in the relationship between humans and the environment. The approaches includes community-based management of natural resources, co-evolution of cultural diversity and biological diversity, ethnobiological classification, historical ecology and landscape modification.
indigenous peoples and protected areas
transmission of traditional ecological knowledge
agrobiodiversity and subsistence

Survey Research

The aim of this short course is to introduce researchers to the uses of social survey techniques in ethnographic research. The following topics will be discussed:

• survey research design
• sampling strategies
• linking ethnographic and survey data
• construction of interview schedules
• interviewing techniques in survey research
• training interviewers
• data quality control
• coding and entering data
• data analytic strategies for survey data.

For Teachers

For Self-Directed Learners