Methodological Possibilities

In both my field study prep class and my ethnographic methods class for anthropology, I have recently been really noticing the value behind different methodologies. When I first began to hear about methods in anthropology, I often felt skeptical about the practicality or usefulness. In the "hard" sciences methodologies such as experimentation or the use of numerical formulas are concrete, and it is fairly easy to see how these could be put to use to further a hypothesis. However, when one is doing research qualitatively, things are expected to have error, and to include guesswork. At first, I considered whether this could indicate inaccuracy or worthlessness. However, as my understanding of anthropology deepened, I realized qualitative work is, in fact, very valuable, and with the methods practices I have been doing this semester I have become even more solidified in this opinion. Questions or exercises patterned specifically to know better the human mind and human emotions are just as significant as the scientific experiments that can test biological samples.

For example, I have noticed that my methods practices have especially helped me to see how I can use informants to define specific aspects of their culture, and to map out where people place value. Since I will be unfamiliar with the culture I am studying, this is vital. When I practiced free-listing, pile sorting, and ranking methodologies, I asked a friend to list every type of education should could think of. This led to follow up questions about how she defined education, which was further specified when she sorted her list into categorical piles. Furthermore, when she ranked her list from most important to least, I was able to see where she placed value in a specific part of her society. Similarly, when I used scale inquiry on BYU campus to ask about gender roles and education, specifically through the scale question "It is more important for males to graduate from college than for females - strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree," I was able to infer social value through the answers my subjects gave.

I am beginning to see the possibilities a variety of methodologies hold for information gathering within the field. As Professor Hawkins has been emphasizing, sometimes even one observation, or a particular pattern from one question, or a specific reaction can already garner enough analysis-worthy subject matter for a large part of a senior thesis.

Humanitarian Relief

One of the inquiry conference presentations was by a Humanities major who studied a tourist site in Italy. Her presentation was titled something along the lines of “Inconclusive Study: Confessions of a Humanities Field Study Student” (I can’t remember the actually title). The presenter shared her learning experiences in Italy, but concluded by sharing the insights she had gained about a three-month undergraduate study. Basically, three months is a very short amount of time, and although she can make educated guesses and theoretical postulates, she knows she can not state definitive conclusions because they would be stereotypical and likely inaccurate. She related that the field study experience is wonderful and teaches students a lot, but that participants do not need to think they should return to the States with great revelations and conclusive breakthroughs. Even seasoned researchers who spend years doing ethnographic studies in one particular area cannot ever be completely sure about the conclusions and theories they acquire.

This presentation really helped me to feel relieved. As I work to gather sources for my project question and attempt to more fully comprehend its implications, I continue to feel overwhelmed, inadequate, and under qualified. I keep wondering to myself if there is any way my research could actually be valuable to academia, since it will be done in such a short amount of time, and by me, of so little experience. This girl’s presentation let me know that there are other field study students who feel the same way as me, and that this is okay. My undergraduate field study is a time to learn methods, procedures, and experience what it is like to develop a research question and carry out a study. It is okay that I cannot possibly come to complex and thorough conclusions that may not have any impact of influence on Ghanaians or anthropological academia. I am expanding my knowledge and experience, preparing for graduate school studies, and becoming more familiar with cross-cultural relations. I can do my best to contribute educated guesses about my project’s particular study aspects and be comfortable with the fact that I may or may not be right, and that I more than likely will come to indefinite conclusions.

Questioning my Question

One somewhat vague, but I think important, question I have about my research project is this:

From my Western viewpoint, my project question (do familial obligations surrounding cocoa farming prevent female children from attending school/gaining a higher education) naturally leads to an inferred problem if the answer ends up being yes. This problem for Westerners would be, "these girls aren't getting an education! They need to be in schools!" However, from some of the sources I have looked over, including the one I annotated today, cocoa farming seems to be very beneficial for Ghanaians attempting to get out of poverty, and to create a more stable economy. The potential benefits even apply to women, if not especially, if they can begin to overcome the culturally ingrained gender inequality that is preventing them from equal land ownership and access to product input. So, my question is...am I asking the right question? My most far-reaching hope would be that my research could back some sort of positive social change, and hopefully the change that would most benefit Ghanaians living in rural agricultural areas. I am conflicted about whether youth in Ghana will be benefited more by migrating out of rural areas to urban cities to gain higher education and get city jobs, or if they should continue fostering cocoa agriculture, as the crop has definitely improved Ghana's economic stability. This is something I need to look further into within the literature, and depending on what I find, I may possibly have to reconfigure my question.

Mapping Questions

I feel fairly comfortable with my project question so far, which is, "Do familial obligations related to cocoa farming prevent female children from gaining a higher education in ________, Ghana (by, because, etc)?" I know this question will probably develop and change as I read more and prepare for my field research, and very possibly while I am in the field. However, I think it is a great start, and includes social issues I am very interested in (socioeconomics, gender issues, education). I really loved the map Jackie had us make on Friday with our questions. It helped me generate a basic layout of the things I need to be prioritizing as I prepare for my project by allowing me to compartmentalize some of the significant parts of my project related to hands-on research. I will definitely be making these maps periodically as I prepare, and hope that, as Jackie suggested, I will find helpful connections between different parts of my research. Some of the things I realized were that I need to have a good plan about what people I should be talking to and working with in Ghana, what places or facilities I should look into utilizing, and that my literary research can be much broader than how narrow my topic is. Additionally, it was helpful seeing my classmates' questions mapped out, so that I now have a general idea of what each of us is studying. With any luck, we can all be helpful resources to each other. It is vey exciting seeing our questions beginning to really come together, and realizing that the things we are learning will be applied to real ethnographic research.