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Course:
MARY AFST 506:Field Research Principles and Practice: Foundational
(Students in their first to third courses)
Dates: Taught as an integral part of each course. The course is designed
for students in their first three courses.
Research training:
This dimension of the program is designed to train students how to do
professional field research on issues pertinent to the particular
courses they are taking. The research is facilitated by University
students who are assigned to each participant on a one-to-one basis and
function as their field assistants. The research is intertwined with all
courses being taught each session. It is under the direction of the
professors teaching the courses.
Research elements:
1. Three workshops on how to do research, work efficiently with a field
assistant, and analyze collected data.
2. Three sessions each week for three weeks in the Immersion programs, one
session each week for twelve weeks in the Semester programs doing field research in and
about Nairobi (with the field assistants, and under the guidance of the
professors) on situations and issues relevant to the materials being
taught in the classroom.
3. Reports to the class on the field research.
4. Integration of data collected from the research into the final
papers required for the courses.
5. A written skill evaluation exam measuring one's comprehension of
research methods and techniques.
Outline:
Part I: Classroom Lectures
Introduction to ideologies and techniques of field research
1) Working with a field assistant
2) Participant observation, stream of consciousness interviews
3) Writing up ethnographic material
4) Ethical questions
Part II: Field Research
Nine field trips researching various dimensions of Kenyan society in the
Immersion programs, and ten field trips in the Semester programs.
1) Interviews
2) Case histories
3) Questionnaires
One overnight excursion to the rural homestead of the field assistant
per course
Part III: Required Writings
Integration of material researched into the required course papers.
1) Case studies
2) Analysis of primary data
3) Correlation with literature and lectures on the topic.
Written skill evaluation text measuring mastery of Spradley's Participant
Observation.
TEXT BOOK
Spradley, James P. (1980).Participant Observation. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bernard, Russell H. (1994).Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and
Quantitative Approaches. Second Edition. Sage Publications Inc.
Crane, G. and Michael V. Angrosino.
(1974).Field Projects in
Anthropology, (A Student Handbook) Illinois/London: Scott, Forsman and
Company, Glenview.
Leach, Edmund.
(1976).Culture and Communication: The Logic by
Which Symbols Are Connected: An introduction to the Use of Structuralist
Analysis in Social Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
"Theology of Luo Sacrifice." Ed. Michael
Kirwen. Unpublished paper, 1978. Available through the MIAS program,
c/o M. Kirwen, Box 15199 Lang'ata, 00509, Kenya.
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