Week #16 Question #1

(Regarding Chapter 13) Which of the research methods listed in Table 13.3 seem the most interesting? Assume you want to study some aspect of deception. Frame a research question. Which method would you choose to answer the question. Why?

As a Cultural Anthropology major the most interesting research method to me is that of ethnography. By observing behavior within its environment one is able to gain a deeper understanding of the motives of that observed individual. By following the ethnographic process one is hopefully able to avoid ethnocentric analysis as cultural emersion may help change perspective. By taking ethnography one step further, through participant observation, one is truly able to gain some direct knowledge of what it is to be a person of the observed culture. If I were asking the research question "How does Japanese culture commend and condone deception within its modern society? ethnography would be my method of choice. By living with and observing integrated members of Japanese society, along with how they and members of their social networks interact, one could then use that data to answer.