Fall 2002: World Cultural Comparisons 11-12:20 Tues Thurs SST 220A and SST 155-Lab; from 2nd day SST 155 (Computer Lab)
Anthropology 174AW 60240: Douglas R. White
mirror site at uci
Office Hours T,Th 10-11 SSPA 4170 (949) 824 5893
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ORDER OF PRESENTATIONS and proposal topics
Introduction to ethnology/ethnography, comparative research and theory, culminating in processes of discovery and hypothesis testing using world cultural databases to which students have access in the lab and on CD ROM. This year's class features the use of Spss, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Term paper project will be based on research using the cross-cultural database. Materials needed for the project will be provided, but students need to find references relevant to their topic (from review articles provided) in the cross-cultural literature in the library.
Writing assignments and oral presentations for the class: a 1-2 page proposal, a preliminary study for the term project (8-10 pp. plus appendices), an oral presentation of the final project using transparencies, powerpoint or a web page to show results, and a term paper (12-15 pp. plus appendices), all to be provided on disk as part of the assignment.
Class Objectives: During the first two weeks you should become familiar with the cross-cultural data resources (maps for distributions of variables, codes and codebook, guides to the variables in the codes) and how to use Spss to access data and show relationships between variables. Early readings will provide an overview and review of literatures useful for your term projects in finding previous studies on possible topics for your research. Your goals early on should be to master use of Spss for variables and selective recoding, correlations and cross-tabs, and learning how to test hypotheses. During the quarter you need to learn how to come up with hypotheses and how to test them with Spss using the cross-cultural database. You need to think about how these relate to general theories about culture and society that will be discussed in class, and learn how to write up and present your materials in class and for the term project. Ample feedback is provided by the instructor. The general goal here is to learn how to put social science theories to the test empirically using a sample of case studies, whether you deal with biology, economics, religion, expressive culture, social organization, politics or the like. There are no disciplinary or statistical prerequites and you may focus your research on any subject for which there are adequate data in the datasets provided (but the database will be worldwide in scope). The writing goals are to learn fairly simple strategies for writing up results of empirical research using tables showing relationships among variables.
Provided by World Cultures Electronic Journal
- Pre-Coded Variables for the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, from World Cultures, 1998, William Divale, editor
Week 1: Read text ch 1 and two articles of your choice from Cross-Cultural Studies published in World Cultures, using Murdock’s Data or Murdock and White’s Standard Sample and be prepared to discuss them when called upon! http://eee.uci.edu/02f/60380/files/SCCSarticles.htm
- Oct 1: Introduction to Cross-Cultural Research - Evolutionary Adaptation and Complexity in the Self-Organization of Cultural Interactions
- Standard Cross Cultural Survey, reviewed by Philip Silverman and Jacquelyn Messinger, with codebooks for Spss files STDS01-22
- Oct 3: Introduction to Spss for Cross-Cultural Research with the Standard Sample
- Using Spss in the lab -- and accessing codebooks - essential instructions
- Standard Cross-Cultural Sample Codebook, Variables 1-1270 pdf - html version 1-1270 pdf - html version a- b
- Standard Cross-Cultural Sample Codebook, Variables 1271-1849 - html version 1271-1849 - html version c- d
- Using the Index of Variables - reference to codebook
- Guide to Variables by Spss Files - essential to print yourself a copy
- White and Veit's EthnoAtlas - a (Standard Sample)
- Equal Area projection of continents (correcting Eurocentric bias)
- "Focused Ethnographic Bibliography: Standard Cross-Cultural Sample" Douglas R. White, Behavior Science Research 23:1-145. html version a - b
- Publishing opportunity: UCI Undergraduate Research Journal
Related Course Materials at other Universities:
- Research Questions and Hypotheses Instructor Brad Huber, College of Charleston
- HRAF Data Recovery (requires use of the statistical program SPSS) Instructor Brad Huber, College of Charleston
- Group Poster Presentations Instructor Brad Huber, College of Charleston
- Basic Guide to Cross-Cultural Research by Carol Ember and Mel Ember
- Ethnographic texts: eHRAF files
- Ethnographic examples: eHRAF files
Week 2: Find your a Research Topic - and read text ch. 2 and two of the following articles
Week 3: State your hypotheses and read text ch. 3 and Paige and Paige on "Reproductive Ritual" (social theory for pre-state societies), check out
controls and embedding in civilizations
Week 4: Check out your variables and their correlations and read text chs 4-5 and find further sources on your topic; readings below help in the library search and discuss problems of explanation and methodology
Week 5: Research your Topics and analyze your variables - read text chs. 7-8 and finish library research on relevant cross-cultural literature;
How will you write up your research report?
Week 6: Getting References, Tables and your argument in order - read text ch 9 on reliability
Week 7: Getting your Tables and your Argument in order - read text ch 10 on summing up
Week 8: Research Presentations by Class Members
Week 9: Research Presentations by Class Members
Week 10: Research Presentations by Class Members
INTERNET INFORMATION: Standard Cross-Cultural Sample
INTERNET INFORMATION: Spss (for use with standard sample)
INTERNET INFORMATION: Ethno-Atlas
INTERNET INFORMATION: Other
Recommended
An extraordinarily useful reference if you can get it:
Towards Explaining Human Culture: A criticial review of the findings of worldwide cross-cultural research. David Levinson
Supplementary Text: OUT OF PRINT Order CD ROM with the computer lab database for home use
INTERNET INFORMATION: Reference books on writing
... isnt always easy....
Remember: Final papers should discuss at least one specific ethnographic case from your readings that is relevant
to your hypotheses by way of illustration
Cross-Cultural Research Methods $22.00. Very few students in the 2002 class found this useful.
The Management of Conflict.
Marc Howard Ross. Barnes&Noble Price: $18.00 new, $13.50 used. Available: Ships in 1-2 weeks (There may be copies in the bookstore)
The Politics of Reproductive Ritual
Karen E. Paige Jeffrey M. Paige. Barnes&Noble Price: $16.95 In Stock: 24 hours (Same Day). Not in the bookstore: order off the web from Barnes and Noble.
The syllabus for this course (2002-forward) has been viewed
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