Exploring Surveys in Anthropology Research

Course Description

Have you ever wondered how Cultural Anthropologists get their information about people around the world? Well, there are many types of research methods that Cultural Anthropologists use, including participant observation, interviews, focus groups, and more. In this introductory course on research methods in Anthropology, the focus will be on surveys.

You might have taken a survey at some point in your life—maybe you were on a website, and a pop-up window asks if you could answer a few questions. Or, maybe you got a phone call, and someone wanted to ask you a few questions about something. Or, maybe you received a questionnaire in the mail, and you were asked to answer some questions on a form and send the form back. All of these are types of surveys. So, surveys seem simple—it’s just asking people questions, and recording their answers, right? Well, there’s actually a lot more involved in doing a survey.

In this introductory course for beginners, you will learn the basics of creating surveys. In Unit 1, you will learn about the field of Anthropology and survey use in Anthropology. In Unit 2, you will learn about preparing for a survey by deciding on a research topic and research question. In Unit 3, you will learn about research ethics, including the history of research ethics and the ethics involved in surveys. In Unit 4, you will learn about constructing a survey, including writing survey questions and designing the survey’s layout. In Unit 5, you will learn about survey administration, and in Unit 6, you will learn the basics of survey analysis. In Unit 7, you will learn about a real-world example where Anthropologists used a survey.

Course Format:

In this course, you will watch a combination of talking head videos and slideshow lectures. At the end of each unit, there is a short activity to help you explore the course content. Each activity should take you about 15 minutes to complete. Then, after each activity, there is a short quiz of about 5 questions. Finally, at the end of the course, there is a final assignment where you can go out “in the field” and be like an Anthropologist!

Requirements:

• software to open PDF files (if you want to complete PDF worksheets on y our computer)
• a printer, paper, and pen/pencil (ONLY if you want to print out worksheets and write on them)

Who This Course is For:

• someone who knows nothing (or only a little) about research methods in Anthropology, and wants to learn
• someone who is taking a college class about research methods in Anthropology and wants more information

This course is part of my “Anthropology 4U” series of Anthropology courses. The courses can be taken in any order, and you don’t need to know anything about Anthropology to take these courses.

What you will learn:

• how ethnographic surveys should be created
• how to prepare for a survey by investigating a research topic
• the ethics involved in survey research
• validity and reliability in survey research
• how to write survey questions
• how to create a survey with an attractive layout
• the basics of coding quantitative and qualitative data
• how to calculate a few types of basic data analyses

Enroll now, and learn about creating surveys! I hope to see you in class!