1. chose a problem
2. research your problem
3. develop a hypothesis
4. design an experiment
5. test your hypothesis
6. organize your data
7. draw your conclusions

• threats- person, place, time
• defined as the degree to which your conclusions would hold for other people in other places at other times

• Exploratory:  Used to develop hypotheses and make probes for circumscription, description, and interpretation of less well-understood topics 
• Explanatory:  Involve testing elements of theory that may have already been proposed in the literature or have been informed by exploratory research. Research is designed to eliminate threats to validity

Involve searching for causation of phenomena – Theoretically driven requiring objectivity, replication, and control over possible sources of error to increase validity.

In Search of: 

 Understanding 

 Moral Tales 

 Local Rationales 

Purpose: 

 A believable account of story 

Epistemology: 

 Subjective 

 Value mediated or created 

findings 

Concern for: 

 Threats to believability 

Means for Diminishing Threats 

 Literary

In Search of: 

 Ruling out rival hypotheses 

 Objectivity 

 Possible sources of error 

 Replication 

 Theoretical foundations 

Purpose:  

 Valid assessment 

Epistemology: 

 Objective 

 Findings approximate the truth 

Concerns for: 

 Threats to Validity 

Means for Diminishing Threats 

 Methodological 

 Have intrinsic value 

 Can be used to debunk theory 

 Bring new variables to light 

 Provide supportive evidence for a theory 

 Can be used collectively to form the basis of a theory

• Advantages
  • No need to move from site to site 
  • Access enhanced 
  • Costs reduced 
  • Allows for building holistic understanding through  prolonged engagement
• Disadvantages
  • Required level of access can be difficult 
  • Demands on those few involved in case study is high 
  • Researcher can have an effect on participant  
  • Immersion can come with emotional costs for all involved 

A method of studying elements of the social 

through comprehensive description and analysis 

of a single (or multiple) situation or case (either 

at the individual, institutional or community level).

Ethnographies 

 Life Histories 

 Long 

 Short 

 Extended/Multi-sited Case Studies 

 Critical Ethnographies 

 Critical Comparative Ethnographies (Hirsch, et al.) 

A systematic approach to exploring a way of life 

from the perspective of its participants in order to 

learn about social and cultural life of communities 

and institutions  that avoids use of pre-existing 

frames of reference.  

 Is scientific 

 Is investigative 

 Uses the researcher as the primary tool of data 

collection 

 Uses rigorous research methods and data collection 

techniques to avoid bias and ensure accuracy of data 

 Emphasizes and builds on the perspectives of the 

people in the research setting 

 End result is a narrative that informs our interpretation of the culture of a community, group, or setting

 Defining a problem when the problem is not yet clear 

 Defining a problem when it is complex and embedded in multiple systems or sectors 

 Identifying participants when the study population is not yet known 

 Clarifying the range of settings where a problem occurs 

 Exploring the factors associated with a problem 

 Identify and describe unidentified outcomes

 Creates a critical humanist perspective on more 

positivist types of research 

 Brings out the voice and experience of the 

individual within the larger social context  

 Long Life History:  Gathered over a long period of 

time with gentle guidance from the researcher.  

 Short Life History:  Gathered through in-depth 

interviews

 Must show how individuals respond to social situations 

 Must deal with concrete human experiences through 

their social and economic organization 

 Must show intimate familiarity with such experiences 

 Data should be collected in an ethical manner 

 Espouses an idea that knowing is grounded in 

experience

Mobile and multi-sited research that lets us trace 

phenomenon by following people, things, policies 

through a society

• Ethnography that aims to examine the influence of unequal political and social structures on the experiences of the participants in order to offer recommendations for positive change to marginalized communities.
• ex: The Secret: Love, Marriage, HIV

 Distinguish between features of each field site  

 Theorize about how complex social processes 

operate across different cultural arenas  

 Anthropology has a public responsibility to be 

comparative 

 Focuses on processes not cultural traits  

 Argues that the most valid comparisons are not 

based on statistical correlations between societies  

 Aims to generate or modify mid-range explanatory 

theories  

 Attuned to the fact that people are positioned 

differently in different societies 

 Specifically designed so results are comparable.

• Generates Solutions 
  • Problem oriented 
  • Addresses social problems 
  • Aims to change practice as well as study it
• Challenges
  • doesn't contribute to theoretical knowledge
  • difficult to generalize

 Recognizes that health inequalities are caused by 

ecological factors 

 Recognizes that individuals are embedded within 

political, economic, and social systems that shape 

behaviors and access to resources 

 Recognizes that community members are the best 

judges of the causes of their health problems

 A partnership approach to improve public health 

 A research approach that actively engages 

community members, beneficiaries, public health 

program managers, researchers – all stakeholders – 

in all aspects of the research process 

 Focuses on finding ways to remove physical, social, 

and structural environmental inequities that contribute 

to health outcomes 

 Explicit commitment to generating benefits for the 

participants, either directly or indirectly

• Dynamic- Explores under-researched or new research areas
• Balanced- Includes broad range of publications, identified via a comprehensive and systematic search strategy
• Objective- Reduces risk of bias and error
• Verifiable- Incorporates transparent research process
• Replicable- Uses a structured methodology
• Flexible- Can be updated on a regular basis
• Condensed- Consolidates results of many publications into one
• Readable- Synthesizes information in an easy-to-read format

• STEP 1: Define research question 
• STEP 2: Set eligibility criteria
• STEP 3: Search the literature
• STEP 4: Analyze literature 
• STEP 5: Synthesize and interpret findings