This week Anthropology News is featuring a must-read post by UCLA anthropologist Tom Weisner: Mixed Methods Should Be a Valued Practice in Anthropology.
This is in addition to several thoughtful posts and commentary by biocultural anthropologist Kate Clancy and neuroanthropologist Daniel Lende. See also some great comments to Kate Clancy’s post by Greg Downey and others. Links below.
Also, the next FPR-UCLA conference (Culture, Mind, and Brain: Emerging Concepts, Methods, and Applications) is focusing specifically on mixed methods.
Many lines of research on culture, mind, and brain can no longer be neatly separated. Some questions run together, thanks to our growing understanding of the genome and its epigenetic states, the biological roots of human sociality, and the mutual constitution of cultures and selves, as well as the complex interactions between the physical, cultural, and social environments underlying health and illness.
The aim of this 2-day conference is to highlight emerging concepts, methodologies and applications in the study of culture, mind, and brain, with particular attention to: (1) cutting-edge neuroscience research that is successfully incorporating culture and the social world; (2) the context in which methods are used as well as the tacit assumptions that shape research questions; and (3) the kinds and quality of collaborations that can advance interdisciplinary research training.
Clancy, Kate. (2012, May 1). I can out-interdiscipline you: Anthropoogy and the biocultural approach. Retrieved from http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/context-and-variation/2012/05/01/biocultural-approach/
Downey, Greg. (2012, May 1). Comment. Retrieved from http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/context-and-variation/2012/05/01/biocultural-approach/#comment-621
Lende, Daniel. (2012, May 3). On biocultural anthropology. Retrieved from http://blogs.plos.org/neuroanthropology/2012/05/03/on-biocultural-anthropology/
Weisner, Tom. (2012, May 1). Mixed methods should be a valued practice in anthropology. Retrieved from http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2012/05/01/mixed-methods-should-be-a-valued-practice-in-anthropology/
