Can one use Anthropology to study relationships between two different group of people?
There are many research methods available. It depends on your research question. You would have to give more detail. However, the systematic cross cultural analysis of two groups of people would be ethnology. http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~delittle/Encyclopedia%20entries/Ethnology.htm
Hmm... maybe the OP means analyzing the actual social relationships between groups, which could utilize a number of research methods, depending on the specifics. Economics, game theory, literal social network analysis, etc. It all depends on what the OP means.
Is your study based on the interaction between people I would recommend a qualitative method with a scaffolder built on video recorded data ( empirical material.)
Thank you for your responses.
In the study I am proposing-I will be studying the relationship between refugees and host population to deeply understand the level and possibility of opting for local integration as one of the durable solutions according to UNHCR.
I intend to develop a theory (using the data from the study) that will enable policy makers in areas Refugee studies to practice local integration as it has been a neglected solution to end refugee problem.
I agree with Lara Alessandra-to use qualitative method, record data-though video recording may turn to be problematic during data collection!
Daniel- Social network analysis is also key in such a study-am reviewing literature on social networks and social capital.
Agnieszka- In this study am focusing on migrants/refugees from neighboring countries, therefore issues of language and culture have to be integrated to understand the intricate and draw boundaries between culture and language and develop a deeper understanding of facilitating and hindering factors of local integration.
I intend to develop a theory (using the data from the study) that will enable policy makers in areas Refugee studies to practice local integration as it has been a neglected solution to end refugee problem.
One thing that I will ask here is "how do you plan on testing your theory once you develop it?"
It will be tested using local integration in a smaller community where refugees are settled in my area of study . In case this may not be possible/hard to achieve, you could advise-then I drop it. Thank you
Asasira Justus, it certainly does seem possible, but it's going to require an organization to help setting it up, most likely. Are you doing this purely independently?
Also, I don't know about the laws where you are, but in many areas, any kind of study of this nature would likely require IRB approval. As for approaches, I would definitely say that surveys for general population information and ethnography for specific case studies would both help in gathering the data needed.
Daniel- The project will require IRB approval. The laws here in Uganda require that every study involving humans beings and non-living things has to be approved by a research ethics committee. At my university we have one in place. I will submit my protocol for an approval.
Agnieszka- I am applying to undertake a PhD studies. This will be a funded project.
This is just a quick thought, but expanding on what I said before, what about a survey of the general population, which can gauge things like sentiment towards refugees, as well as ethnographic of refugees and those who have interacted with them. In this way you can get a society wide perspective, as well as the perspective of direct interactions.
Thank you Daniel for your guidance. I agree with you that a survey of the general population will be very useful. This will help me quantify their response, and sentiments and understand the level of acceptability of the refugee population they host.
Agnieszka- The project proposal once written well will be able to secure funding and undertake this project.
True, such results could help so many countries hosting refugees.
From my experiences living in different cultures; human beings are all the same inside themselves. The same things make us sad or happy. However; we need a lot of peeling to find the humans hidden behind the cultural mask. My idea is to always reach people using a human approach.
The survey is the best choice. You can for example use Likert scale for measuring the strength of peoples` connections.
Cross sectional study with questionnaire using likert three - scale for example like ,dislike and not interested.