Summer Field-Training Program in Methods of Data Collection: Bolivia and Zambia

Aims. The broad aims of the program are to: (1) expose students to interdisciplinary research in progress, (2) provide them with some of the tools for conducting successful collaborative, interdisciplinary work and thus enhance their ability to compete with success in an increasingly tight labor market, (3) through hands-on experience, teach them how to adapt and apply formal methods of data collection to the field, thus serving to link courses on theory and research design with data analysis, and (4) provide them with a supportive; safe, and relaxed atmosphere where they can experience the realities of fieldwork while exploring their research interests. The specific aims are to teach students how to: (1) collect data in ecology, demography, experimental and household economics, cognitive anthropology, folk knowledge, use of natural resources, and health, (2) triangulate and validate data collected, (3) achieve inter-observer reliability across sites, (4) deal with zeros, missing values, and item and person non-response, (5) code, store, and clean data in the field, (6) explain human subject protection protocols to subjects in the field, (7) do preliminary data analysis and write-up in the field, (8) learn to deal with logistical and ethical problems that arise while in the field, and (9) give back and explain research findings to the community before leaving the research site.