Research Questions

Lectures

An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Research Questions

Carol Ember discusses the importance of formulating clear research questions and introduces viewers to the four types of questions typically posed by cross-cultural researchers, including descriptive questions, associational questions, causal questions, and consequence questions.

Research Questions Related to Cultural Evolution

Fiona Jordan discusses tests of culturally adaptive hypotheses and introduces other key cultural questions commonly considered in research on cultural evolution, such as cultural history, cultural change, correlated cultural evolution, and patterns of cultural diversity. Also discusses the importance of descriptive work in beginning to answer cultural evolutionary questions and provides a detailed example of her own work on the use of the eHRAF World Cultures Database.

Presentation Slides

Research Questions (Fiona Jordan)

Suggested Reading

Chapter 2 in Ember/Ember 2009