Twenty years ago, Dr. Field, a noted anthropologist, visited the island of Tertia. Using an observation-centered approach to studying Tertian culture, he concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than by their own biological parents. Recently another anthropologist, Dr. Karp, visited the group of islands that includes Tertia and used the interview-centered method to study child-rearing practices. In the interviews that Dr. Karp conducted with children living in this group of islands, the children spent much more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the village. Dr. Karp decided that Dr. Field's conclusion about Tertian village culture must be invalid. Some anthropologists recommend that to obtain accurate information on Tertian child-rearing practices, future research on the subject should be conducted via the interview-centered method.

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.


Please evaluate it..

The author’s claim says that Dr. Field observation centered approach conclusion about Tertian village culture is invalid and author’s interviewed centered method will establish a much more accurate understanding of child rearing traditions in Tertia island and in other island cultures. This is said so because Dr. Field observation centered approach conclusion and his interviewed centered method conclusion contradicts each other. The claim might not be true because of the explanations given in the following paragraphs.

Initially, author’s team of graduate students might have interviewed few children rather than interviewing all children in Tertia island. And only those few may have spend their time talking about their own biological parents than about other adults in the village. Hence the results that show the children are reared by their own biological parents is not necessarily true.

Secondly, by keeping one island as an example we cannot firmly conclude that it is also applicable to all other island cultures. We need more information and evidences to strengthen author’s claim about understanding of child-rearing traditions. Due to the lack of evidences, the author’s claims fails.

Finally, Dr. Field’s conclusion by observation centered approach was performed twenty years ago and author’s interviewed centered method studies were recent. There is also a chance that in the gap twenty years the previous culture might have evolved into new culture. Hence the claim stating that Dr. Field observation centered approach conclusion about Tertian village culture is invalid might not be true.