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ARCH 2126/6126 & BIAN 3010/6510

ARCH 2126/6126 & BIAN 3010/6510. Co-ordinators for these 3-unit honours preparation classes:- Robert Attenborough (ARCH2126) Colin Groves (BIAN3010). How these courses link. They are distinct courses with partially different time slots

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ARCH 2126/6126 & BIAN 3010/6510

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  1. ARCH 2126/6126 & BIAN 3010/6510 Co-ordinators for these 3-unit honours preparation classes:- Robert Attenborough (ARCH2126) Colin Groves (BIAN3010)

  2. How these courses link • They are distinct courses with partially different time slots • ARCH 2126 runs 2 x 1 ½ hours per week, Mon 1-2.30, Wed 10-11.30 • BIAN 3010 runs Wed 10-11.30, Fri 10-11.30: see separate info • ARCH 2126 runs in first 7 weeks, July-August, BIAN 3010 after that

  3. Techniques in Biological Anthropology Lecturer: Prof Colin Groves

  4. Analytical Methods for Anthropology & Archaeology ARCH 2126/6126 Session 1 Introduction

  5. … for Anthropology & Archaeology • Basically, though not exclusively, an Honours preparation course for the anthropological disciplines (incl. arch.) • How many here intending Honours or MA in:- •  Social/cultural anthropology? Biological anthropology? Archaeology? • Anyone else?

  6. Analytical Methods … • Analysis in the anthropological disciplines can be of many kinds: verbal, linguistic, intellectual etc. • For this course, the focus is on analysis through the use of numbers • Let’s be blunt: statistics • The textbooks already give this away

  7. Textbooks • Main textbook: Robert Drennan (1996) Statistics for Archaeologists: a Commonsense Approach. Plenum, NY. • Also recommended: Lorena Madrigal (1998) Statistics for Anthropology. Cambridge University Press. • Important difference between Drennan & Madrigal is more in their approach than in their discipline or their merit

  8. Historically … • “Historically, Statistics is no more than State Arithmetic … It has been used – indeed still is used – to enable rulers to know how far they may safely go in picking the pockets of their subjects … Taxation and military service were the earliest fields for the use of Statistics. For this reason was the Domesday book compiled.” M.J. Moroney 1956

  9. Various senses of the word • National statistics as in “Australian Bureau of Statistics”, cf. Moroney • Statistics is also a branch of the mathematical sciences: probability • Statisticians are not necessarily enthusiasts for calculation • Nor do they necessarily always share the same opinions on statistics

  10. Why should anthropologists & archaeologists study statistics? • I assume that, for most of you, it is not sheer love of it that brings you here • Anyone taken a statistics course? • Anyone afraid of statistics or convinced they are incapable of it? proudly innumerate? • Anyone feel statistical analysis is a badge of academic respectability rather than a truly necessary step in the research process? • Or that if figures show it, it must be true?

  11. So why are numerical analyses so common in our disciplines? • After all, we (mostly) became anthropologists/archaeologists out of curiosity & excitement about human beings, societies, cultures, artefacts, biology, evolution – not numbers • Let’s accept for the moment that numbers are helpful to us: will return to the reasons later

  12. The purpose of this course • You could have attended a formal statistics course run by a statistician • Here you do not get a statistician, but you get someone more familiar with the uses you have for numerical analysis • I aim for us to break down barriers to comprehension, develop confidence & competence, encourage thought in terms of probability & quantity, & practise a few basic methods of data presentation & analysis • We do not become statisticians

  13. Assessment: two items (three for postgrads) • Take-home open-book test: week 7 • Results interpretation exercise:week 8 • Weighting 50:50 • For postgrads only, a third item: review of selected academic paper:week 10 (weighting 1/3:1/3:1/3)

  14. Structure of the course • 14 sessions, 1½-hours (maximum) • Normally no more than one hour lecture, ½-hr for questions, discussion, problems • Please draw my attention to good/bad uses of numerical data that you see in the media or in your academic reading • Self-paced STEPS tutorials (ADH LG29) • Adjunct ILP Excel & SPSS sessions: pls sign up: http://ilp.anu.edu.au/ARCH

  15. A little history: the role of computers • ‘Classical’ statistical theory and many of the tests in common use to this day were developed in the 1920s & 1930s • Choices made then were guided in part by need to keep calculations within feasible & tolerable limits • Since then & especially since 1970s computers have become able to do massive amounts of tedious arithmetic

  16. Hands on • This growth in computing power has implications for us at several levels • Practical statistics no longer involves facility with calculation: rather, ability to use computers to run packages • We have a laboratory at our disposal: AD Hope LG29, with 3 computers – we have priority use of it for self-paced work Wednesdays 1-5 pm

  17. Gathering data in the anthropological disciplines • Empirical research in any of these disciplines involves data gathering at times – though in very different styles • A socio-cultural anthropologist may collect a myth or a genealogy, observe a conversation or a ceremony, interview an informant, map and census a village or suburb

  18. And … • An archaeologist may describe, photograph or survey a site, draw a section, reconstruct a pot or a stone artefact, measure an artefact, sieve and analyse a soil sample, collect pollen or phytoliths, interview a traditional land owner, collect carbon or another material from which to estimate a date

  19. And … • A biological anthropologist may categorise a bone, fingerprint or blood group, count occurrences of a type of behaviour, undertake a craniometric or anthropometric measurement, weigh a baby, count malaria parasites in a blood sample, measure actual or self-reported food intake

  20. What are the data like? • Some are purely qualitative – interview transcripts etc. • But some are categorizations – we can count the numbers in the different categories • And others are actual measurements • Both of the last two are quantitative

  21. Our analytical methods here are for quantitative data • Why? The world is complex: there are few absolutes in the biological and social sciences – we need to be able to detect trends, patterns, relationships (e.g. smoking & cancer) which may not be simple or obvious,& may have counter-examples; & this is where good statistics can help • So: the discipline of statistics

  22. The purpose of statistics • To provide insight into situations and problems by means of numbers • How is this provided? • Numerical data are available or are collected • Data are organized, summarized, analysed and results presented • Conclusions are drawn, in context • Whole process is often guided by critical appraisal of similar work already done

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