Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ruel · 8th December 2004, 10:09 PM

Before this effort can be considered a true "study," two things must first be done.

1. VALID DEFINITIONS:

You need to define what a "Visayan" weapon is, and to justify how you arrived at your definition. Without basic definitions, this study will not have a clear focus and hence will serve no good purpose.

2. CRITICAL METHODOLOGY:

You also need a way to evaluate the quality and reliability of the information you collect, as well as a way to decide whether your information is a representative sample. Otherwise, you'll simply be mixing good information with bad, and actually harming the effort of producing valuable research (because someone later will have to do that same sorting and sampling).

In other words, you need a valid research methodology based on critical insight.

* * * * * * *

There's really little point in gathering information now, without having done these two things first. I hate to be a bucket of cold water, but it's better to deal with these issues now, at the beginning, rather than let them invalidate the entire project.

8th December 2004, 10:09 PM	#12
ruel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 4	feedback Before this effort can be considered a true "study," two things must first be done. 1. VALID DEFINITIONS: You need to define what a "Visayan" weapon is, and to justify how you arrived at your definition. Without basic definitions, this study will not have a clear focus and hence will serve no good purpose. 2. CRITICAL METHODOLOGY: You also need a way to evaluate the quality and reliability of the information you collect, as well as a way to decide whether your information is a representative sample. Otherwise, you'll simply be mixing good information with bad, and actually harming the effort of producing valuable research (because someone later will have to do that same sorting and sampling). In other words, you need a valid research methodology based on critical insight. * * * * * * * There's really little point in gathering information now, without having done these two things first. I hate to be a bucket of cold water, but it's better to deal with these issues now, at the beginning, rather than let them invalidate the entire project.