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.

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.

At first sight of this argument, it seems the interview- centered method is a better way to take further researches in Tertia. The interview-centered method seems have better conclusions than the observation-centered method has, because it provides a different and better consequence. However, there are a lot of questions needing answers so that the conclusion which Dr.Karp has is contingent on some unreliable evidences.

First, Dr.karp used the interview-centered method in research and found that children were more likely to talk about their parents. However, Dr.karp did not tell us what questions he asked in the interview and how the children responded to his questions. If Dr.karp asked a series of questions about parents, children can not have answers without parents. Hence, a series of questions about parents are not appropriate to this interview-centered research. Even though children spent more time talking about their parents, it did not mean that the children were closer to their parents. For example, children have been reared by their grandparents for years and children only have verbal influences about parents through grandparents, but children do not know who their parents really are. In the end, the conclusion which interview-centered method is better is defective. Dr.Karp should provide more reliable evidences to sustain his conclusion.

Second, Allowing the children know who their parents really are, dose it mean that the children are close to their parents? If their parents all work in other places far from Tertia and children can only reunite with parents once a year, children who miss their parents may spend more time talking about their parents. Besides, what children said may not represent the truth. A self-reporting sometimes may has the untrustworthy result, because the participants would say something which researcher want to hear. Dr.Karp should address this question to better valuate the interview-centered method.

Third, how similar is the group of islands to Tertia? Culturally or geologically? Perhaps the group of islands which excludes Teria is far from Teria, and all we know that cultures can differ with the distance. Therefore, the group of islands has no analogy to Teria, and the interview-centered method can not reflect true relationship between children and their parents. Dr.Karp should prove the similarity between the group of islands and Teria.

In shorts, Dr.Karp’s conclusion and his interview-centered method relies on  a series of logical flaws. To better sustain his conclusion, Dr.Karp should answer the questions stated above and provide more convincing evidences.