Practice question · Multiple choice
Malinowski's rule was to record what people say, what they do, and the gap between them. Why is the gap the most valuable of the three?
Hints
- Everyone says one should be generous. Ask what watching would add.
- The gap is not a discrepancy to be resolved. What is it data about?
Show the answer
B. Because norms and practice diverge systematically
Why
Rules people state and rules people follow are two different objects, and the space between them is where negotiation, hypocrisy and tacit exception live. Option 3 discards half the evidence, what people say is the ideal they hold, which is a fact about the culture whether or not they live up to it.
Practise Fieldwork and the Ethnographic Method
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