ABSTRACT
The methods of social anthropological study are frequently contrasted with those in the other social sciences. Traditionally anthropologists have pursued their studies among peoples whose languages, customs, and social institutions have differed sharply from their own. Quantification of certain aspects of social structure may also play an important role in elaborating and refining hypotheses. The fieldwork data, quantitative or qualitative, which social anthropologists use to base their conclusions on are all derived ultimately from observation. Quantification has no magical property to confer accuracy on the data: if the basic observations are inaccurate or incomplete, statistics derived from them will assuredly also reflect the weaknesses. Sampling in anthropological fieldwork is complicated also by considerations concerning the nature of the universe of events out of which the anthropologist wishes to draw his sample. The assumptions which underlie sampling are that the sampling units in the population are accessible, distinguishable, and independent of each other.
