Malinowski's Trobriand islanders study

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  • Created by: eocock
  • Created on: 14-06-15 20:12

Malinowski's Trobriand islanders study

Advantages

  • In depth study, done over 4 years
  • Participant observation means firsthand research
  • high validity
  • high ecological validity, because the study took place within actual society

Disadvantages

  • Subject to bias due to participant observation
  • unrepresentative, doesn't apply to all island tribes so can't generalise
  • not practical due to the amount of time and money it took
  • low reliability, hard to repeat
  • overemphasised importance of religion, not all rituals such as the fishing ritual were necessarily religious

Evaluation

Religion helps with life events that are unpredictable and uncontrollable eg. deaths and births. Funerals, bring people together and people support one another. Creates social solidarity. Malinowski looked at benefits of religion on mental state. Functions of fishing rituals: reduces anxiety by providing confidence and a feeling of control, social events, groups unites to deal with situations of stress, so unity of group is strengthened.

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