ANTH 20 DIFUSE Module

Contributors: Logan Sankey ('20), Sabrina Barton ('24), Taylor Hickey ('23), Nate Dominy (Professor of Anthropology), ? (PI)

This module was developed through the DIFUSE project at Dartmouth College and funded by the National Science Foundation award IUSE-1917002.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Module Objective

The primary objective for this module is to have students understand the respective strengths and weaknesses of the two main data collection methods used in research on primate behavior, focal bout sampling and instantaneous scan sampling.

Learning Objectives

1. Collect data using both methods
2. Define their own ethnogram and apply it in data collection
3. Analyze visualizations of thedata in order to enrich class discussion

Module Description

Anthropologists interpret interactions that exist between primates and their environments and between primates themselves through the lens of natural and sexual selection to draw conclusions about primate behacior and sociality. In field work with primates, there are two main methods of data collection focal bout sampling and instantaneous scan sampling. The purpose of the module is to have students understand the respective strengths and weaknesses of these methods.

Data

Students collect data by coding labeled footage from a basketball game using the two sampling methods.

Platform Students use Excel to process and analyze the data.

Schedule and Links

Use this page to get an idea of the timeline of the module, what components are involved, and what documents are related to each component. This is the schedule intended for module deployment by the DIFUSE team, though instructors are welcome to modify the timeline to fit their course environment.

Date	In/Out of Class	Assignment Description	Linked course content	Assignment Files (Linked to Repository Contents)
Day 1	Out of class	Part 1: Data Collection using annotated videos of a basketball game	Data collection methods	Problem Set 1
Day 2	Out of class	Part 2:	Course content	Problem Set 2
Day 3	In class	Class discussion of results

Course Information

Primate Evolution and Ecology is an introductory course in the Anthropology department at Dartmouth College which provides a broad overview of primate behavioral ecology. As this is an introductory course, students are not expected to have any particular background upon entering the course.

	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.