Professional Documents
Culture Documents
8
Acknowledgments
9
About the Authors
PART I: FOUNDATIONS
3. Qualitative Research
4. Measurement
5. Sampling
6. Secondary Data
11. Causation
10
Glossary
11
References
12
Author Index
13
Subject Index
14
Detailed Contents
15
Preface
16
Acknowledgments
17
About the Authors
PART I: FOUNDATIONS
Learning Objectives
1. Research in the Real World
Do Methods Matter?
Good Evidence Comes From Well-Made Research
May the Best Methods Win
Research-Savvy People Rule
Research, Policy, and Practice
Performance Measurement
Evaluation Research
Evidence-Based Policy and Programs
Evidence Can Mislead
Misleading Measurements
Misleading Samples
Misleading Correlations
What Is Research?
Secondary and Primary Research
It Comes in Various Shapes and Sizes
It’s Never Perfect
It’s Uncertain and Contingent
It Aims to Generalize
Bits and Pieces of a Puzzle
It Involves Competition and Criticism
It Can Be Quantitative, Qualitative, or a Mix of Both
It Can Be Applied or Basic
Descriptive and Causal Research
Description: What Is the World Like?
Causation: How Would the World Be Different If Something Changed?
Description of a Correlation Is Not Proof of Causation
Epistemology: Ways of Knowing
The Scientific Method
Is There One Truth in Social Science?
18
Induction and Deduction
Proof Requires Fresh Data
Approaching Research From Different Angles
Consuming Research
Commissioning Research
Conducting Research
Ethics of Research
Poisoned by New York’s Best Restaurants
History of Human Subjects Abuses in Research
Principles of Ethical Research Emerge
What Constitutes Informed Consent?
Ethical Issues Depend on Research Form and Context
Conclusion: The Road Ahead
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
2. Theory, Models, and Research Questions
Fighting Crime in New York City
What Is a Theory?
Theories Identify Key Variables
Theories Tell Causal Stories
Theories Explain Variation
Theories Generate Testable Hypotheses
Theories Focus on Modifiable Variables
Where Do Theories Come From?
Grand Social Theories
Academic Disciplines
Induction and Deduction
Exploratory and Qualitative Research
Theories, Norms, and Values
What Is a Model?
19
Variables and Relationships
Independent and Dependent Variables
BOX 2.1 INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Causal Mechanisms
BOX 2.2 EQUATIONS AS MODELS: RIGHT-HAND SIDE AND LEFT-HAND SIDE
VARIABLES
Direction of a Relationship
Naming Variables
Models With Multiple Causes
Causal and Noncausal Relationships
Unit of Analysis
Same Theory, Different Unit of Analysis
Logic Models
BOX 2.3 WHAT IS A LOGIC MODEL?
Do Smaller Classes Help Kids Learn?
Intervening Variables
What About Other Causes?
Usefulness of a Logic Model
BOX 2.4 CHINA LAUNCHES NATIONWIDE AIDS PREVENTION PROGRAM
Tips for Creating a Logic Model
Inputs, Activities, Outputs, and Outcomes
Additional Issues in Theory Building
Interpretivist Theory
Does Theory Shape Observation?
Theories of the Independent Variable
Moderators
Hierarchical (Multilevel) Models and Contextual Variables
Theoretical Research
How to Find and Focus Research Questions
Applied Research Questions
Questions You Ideally Want to Answer, and Those You Really Can
Know If Your Question Is Descriptive or Causal
Make Your Question Positive, Not Normative
Generating Questions and Ideas
Conclusion: Theories Are Practical
BOX 2.5 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT THEORY, MODELS, AND RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
BOX 2.6 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: THEORY, MODELS, AND
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
20
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
3. Qualitative Research
Fighting Malaria in Kenya
Theory, Causes, and Qualitative Research
What Is Qualitative Research?
Contrasting Qualitative With Quantitative Research
Schools of Thought in Qualitative Research
Advantages of Qualitative Research
Existing Qualitative Data
Archival and Other Written Documents
Visual Media, Popular Culture, and the Internet
Qualitative Interviews
Unstructured Interviews
Semistructured Interviews
Asking Truly Open-Ended Questions
The Power of Probes
Some Practical Considerations When Doing Interviews
Focus Groups
What Do People Think of Congestion Pricing?
Moderating a Focus Group
Why a Focus Group? Why Not Individual Interviews?
Telephone and Online Focus Groups
Qualitative Observation
Participant Observation and Ethnography
Why Do the Homeless Refuse Help?
Levels on a Participation-Observation Continuum
Secret Shopping and Audit Studies
Case Study Research
Maryland’s Gun Violence Act
21
Selecting a Case to Study
Comparing Cases
Qualitative Data Analysis
Integration of Analysis and Data Gathering
Tools of Qualitative Analysis
Coding and Content Analysis
Qualitative Data Analysis Software
The Qualitative-Quantitative Debate
A Brief History of the Debate
Blurring the Lines: How Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches Overlap
A Qualitative-Quantitative Research Cycle
Mixed-Methods Research and Triangulation
BOX 3.1 TRANSITION SERVICES FOR INCARCERATED YOUTH: A MIXED METHODS
EVALUATION STUDY
Ethics in Qualitative Research
Presenting Qualitative Data
Can You Obtain Informed Consent?
Should You Help People With Their Problems?
Should You Empower People?
Conclusion: Matching Methods to Questions
BOX 3.2 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT A QUALITATIVE STUDY
BOX 3.3 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
4. Measurement
The U.S. Poverty Measure
What Is Measurement?
Measurement in Qualitative Research
Performance Measurement
22
Measurement: The Basic Model and a Road Map
Conceptualization
Defining Can Be Difficult
Where Do Conceptualizations Come From?
BOX 4.1 IS POVERTY THE SAME THING THE WORLD OVER?
Manifest and Latent Constructs
Dimensions
Operationalization
Birth of the U.S. Poverty Measure
Instruments
BOX 4.2 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES
Protocols and Personnel
Proxies and Indicators
Composite Measures: Scales and Indexes
BOX 4.3 WHAT IS A LIKERT SCALE?
Validity
BOX 4.4 USING ITEMS THAT VARY IN DIFFICULTY: ITEM RESPONSE THEORY
Is the U.S. Poverty Measure Valid?
Face Validity
Content Validity
Valid for What Purpose?
Criterion-Related Validity
Self-Reported Drug Use: Is It Valid?
Does the Measure Predict Behavior?
Does the Measure Relate to Other Variables as Expected?
Limitations of Validity Studies
BOX 4.5 THE VARIOUS (MEASUREMENT) VALIDITIES
BOX 4.6 EXAMPLE OF A VALIDITY STUDY
Measurement Error
Bias
Random Error—Noise
BOX 4.7 BIAS, BIAS EVERYWHERE
Bias and Noise in the U.S. Poverty Measure
BOX 4.8 CLASSICAL TEST THEORY
Reliability
Why Reliability Matters
Many Ways to Tell If a Measure Is Reliable
Validity and Reliability Contrasted and Compared
Validity and Reliability in Qualitative Research
23
Levels of Measurement
Quantitative Measures
BOX 4.9 UNIT/LEVEL OF MEASUREMENT/ANALYSIS?
Categorical Measures
Turning Categorical Variables Into Quantitative Ones
Units of Analysis and Levels of Measurement
Measurement in the Real World: Trade-offs and Choices
What Will It Cost?
Is It Ethical?
How Will It Affect the Quality and Rate of Responding?
Validity-Reliability Trade-off
High Stakes? Gaming and Other Behavioral Responses
Use Multiple Measures for Multiple Dimensions—or Aggregate to One Measure?
Conclusion: Measurement Matters
BOX 4.10 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT MEASUREMENT
BOX 4.11 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: MEASUREMENT
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
5. Sampling
Gauging the Fallout From Hurricane Katrina
Generalizability
Population of Interest, Sampling, and Generalizability
Are Experiments More Generalizable?
Replicating Research and Meta-Analysis
Are Relationships More Generalizable? Health and Happiness in Moldova
Generalizability of Qualitative Studies
Basic Sampling Concepts
Population, Sample, and Inference
Census Versus Sample
How to Select a Sample: Sampling Frames and Steps
Problems and Biases in Sampling
24
Coverage Problems
Nonresponse Problems
When Does Nonresponse Cause Bias?
When Do Coverage Problems Cause Bias?
BOX 5.1 STEPS IN ASSESSING COVERAGE AND NONRESPONSE BIAS
BOX 5.2 SAMPLING BIAS
Ethics of Nonresponse
Nonprobability Sampling
Voluntary Sampling
BOX 5.3 STEPS IN ASSESSING VOLUNTEER BIAS
Convenience Sampling
Snowball Sampling
Quota Sampling
Sampling Online: Open Web Polls and Internet Access Panels
Purposive Sampling and Qualitative Research
Random (Probability) Sampling
The Contribution of Random Sampling
Random Sampling Versus Randomized Experiments
Simple Random Sampling
Sampling Variability
Sampling Distributions, Standard Errors, and Confidence Intervals
Confidence Intervals (Margins of Error)
BOX 5.4 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VARIOUS PRECISION MEASURES
Sample Size and the Precision of Government Statistics
Determining How Large a Sample You Need
What Is the True Sample Size?
Sampling in Practice
Systematic Sampling
Stratified Sampling
Disproportionate Sampling (Oversampling)
Poststratification Weighting
Sampling With Probabilities Proportional to Size
Multistage and Cluster Sampling
Design Effects: Complex Survey Sampling Corrections
Random Digit Dialing Sampling
Sampling and Generalizability: A Summary
BOX 5.5 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT SAMPLING IN STUDIES
BOX 5.6 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: SAMPLING
Chapter Resources
25
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
6. Secondary Data
Tracking the Flu
Big Data and the Virtual World
Quantitative Data—and Their Forms
Quantitative Data Versus Quantitative Variables
Forms of Quantitative Data
Micro, Aggregate, and Multilevel Data
BOX 6.1 UNIT OF OBSERVATION VERSUS UNIT OF ANALYSIS
Time Dimension of Data
Metadata
Where Do Quantitative Data Come From?
Administrative Records
Adapting Administrative Data for Research
Vital Statistics, Crime Reports, and Unemployment Claims
Data for Purchase
Ethics of Administrative Record Data
Published Data Tables
Where to Find Published Tables
Published Time-Series and Panel Data
Public Use Microdata
Secondary Analysis of Public Use Data: A New Model of Research?
Know the Major Surveys in Your Field
Accessing and Analyzing Public Use Data
Data Archives
Ethics of Public Use Microdata
Secondary Qualitative Data
Linking Data
Some Limitations of Secondary Data
Does Data Availability Distort Research?
26
When to Collect Original Data?
Conclusion
BOX 6.2 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT SECONDARY DATA
BOX 6.3 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: SECONDARY DATA
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
7. Surveys and Other Primary Data
Taking the Nation’s Economic Pulse
When Should You Do a Survey?
Do You Know Enough About the Topic?
Does the Information Exist Already in Another Source?
Can People Tell You What You Want to Know?
Will People Provide Truthful Answers?
Steps in the Survey Research Process
Identify the Population and Sampling Strategy
Develop a Questionnaire
Pretest Questionnaire and Survey Procedures
Recruit and Train Interviewers
Collect Data
Enter and Prepare Data for Analysis
Analyze Data and Present Findings
Modes of Survey Data Collection
Intercept Interview Surveys
Household Interview Surveys
Telephone Interview Surveys
Mail Self-Administered Surveys
Group Self-Administered Surveys
Web or Internet Surveys
BOX 7.1 WEB SURVEY SOFTWARE
Establishment (Business or Organization) Surveys
Panel or Longitudinal Surveys
27
Choosing or Mixing Modes
Crafting a Questionnaire
Start With Survey Purpose or Constructs
If You Could Ask Only One or Two Questions …
Prepare Mock Tables and Charts of Survey Results
Look for Prior Surveys on Your Topic
Hook Respondents With Your First Few Questions
BOX 7.2 COMPARING OPENING QUESTIONS
Closed-Ended Versus Open-Ended Questions
BOX 7.3 QUESTIONNAIRE COMPOSED OF OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
Some Advice on Question Wording
Physical and Graphical Design
Put Yourself in Your Respondent’s Shoes
Ethics of Survey Research
Informed Consent
Pushing for a High Response Rate
Overburdening Respondents
Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality
Surveying Minors and Other Vulnerable Populations
Making Survey Data Available for Public Use
Other Ways to Collect Primary Data
Trained Observation
Scientific Instruments
Computer Code and Data Extraction Algorithms
Conclusion
BOX 7.4 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT SURVEYS AND OTHER PRIMARY
DATA
BOX 7.5 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN SURVEY
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
28
Learning Objectives
8. Making Sense of the Numbers
“Last Weekend I Walked Eight”
Units, Rates, and Ratios
What Units?
Rates or Why Counts Often Mislead
BOX 8.1 RELEVANT COMPARISONS
Percent Change and Percentage Point Change
The Strangeness of Percent Change on the Return Trip
Rates of Change and Rates of Change of Rates
Odds
Prevalence and Incidence
Statistics Starting Point: Variables in a Data Set
Distributions
Distribution of a Categorical Variable
Distribution of a Quantitative Variable
Measures of Center: Mean and Median
BOX 8.2 MEAN: THE FORMULA
When to Use Median? When to Use Mean?
Measures of Spread and Variation
Standard Deviation
BOX 8.3 STANDARD DEVIATION: THE FORMULA
Pay Attention to the Standard Deviation, Not Just the Mean
Standardized (z) Scores
Quantiles: Another Way to Measure Spread
Coefficient of Variation: A Way to Compare Spread
Relationships Between Categorical Variables
Cross-Tabulation
Relative Risks and Odds Ratios: Another Way to Show Relationships in Categorical Data
Adjusted and Standardized Rates: When to Use Them
Relationships Between Quantitative Variables: Scatterplots and Correlation
Scatterplots
Correlation
BOX 8.4 CORRELATION: THE FORMULA
Relationships Between a Categorical and a Quantitative Variable
BOX 8.5 WHICH ONE IS THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE? WHICH ONE IS THE
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE?
Simple Regression: Best-Fit Straight Line
29
BOX 8.6 SIMPLE REGRESSION: THE EQUATIONS
Interpreting the Regression Coefficient (Slope)
BOX 8.7 STEPS FOR INTERPRETING A REGRESSION COEFFICIENT
Can a Regression Coefficient Be Interpreted as a Causal Effect?
Changes Versus Levels
R-Squared and Residuals: How Well Does the Line Fit the Data?
Practical Significance
Practical Significance Is a Matter of Judgment
Effect Size
Statistical Software
Spreadsheets
Statistical Packages: SAS, SPSS, Stata, and R
Specialized Modeling and Matrix Language Programs
Conclusion: Tools for Description and Causation
BOX 8.8 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
9. Making Sense of Inferential Statistics
But Is It Significant?
Statistical Inference: What’s It Good For?
The Sampling Distribution: Foundation of Statistical Inference
What a Sampling Distribution Looks Like
The Standard Error (of a Proportion)
The Standard Error (of a Mean)
Confidence Intervals
Univariate Statistics and Relationships Both Have Confidence Intervals
Confidence Intervals Reflect Only Some Sources of Error
Calculating a Confidence Interval (Margin of Error) for a Proportion
Calculating a Confidence Interval (Margin of Error) for a Mean
How Big Does the Sample Size Need to Be? Getting the Precision You Want
30
Significance Tests
Falsification and the Logic of Significance Testing
Running a Significance Test
p Values
Significance Tests for Simple Regression
Chi-Square Test of Cross-Tabs
Other Test Statistics
Statistical Significance, Practical Significance, and Power
Combinations of Statistical and Practical Significance
BOX 9.1 SOURCES OF STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND OF STATISTICAL
INSIGNIFICANCE
Failing to Recognize a Difference: Type II Errors
Power
Multiple Comparison Corrections
Sample Size Calculations for Significance Tests
Adjusting Inference for Clustering and Other Complex Sampling
Issues and Extensions of Statistical Inference
Inference With a Nonprobability Sample: What Does It Mean?
Bootstrapping: Inference for Statistics With No Standard Error Formulas
Bayesian Inference
Conclusion
BOX 9.2 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
10. Making Sense of Multivariate Statistics
Multiple Regression: The Basics
BOX 10.1 HOW TO RUN A MULTIPLE REGRESSION USING SOFTWARE
Multiple Regression for Prediction
BOX 10.2 STEPS FOR PREDICTING WITH REGRESSION
The Danger (and Necessity) of Out-of-Sample Extrapolation
R-Squared and Adjusted R-Squared
31
All Else Held Constant: A Bit More Mathematics
Multicollinearity
Standardized Coefficients: The Relative Importance of Independent Variables
Inference for Regression
Standard Error of the Coefficient
Confidence Intervals in Regression
Confidence Interval of a Predicted Value
Significance Testing in Regression
Influences on Inference in Multiple Regression
Categorical Independent Variables
Dummy Variables in Regression
Categorical Variables With More Than Two Possible Values
BOX 10.3 REPRESENTING A CATEGORICAL VARIABLE WITH MORE THAN TWO
CATEGORIES: DIABETES EXAMPLE
Interpreting the Coefficient of a Dummy Variable
BOX 10.4 INTERPRETING THE COEFFICIENT OF A DUMMY VARIABLE
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
Interactions in Regression
How to Use and Interpret Interaction Variables
Interactions With Quantitative Variables
Always Include Both Main Effects
Functional Form and Transformations in Regression
How to Fit a Curved Relationship
How to Interpret Coefficients When a Variable Is Logged
The Value of Robustness and Transparency
Categorical Variables as Dependent Variables in Regression
Linear Probability Model
Logistic and Probit Regression
What If the Dependent Variable Has More Than Two Categories?
Beware of Unrealistic Underlying Assumptions
Which Statistical Methods Can I Use?
Other Multivariate Methods
Path Analysis
Factor Analysis
Structural Equation Modeling
Multilevel Models
Time Series and Forecasting
Panel Data Methods
Spatial Analysis
32
Limited Dependent Variables
Survival Analysis
More Multivariate Methods Not Covered
Conclusion
BOX 10.5 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: MULTIVARIATE STATISTICS
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
11. Causation
Family Dinners and Teenage Substance Abuse
Correlation Is Not Causation
BOX 11.1 CHILDREN WHO HAVE FREQUENT FAMILY DINNERS LESS LIKELY TO
USE MARIJUANA, TOBACCO, AND DRINK ALCOHOL
Possible Explanations of a Correlation
Causation and Reverse Causation
Common Causes
Bias From a Common Cause
Bias From Reverse Causation: Simultaneity Bias
Some More Correlations That Imply Causation
Causal Mechanisms
Indirect and Direct Causal Effects
Chance Correlations and Statistical Significance
Arrows, Arrows Everywhere
Why Worry About the Correct Causal Model?
Evidence of Causation: Some Initial Clues
The Cause Happens Before the Effect
The Correlation Appears in Many Different Contexts
BOX 11.2 PROMINENT EPIDEMIOLOGISTS DISCUSS CLUES OF CAUSATION
A Plausible Mechanism and Qualitative Evidence
There Are No Plausible Alternative Explanations
33
Common Causes Are Accounted For in the Analysis
Detective Work and Shoe Leather
Self-Selection and Endogeneity
Self-Selection
Endogeneity
The Counterfactual Definition of Causation
BOX 11.3 CAUSATION AND CAUSALITY—TWO WORDS FOR THE SAME THING
BOX 11.4 COUNTERFACTUALS AND POTENTIAL OUTCOMES
If We Only Had a Time Machine
Experimentation and Exogeneity: Making Things Happen
Can Exercise Cure Depression?
Why Experimentation Beats Passive Observation
Exogeneity: Intervening in the World
BOX 11.5 EXOGENOUS OR ENDOGENOUS? IT DEPENDS ON THE DEPENDENT
VARIABLE
BOX 11.6 THE MEANING OF EXOGENEITY AND ENDOGENEITY IN STRUCTURAL
EQUATION MODELING
Control: Holding Things Constant
Experimentation: The Basic Steps
Limited Generalizability of Experiments
Ethical Limitations of Experiments
Experimentation, Policy, and Practice
Conclusion: End of Innocence
BOX 11.7 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT CAUSATION
BOX 11.8 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: CAUSATION
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
Learning Objectives
12. Observational Studies
Private Versus Public Schools
What Is an Observational Study?
The Gold Standard for Description—but Not for Causal Estimation
34
Limitations of an Observational Study
Control Variables
How Control Variables Help Disentangle a Causal Effect
How to Choose Control Variables
How Did Control Variables Change the Estimate of a Causal Effect?
Matching and Case-Control Studies
Matching
Case-Control Studies
Statistical Control: An Empirical Example
Step 1: Speculate on Common Causes
Step 2: Look for Differences
Step 3: Stratify by Control Variables
Omitted Variable Bias
BOX 12.1 OMITTED VARIABLES—AND THE BIAS THEY CAUSE—BY ANY OTHER
NAME
A Different Choice of Control Variable
Multiple Control Variables
What If the Dependent Variable Is Categorical? Layered Cross-tabs
How to Choose Control Variables
What’s Driving the Independent Variable?
Do Not Use Intervening Variables as Controls
Complex Common Causes and Unexplained Correlations
Causes That Can Be Ignored
Choosing Good Control Variables Depends on Your Question
Unmeasured Variables and Omitted Variable Bias
BOX 12.2 JARGON: UNMEASURED VARIABLES AND UNOBSERVABLES
Proxies
Conclusion: Observational Studies in Perspective
BOX 12.3 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES WITH
CONTROL VARIABLES
BOX 12.4 TIPS ON DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH: OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES WITH
CONTROL VARIABLES
Chapter Resources
Key Terms
Exercises
Student Study Site
35
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.