Resources and Approaches

How Do You Find Out about the People as they Understand Themselves?

Approaches
                Observation - Active, critical observation, from time with the people; take your own notes
                Experience - life and language, secondary experiences
                Intuition - Evaluate, Analyze, Generalize
                                     Come to your own conclusions
Look and Learn!

Information and Insights
                Gather as you Go
                Categorize - Questionnaire, Profile Categories
                Analyze - Patterns, Strategies, Questions
                                     Look for the answers, don't just ask
                    They won't have answers to many of your questions.
                    You as an outsider will ask questions they have never asked!
                    Look at what you learn from different angles --
To figure out what they don't know to tell you.
Back to Observation -- Your Primary Approach

Resources
                Books - Academic or Popular, Travel Books, travelogues, ethnographies
                Dissertations, Anthropological Studies, General Histories, Country Histories
                TV Programs - Academic or Popular
                The people, their media, publications, Other Peoples
                Cultural Informants
Eclectic -- Overlapping spheres of knowledge
                                    Internet - Offers all of these
                                   VRC -- Research Gateway

Note:  Printed or Internet resources are not a substitute for the people themselves. 
Anything written about the people is an Abstract or Excerpt from their Worldview.

Who They Are is in their heads and in their social structures.

Use formal resources as indicators.

Advocacy and Strategy Points to Watch For:
                Opportunities for change in the culture
                Access Points - In Culture or Geography
                Social roles for Access and Acceptance / Felt Needs
Cultural and Worldview Bridges
Communication Forms and Formats             Story Forms

Building Your Strategy
Strategy Leader Resource Kit -- Unreached Peoples Resource Portal

Documenting Your Findings