Читать книгу A Companion to Medical Anthropology онлайн
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In longitudinal designs, the data pertain to two or more points in time. In the last 50 years, longitudinal studies that incorporate panel data – repeated measures from the same units of observation at different points in time – have become increasingly important across the social, medical, and public-health sciences, but they remain relatively rare in anthropology. The lack of panel studies in anthropology represents a mismatch between theory and method, because panel data are particularly suited to the study of continuity and change – central areas of anthropological inquiry (Gravlee et al. 2009). For example, there is long-standing debate about the consequences of market integration and culture change for the health of Indigenous peoples. Most relevant studies, however, use cross-sectional designs, which cannot track the effects of market integration over time. Godoy et al. (2009) used panel data collected annually (2002–2006) from the Tsimane’ Amazonian Panel Study (TAPS) to fill this gap. Results suggest a general improvement in well-being over time, with the highest rate of change in villages closest to the market town. This longitudinal study provides a better test of theory than would a cross-sectional design.