Integration and exchange in multidisciplinary alcohol research

Abstract

How do anthropologists effectively enter into cross-disciplinary discourse and influence research direction in a multi-disciplinary field like alcohol studies? We answer: by aiming for an improved qualitative product, and by establishing and participating in exchange structures that cross over disciplinary lines. Using examples from our current study of work environment and alcohol practices, we explain how such an exchange structure was developed around the three areas of: (1) ethnography and local theory, (2) numerical archival data, and (3) survey research. We describe the nature of the exchange and the interplay among the three research segments. In contrast to single-method analysis, whether quantitative or qualitative, we maintain that team efforts can produce knowledge products that are conceptually dense and have higher validity and generalizability.