amanthro-data-analysis

Analysis & Interpretation (amanthro-data-analysis)

AA reviewers are expert and read across four fields, so the same results section may be read by an ethnographer, an archaeologist, and a bioanthropologist at once. At AA, interpretation is analysis: qualitative inference is held to a real standard, not waved through as "context." This skill covers execution and reporting norms; design decisions live in amanthro-research-design.

When to trigger

• Building the results/interpretation section from fieldnotes, transcripts, material, or measurements
• A reviewer asked for more evidence, alternative readings, or robustness
• Reconciling what interlocutors say with what they do, or pre-planned vs. emergent themes
• Making the analysis transparent enough to be credible without exposing protected sources

Analysis & interpretation norms AA expects

1. Show the evidence behind the claim. Ground each interpretive claim in specific, quoted, or described evidence (a fieldnote moment, an utterance, an artifact, a measurement) — not assertion.
2. Pursue the alternative reading. Name the strongest rival interpretation and show why the evidence favors yours; report where it doesn't fit cleanly. AA values honesty about ambiguity.
3. Disconfirming evidence. Include cases that complicate the argument rather than curating only confirming material; say what you learned from the friction.
4. Quote and represent fairly. Translate and contextualize interlocutors' words; do not flatten them into illustrations of your theory. Attribute analytics to communities where they originate.
5. For quantitative subfields (biological/archaeological): report effect sizes and uncertainty, not just significance; pre-specify where possible; correct for multiple comparisons; validate measures; avoid conflating ancestry with social race.
6. Reflexivity in the analysis. Note how your position shaped which evidence was available and how you read it.

Mixed-methods / computational specifics

• If you code text or use computational tools on field/archival data, document the procedure, validate against close reading, and treat outputs as interpretable evidence, not ground truth.
• Keep the qualitative core legible: a table or model never replaces the interpretive argument at AA.

Transparency while you work (not at the end)

• Maintain an audit trail linking claims to sources (evidence tables, coded excerpts) so the argument is checkable without de-anonymizing protected interlocutors.
• For quantitative work: set/report seeds, pin software versions, keep exhibit numbers matched to outputs (see amanthro-transparency-and-data).

Anti-patterns

• Cherry-picked quotes that illustrate the thesis with no disconfirming cases
• Interpretation asserted with no grounding evidence ("informants felt…")
• Treating qualitative evidence as merely decorative around a "real" quantitative result (or the reverse)
• Stars-only tables with no effect sizes/intervals (biological/archaeological work)
• Extracting community analytics without attribution; speaking for rather than with interlocutors
• Numbers or quotations the underlying record cannot support

Output format

【Main claim】the interpretive/empirical result
【Evidence】what grounds it (fieldnote / utterance / material / measure)
【Alternative reading】named and adjudicated?
【Disconfirming evidence】included and addressed? [Y/N]
【Quant rigor】(if applicable) effect size + uncertainty + validation
【Reflexivity】position's effect on the analysis noted? [Y/N]
【Next】amanthro-tables-figures

What AA reviewers probe, by mode

Mode	The check a referee runs first	The fix that earns trust
Ethnographic / interpretive	Is the claim grounded in shown evidence, or asserted?	Quote/describe the moment; name the rival reading
Archival / material	Are the silences and biases of the source read, not ignored?	Read against the grain; state what the archive cannot show
Biological / quantitative	Is uncertainty honest and "race" handled carefully?	Effect sizes + intervals; ancestry ≠ social race; validated measures
Linguistic	Does the transcript support the indexical claim?	Show the discourse data; tie form to social meaning
Multimodal	Does the media argue, or merely illustrate?	Make the image/sound carry analytic weight, with consent

Calibration anchors (hedged)

• The bar is anthropological significance with honest interpretation, not within-subfield novelty or statistical decoration; a rich case with a thin argument rarely clears AA review.
• AA practices methodological pluralism and an ethics of care — match the inference standard to the mode, and never trade interlocutors' dignity for a sharper claim.
• Specific transparency mechanics can change — confirm against the journal's current guidelines.

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — qualitative-analysis, transcription, and quantitative packages
• ../../resources/exemplars/library.md — how verified AA papers ground interpretation