The Ethnographic Database Project (EDP)

• Data Set Title: The Ethnographic Database Project
• Primary Data Collector: Laura Fortunato
• Description: EDP is a web-based interface for the standardisation of comparative ethnographic data. The EDP enables anthropologists to enter information about their field research using a set of standard codes developed for cross-cultural application; the codes relate to a society’s organization, kinship and marriage practices, subsistence economy, and pattern of sexual division of labor. The EDP is in the form of a web-based questionnaire, which can be accessed from any computer connected to the internet. The EDP aims to complement widely-used comparative ethnographic datasets such as the Ethnographic Atlas and the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample by: (i) obtaining data directly from anthropologists who conducted field research in the societies of interest, (ii) using standard codes developed for cross-cultural application for all societies, (iii) expanding the range of societies for which coded ethnographic data are available.
• Topics: kinship, gender division, social organization, economy
• Discipline: Linguistic
• Region: various
• Language: various Indo-European languages (see URL for list: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucsalfo/EDP/Societies.html)
• Nature of Collection: digital cross-cultural resource