Conclusion

While collecting, manipulating, and interpreting quantitative data are important, the ultimate task of finding meaning in our research is a uniquely human ability that no statistical test or artificial intelligence is likely to surpass. Anthropology is a discipline that often tries to answer why questions rather than how questions. Collecting data and understanding something about the relationships between variables is only the starting point, a waypoint on a much longer journey to try and explain why these relationships exist in the first place. The final step in good research is to be exhaustive, turning over every stone, reading every book and article, and working with your data until the result is a scientific conclusion that can stand on its own without reservations. It is the hope of the author that this book has made a valuable contribution to that process.