Cultural (or social) Anthropology research on the motivation behind cultural phenomena. It studies the human behavior as a part of a social group. This field of study remains in the broader demo-ethno-anthropologic science, human science sector which studies the origins and development of indigenous traditions and manners, i.e. their culture.
In Anthropological Science the researcher must follow and live inside a determinate population, in order to understand the characteristics of a determinate event. The antropologue is a participative observer for long period, because data in this field are qualitative rather than quantitative, therefore it needs a deeper and unusual data reexamination to transform the work in concrete knowledge.
In Anhtropology the so-called “research on the field” was firstly made by Franz Boas (1858-1942). He studied the Kwakiutl Eskimo’s Potlach, they leave along the Pacific Coast in the northern British Columbia, Canada. The Potlach is a ceremonial to achieve a status change, where the social prestige is acquired by giving: among Kwakiutl the social dimension subordinates the economic one.
Back to other “researcher on the field”, similarly Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) studied the Kula in Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea. The Kula is an economic phenomena which ruled the Trobrianders life. It is an exchange of goods between tribes far away, this exchange lasts two years. Malinowski sees in the Kula the perfect expression of the reciprocity principle, which grounds any economic institution among primitive societies.
The research on the field with its instrument, the notebook, is called ethnography, which describes the phenomena as a participant. Otherwise, Demology is a science studying traditions and folklore of a determinate population, in its specificity may also be defined as the studies on subaltern culture as opposite to the hegemonic culture.