The following appeared in an article written by Dr Karp an anthropologist Twenty years ago Dr Field a noted anthropologist visited the island of Tertia and concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather tha

Dr. Karp claims in his article that both Dr. Field´s conclusion about Tertian village culture and the observation-centered approach to studying cultures are invalid. The logic of this argument is unsound. The author´s prediction that interview-centered method performed by his team of students will establish an enhanced accurate understanding of child-rearing traditions in Tertia and in other island cultures is not entirely logically cogent, because it is based on dubious inferences and questionable assumptions, which requires more information to prove they are valid and reliable.

The given researches utilize heterogenous samples and approaches, so they should not be compared reliably. Dr. Field conclusions were based on his observations. On the other hand, Dr. Karp used interviews-centered approach. These contrasting approaches could lead contrasting results.

The distinct sample plays a great role in the final conclusion. Dr. Field research observation was done exclusively in Tertia while Dr. Karp interviews were done in a group of islands that includes Tertia. Considering that Tertia´s child population could be inexpressive in number when compared to other islands, it would invalidate or cast doubts on Dr. Karp´s interview research results which would express child-rearing traditions concerning other islands and not related to Tertia. However, this fact does not invalidate Dr. Field´s observation results, since it is observation based and it is not influenced by sample size.

Furthermore, the fact that interviewed children spend increased time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the village does not necessarily express village child-hearing traditions. We do not know what were the interview questions. If in their majority they ask about child parents? Clearly, children will spend more time talking about their parents. Furthermore, observation-centered approach could be more reliable than interview-centered approaches, since they are a reality report while interviews could be tendentious or show bias.