Conducting a Complex Sociological Survey in Rural Mali

Abstract

The authors describe a cross-cultural collaborative attempt between American and Malian investigators to apply standard sociological survey techniques to three generally preliterate, nonindustrial ethnic groups in rural Mali—the Dogon, Peulh, and Bozo. The study examines how socioenvironmental factors (e.g., occupational conditions, migration, exposure to Western culture) affect values, orientations to self and others, psychological distress, coping mechanisms, and AIDS-related attitudes and behaviors. Other medical dependent variables include HIV, other sexually transmitted diseases, clinical depression, and psychosis. The authors depict this cross-cultural collaboration from the points of view of its three types of investigators: American behavioral scientist, Malian medical researcher, American Africanist. Preliminary statistical analyses strongly suggest that the quality of both the data and the coding are more than satisfactory. The authors have not, however, analyzed the data to the point of publishable substantive findings. The article remains a promissory report on an ambitious work in progress.