Folk Taxonomy Analysis
Folk taxonomy analysis — taxonomic analysis in Spradley's terms — reconstructs how a culture hierarchically classifies the items of a domain through the inclusion relationship 'is a kind of.' It takes the terms surfaced in domain analysis and arranges them into nested levels, revealing the folk classification system: which broad categories contain which narrower ones, and how deep the hierarchy goes. The result is the culture's own taxonomy, which may differ markedly from any scientific one.
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Sources
- Spradley, J. P. (1979). The Ethnographic Interview. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN: 9780030444968
- Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant Observation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN: 9780030445019
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Folk Taxonomy (Taxonomic) Analysis. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/anthropology/folk-taxonomy-analysis
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Componential Analysis (Ethnographic)Anthropology↔ compare
- Cultural Domain AnalysisAnthropology↔ compare
- Spradley Domain AnalysisAnthropology↔ compare