Compare methods

	Residue Analysis (Kinship Terminology)	Key-Informant Interview
Field	Anthropology	Anthropology
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1988	1979
Originator	Cognitive anthropology and formal semantics tradition (codified by Bernard; Weller & Romney)	Ethnographic interviewing tradition (Spradley; codified by Bernard)
Type	Formal-semantic technique for defining kin categories by distinctive features	Purposive in-depth interviewing of especially knowledgeable or well-positioned community members
Seminal source	Bernard, H. R. (2017). Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (6th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN: 9780759112421	Bernard, H. R. (2017). Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (6th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN: 9780759112421
Aliases	Componential Residue Analysis, Feature Residue Method, Distinctive-Feature Analysis of Kin Terms, Kin-Term Componential Analysis	Key Informant Interviewing, Cultural Expert Interview, Knowledgeable Informant Interview, Specialized Informant Interview
Related	4	4
Summary	Residue analysis is a componential, formal-semantic technique for defining the categories named by kinship terms. Each kin term is treated as a bundle of distinctive features — such as sex of relative, generation, and lineality — and the analyst seeks the minimal set of features that exactly picks out the genealogical positions the term covers. The cases a candidate definition fails to account for form the residue, and competing feature definitions are tested by which leaves the smallest, most principled residual. The method makes the implicit logic of a kin-term system explicit and falsifiable.	The key-informant interview is a purposive in-depth interviewing technique in which the ethnographer works closely with a small number of especially knowledgeable or well-positioned community members rather than a representative sample. Key informants are people who, by experience, role, or position, can articulate cultural knowledge a typical member could not. The method centers on selecting such people well, building genuine rapport, eliciting their expertise through ethnographic questioning, and cross-checking what they say against other informants and observations to guard against bias.