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What is HRAF?

The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) is the world’s largest archive of ethnographies, covering over 400 cultures. HRAF offers easy access to ethnographic texts which would otherwise be scattered and difficult to find. Users can search HRAF texts either by cultural topics or cultural groups. Every paragraph of texts in HRAF is coded with OCM (Outline of Cultural Materials) numbers, a coding system based on cultural topics such as education, religion, and marriage. On the web version topics can by searched by OCM numbers or by search terms. The same HRAF texts are also organized by cultural groups, such as Afghan, Somali, and Iroquois. Therefore, users can find documents on particular topics by entering OCM numbers, cultural groups, or both.

There are two kinds of HRAF collection: ethnography and archeology. Roe's research focused solely on the ethnographic collection.

Sources:

Bernard, Russell H.
   2002  Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. Walnut Creek: AltaMira

         Press.

Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember.
   2001  Cross-Cultural Research Methods. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press.

Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF).
   2004  The Human Relations Area Files: Cultural Materials for Education and Research. Electronic document,

         http://www.yale.edu/hraf/, accessed December 28, 2007.

Roe, Sandra K.
   2002  The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) Collection of Ethnography: Format Variations and Their

         Implications for Users. M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, Minnesota State University, Mankato.

This page was created by  Kyoko Soga. Updated by Melissa Lorentz 1/26/08.