现代民族学利用着范围广泛的资料。直接观察历来是收集民族学材料的最重要方法之一,同时它也得到许多相对来说是“非经验性”方法的很大补充。这些方法包括对历史文献、考古学、人类学和语言学材料的研究,社会学征询调查,自然也包括对博物馆文物的研究。民族学博物馆历来是民族学研究极重要的基础,同时也是宣传和普及民族学知识最积极的手段之一。正因为如此,在民族学本身的发展及其学术和社会功能的体现过程中,人们对民族学博物馆活动的目的、任务的理解也在改变。 Modern ethnography uses a wide range of information. Direct observation has traditionally been one of the most important ways of collecting ethnographic materials, and it has also been greatly complemented by many relatively “non-empirical” approaches. These include research on historical documents, archeology, anthropological and linguistic materials, sociological inquiry surveys and, of course, research on museum relics. Ethnology Museum has always been a very important foundation for ethnology research, but also one of the most active means of publicizing and popularizing ethnological knowledge. Because of this, in the course of the development of ethnography itself and the manifestation of its academic and social functions, people’s understanding of the purpose and mission of ethnological museum activities is also changing.