Ross, N.; Barrientos, T.; Esquit-Choy, A. (n.d.). “Triad Tasks, a multi purpose tool to elicit similarity judgements:

The Case ofTzotzil Maya Plant taxonomy. Submitted: Field Methods.

This paper reports the results of a triad task study that explored specific aspects of the multipurpose plant-taxonomy among the Tzotzil Maya of Zinacantán in the Highlands of Chiapas. A balanced incomplete blockdesign was applied with 16 plant species to be compared. Incomplete triad designs have the problem that similarity of two items is highly context dependent. To overcome the resulting problems two additional codes (“too similar to be compared” and “too different to be compared”) were introduced. Analyses not only look at the content, but explore (1) pattern of informant agreement (as a pre-condition for) (2) content analysis, and (3) the analysis of “difficult / easy responses.” Analysis of informant agreement was conducted with the help of the Cultural Consensus Model (CCM).