Participant Observation
- Created by: amyjohnson1
- Created on: 03-02-22 11:33
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- Participant Observation
- Definitions
- Covert: Researcher hides true identity
- Overt: Researcher reveals true identity
- Non-participant: observes group without taking part
- Participant: Researcher takes part in group while observing it
- Structured: Researcher is looking for something specific
- Unstructured: Researcher isn't looking for anything specific
- Process of Observations
- Getting in
- Some groups are easier to enter than others
- Initial contact may depend on skills, contacts and chance
- Researcher needs to get the group to trust them
- Staying in:
- Must be involved in the group
- Must also be detached from the group so it is unbiased
- If they are there for long, they may see things as normal rather than notable
- Getting out:
- Generally not a problem
- Can be difficult if the became close to group
- May find loyalty to group stop them from disclosing everything
- Getting in
- Practical Issues
- Insight
- Best way to understand what something is like is to experience it yourself
- This method gives us an insight into other people's lives by putting themselves in their place
- Gives a 'feel' for what it is like to be a member of the group
- Access
- Groups that engage in criminal activity may be suspicious of outsiders
- Flexibility
- Very flexible compared to survey methods
- Enter the research with an open mind
- Limitations
- Time consuming
- Large amounts of qualitative data is produced
- Researcher needs to be sociologically trained
- It can be stressful, demanding and dangerous
- Requires observational and interpersonal skills
- Powerful groups may be able to prevent sociologists being able to observe them
- Insight
- Theoretical Issues
- Interpretivism
- Main concern is to understand actors' meaning.
- Regard this method as richly detailed picture of actors' meanings
- Validity through involvement
- By experiencing the life of the group, the sociologist is able to get close to people's reality
- Flexibility and grounded theory
- flexibility helps to produce valid data
- Glaser Strauss (1968) researchers can develop and modify their ideas
- Positivism
- Reject the use of participant observation
- It lacks objectivity and reliability
- Representativeness
- Group studied is small
- Sample is usually selected haphazardly
- Group studied may be unrepresentative of the wider population
- Reliability
- It is not standardised and can't repeat to get the same results
- Cannot be confident that findings are true
- Bias and lack of opportunity
- Involvement may mean researcher doesn't disclose everything
- May develop loyalty to the group
- Lack of validity
- Argue that is bias
- Observer only notes what they think is important
- Hawthorne Effect
- Can undermine the validity of results
- Observer's presence can make the subjects act differently
- Structure vs action perspectives
- Tends to ignore the large scale structure that shapes behaviour
- Only get a partial view
- Interpretivism
- Definitions
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