Participant Observation

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Participant Observation

Advantages

  • Study a group in their natural, everyday setting
  • Can study the ethnography of a group
  • Carried out over time and build trust with a group
  • May be able to access 'behind the scenes' or normally hidden events
  • Researcher can see things from the point of view of a participant
  • Gathers generally very valid data

Disadvantages

  • Access - may be difficult to enter group and gain their trust
  • Time-consuming
  • Expensive
  • Hawthorne Effect - participants may change behaviours due to the researcher's presence
  • Researcher may become over-involved and become biased, thus invalidating the findings
  • Unique to a specific group so findings could not be generalised
  • Cannot be repeated so not reliable
  • Social skills would be necessary to build rapport with the group.

Evaluation

Participant observation provides rather valid, qualitative data. However, all four practical issues are present. The Hawthorne Effect or researcher bias may occur, invalidating the findings. It is unreliable and unrepeatable and cannot be applied to the population. 

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