Topic 6 Participant observation

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  • Created by: Ali682
  • Created on: 23-03-19 22:30
Types of observation
There are several different types of observation.
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Non participant observation
The researcher simply observes the group or event without taking part in it. For example they may use a two-way mirror to observe children playing.
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Participant observation
The researcher actually takes part in an event or the everyday life of the group while observing it.
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Overt observation
The researcher makes their true identity and purpose known to those being studied. The sociologist is open about what they are doing.
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Covert observation
The study is carried out 'under cover' The researcher's real identity and purpose are kept concealed from the group being studied. The researcher takes on a false identity and role, usually posing as a genuine member of the group.
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Types of observation (2)
However actual research does not always fit neatly onto one or other of these categories. For example William Whyte's (1955) study of 'street corner society' was semi-overt. He revealed his real purpose to a key member of the group but not to others.
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Types of observation (3)
In sociology most observation is unstructured participant observation. However positivist sociologists in particular do occasionally use structured observation which is normally non-participant. Here the researcher uses a structured observational
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Types of observation (4)
schedule to categorise systematically what happens. The schedule is a pre-determined list of all types of behaviour or situations the sociologist is interested in. Each time an instance of such behaviour occurs, the sociologist records it on the
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Types of observation (5)
schedule. The researcher adds up the number of times each event occurs. This produces quantitative data from which patterns and correlations can then be established. Finally observation may be used in conjunction with other methods. For example when
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Types of observation (6)
interviewing, the researcher may observe interviewee's body language to gauge whether or not they are telling the truth.
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Conducting a participant observation study
Sociologists face two main issues when conducting a participant observation study: getting in, staying in and getting out of the group being studied and whether to use overt or covert observation.
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Getting in
To do the study, we must first gain entry to the group. Some groups are easier to enter than others.
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Making contact
Making the initial contact with the group may depend on personal skills, having the right connections, or even pure chance. Ned Polsky (1971) who was a good pool player found his skill useful in gaining entry to the world of the poolroom hustler.
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Making contact (2)
James Patrick (1973) was able to join a Glasgow gang because he looked quite young and knew one of its members from having taught him in approved schools.
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Acceptance
To gain entry to a group the researcher will have to win their trust and acceptance. It may help to make friends with a key individual, as Sarah Thornton (1995) did with Kate in her study of the clubbing and rave scene. Sometimes though the
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Acceptance (2)
researcher's age, gender, class or ethnicity may prove an obstacle. Thornton found her age and nationality a barrier:'i began my research when i was 23 and slowly aged out of the peer group i was studying. Also as a Canadian investigating British
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Acceptance (3)
clubs and raves i was quite literally a stranger in a strange land'. Thornton was met with suspicion at first. A white researcher Elliot Liebow (1967) succeeded in gaining acceptance by a black street-corner gang in Washington DC. Some researchers
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Acceptance (4)
have gone to remarkable lengths to gain acceptance and pass as one of the group, but probably none more so than John Howard Griffin (1962). Griffin was a white man who in 1959 used medication and sun lamp treatments to change his skin colour and pass
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Acceptance (5)
on as black. He then traveled around the Deep South of the USA experiencing first hand the impact of white racism. In the Deep South at that time public amenities such as schools, cafes, hotels, transport and toilets were racially segregated and
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Acceptance (6)
black people faced discrimination in housing, jobs and political and civil rights.
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The observer's role
Getting in poses the question of what role the researcher should adopt. Ideally it should be one that does not disrupt the group's normal patterns and offer a good vantage point from which to make observations. Whyte succeeded in achieving both
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The observer's role (2)
these aims by refusing all leadership roles, with the one exception of secretary of the community club. However it is not always possible to take a role that is both unobtrusive and a good vantage point. Some roles may also involve taking sides in
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The observer's role (3)
conflicts, with the result that the researcher may become estranged from one faction or the other, making observation more difficult.
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Staying in
Once accepted the researcher needs to be able to stay in the group and complete the study.
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Going native
One danger of staying in the group is that of becoming over-involved or going native. By over-identifying with the group the researcher becomes biased. When this happens, they have stopped being an objective observer and have simply become a member.
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Going native (2)
For example in his study of the Amsterdam police, Maurice Punch (1979) found that in striving to be accepted by the tightly-knit patrol group he was studying, he over identified with them, even acting as a policeman himself- chasing and holding
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Going native (3)
suspects, searching houses, cars and people, and shouting at people who abused his police 'colleagues'. At the other extreme the researcher may preserve their detachment so as to avoid bias, but by remaining detached they risk not understanding the
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Going native (4)
events they observe. Striking a balance between these two extremes is immensely difficult. A further problem of staying in is that the more time the researcher spends with the group the less strange its ways come to appear. After a while the researc
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Going native (5)
After a while the researcher may cease to notice things that would have struck them as unusual or noteworthy at an earlier stage of the research.
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Getting out
In practical terms getting out of the group at the end of the study generally presents fewer problems than getting in or staying in. If the worst comes to worst the researcher can simply call a halt and leave. This was Patrick's experience of
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Getting out (2)
studying a Glasgow gang when sickened by the violence, he abandoned the study abruptly. Others can leave more gracefully particularly if the observation has been overt. Nevertheless, leaving a group with whom one has become close can be difficult.
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Getting out (3)
Re-entering one's normal world can also be difficult. Whyte found that when he returned to Harvard University after his research he was tongue-tied and unable to communicate with fellow academics. These problems can be made worse if the research is
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Getting out (4)
conducted on and off over a period of time with multiple crossings between the two worlds. The researcher may also find that loyalty prevents them from fully disclosing everything they have learnt.
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Overt observation
Sociologists face the decision whether to use overt or covert observation. Many sociologists favour the use of overt observation, where the researcher reveals his true identity and purpose to the group and asks their permission to observe.
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Overt observation (2)
This has several advantages: it avoids the ethical problem of obtaining information by deceit and when studying deviant groups that of being expected to join in their activities. It allows the observer to ask the kind of naive but important questions
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Overt observation (3)
that only a outsider could ask. The observer can take notes openly. It allows the researcher to use interview methods to check insights derived from observations.
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Overt observation (4)
However overt observation has two major disadvantages: 1. A group may refuse the researcher permission to observe them and 2. it risks creating the Hawthorne effect.
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Covert observation
Some sociologists choose to carry out covert observation. However the use of covert observation raises several practical and ethical issues.
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Practical issues
The main practical advantage of covert observation is that it reduces the risk of altering people's behaviour and sometimes it is the only way to obtain valid information. This is particularly true where people are engaged in activities that they
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Practical issues (2)
would rather keep secret. As Laud Humphreys (1970) who studied gay men's sexual encounters in public toilets notes ' there is only one way to watch highly discreditable behaviour and that is to pretend to be in the same boat with those engaging in it
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Practical issues (3)
If they knew why they were being observed, they would change or conceal their behaviour and so the main advantage of observation- that it preserves that naturalness of people's behaviour- would be lost. On the other hand covert participation can pose
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Practical issues (4)
practical problems.Firstly it requires the researcher to keep up an act, and may call for detailed knowledge of the group's way of life even before joining it. There is always a risk of one's cover being blown by even a trivial mistake.
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Practical issues (5)
Patrick was almost found out when he bought his suit with cash instead of credit and when he fastened the middle button instead of the top- things the gang would have never done. This is likely to bring the research to an abrupt end and may lead to
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Practical issues (6)
physical harm. As Polsky advises therefore, 'you damned well better not pretend to be "one of them" because they will test this claim out and you will either find yourself involved in illegal activities, or your cover will be blown'.
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Practical issues (7)
This was something Patrick also discovered when the gang handed him an axe to use in an expected fight. Secondly the sociologist cannot usually take notes openly and must rely on memory and the opportunity to write them in secret.
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Practical issues (8)
Both Leon Festinger et al (1956) studying a religious sect that had predicted the imminent end of the world and Jason Ditton (1977) studying theft among bread deliverymen had to use toilets as a place for recording their observations.
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Practical issues (9)
Thirdly, the researcher cannot ask naive but important questions, or combine observation with other methods such as interviews. Fourthly pretending to be an insider rather than an outsider reduces the risk of the Hawthorne effect.
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Ethical issues
Covert participant observation raises serious ethical issues for researchers. These often conflict with the practical advantage it brings of observing natural behaviour. It is immoral to deceive people obtaining information by pretending to be their
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Ethical issues (2)
friend. Covert observers may have to lie about their reasons for leaving the group at the end of the research. They may have to participate in immoral or illegal activities.
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Advantages of participant observation
Participant observation offers a range of advantages.
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1. Validity
What people say they do asked in a questionnaire and what they actually do in real life are not always the same thing. By contrast by actually observing people we can obtain rich qualitative data that provides a picture how they really live.
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1. Validity (2)
Supporters of participant observation argue that it is the method's main strength and most of its other advantages linked to this.
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2. Insight
The best way to truly understand what something is like is to experience it for ourselves. Sociologists call this personal or subjective understanding 'verstehen' a german word meaning 'empathy'. Participant observation allows the researcher to gain
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2. Insight (2)
empathy through personal experience. By actually living as a member of a group we can gain insight into their way of life, meanings and viewpoints, their values and problems.
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3. Flexibility
Research methods such as questionnaires and structured interviews involve beginning the research with a specific hypothesis and pre-set questions. Even before starting to collect the data, therefore the researcher has already decided what questions
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3. Flexibility (2)
are important. The obvious problem with this is that the questions the researcher thinks are important may not be the same as the ones the subjects think are important.
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3. Flexibility (3)
By contrast participant observation is a much more flexible method. Rather than starting with a foxed hypothesis, it allows the sociologist to enter the situation with a relatively open mind about what they will find.
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3. Flexibility (4)
As new situations are encountered, new explanations can be formulated and the sociologist can change direction to follow them up there and then. In this way any theories that the researcher produces are 'grounded' in real life.
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3. Flexibility (5)
This open mindedness allows the researcher to discover things that other methods may miss. As Whyte noted simply by observing 'i have learned answers to questions that i would not have had the sense to ask if i had been using interviews'.
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4. Practical advantages
Sometimes participant observation may be the only viable method for studying certain groups, particularly those engaged in activities that wider society sees as deviant. Such groups are likely to be suspicious of outsiders who come asking questions.
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4. Practical advantages (2)
Lewis Yablonsky (1973) points out a teenage gang is likely to see researchers who come armed with questionnaires as the unwelcome representatives of authority. By contrast because participant observation enables the sociologist to build a rapport
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4. Practical advantages (3)
with the group and gain its trust, it has proved a successful method of studying delinquent gangs, football hooligans, thieves, drug users, religious sects and other 'outsider' groups. Participant observation can also be used in other situations
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4. Practical advantages (4)
where questioning would be ineffective. This is shown in Aaron Cicourel's (1968) study of how police and probation officers catergorise juveniles by making unconscious assumptions about whether they are criminal 'types'.Precisely because they are
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4. Practical advantages (5)
unaware of their assumptions it would be pointless for the sociologist to ask them questions about these. For Cicourel therefore the only way to get at these assumptions is to observe the police directly in their work.
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Disadvantages of participant observation
Despite the number of advantages offered by participant observations it also faces a number of disadvantages.
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1. Practical disadvantages
There are several practical disadvantages in using participant observation. It is very time consuming. The researcher needs to be trained. It can be stressful and demanding. It requires observational and interpersonal skills.
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1. Practical disadvantages (2)
Personal characteristics may restrict what kinds of groups can be studied. Many groups may not wish to make access difficult.
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2. Ethical problems
Participant observation in particular raises serious ethical difficulties, including deceiving people in order to obtain information about them and participating in illegal or immoral activities in the course of sociological research.
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3. Representativeness
Sociologists who use quantitative survey methods usually study large, carefully selected, representative samples that provide a sound basis for making generalisations. By contrast in participant observation studies the group studied is usually very
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3. Representativeness (2)
small and the sample is often selected haphazardly. This does not provide a sound basis for making generalisations. As Downes and Rock note although participant observation may provide valid insights into the particular group being studied it is
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3. Representativeness (3)
doubtful how far these internally valid insights are externally valid.
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4. Reliability
Reliability means that if another researcher repeats the method they will obtain the same results. To achieve reliability research procedures must be standardised so that other researchers can reproduce them.
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4. Reliability (2)
By contrast in participant observations so much depends on the personal skills and characteristics of a lone researcher that it is unlikely any other investigator would be able to replicate the original study.
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4. Reliability (3)
Also because participant observation usually produces qualitative data this can make comparisons with other studies difficult. As a result it is unlikely to produce reliable data.
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5. Bias and lack of objectivity
Critics argue that participant observation studies lack objectivity. The risk of becoming too involved makes it difficult to remain objective. Sometimes loyalty to the group or fear of reprisals leads the sociologist to conceal sensitive information.
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6. Validity
According to its supporters the great strength of participant observation lies in its validity. As a form of verstehen, allowing the sociologist to become an insider it gives an authentic account of the actor's world. Positivists reject this claim.
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6. Validity (2)
They argue that the findings from such studies are merely the subjective and biased impressions of the observer. Rather than truly telling it like it is participant observation simply tells it as the observer sees it.
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6. Validity (3)
Supporters of participant observation claim that it does not impose the sociologist's own categories and ideas on the facts but positivists argue that in reality the researcher selects what facts they think are worth recording.
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6. Validity (4)
A further threat to validity comes from the Hawthorne effect: the very presence of the observer may make the subjects act differently. This defeats the main aim of participant observation to produce a naturalistic account of human behaviour.
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7. Lack of a concept of structure
Interactionists favour the use of participant observation. They see society as constructed through the small scale, face-to-face interactions of its members and the meanings that individual actors give to their situation.
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7. Lack of a concept of structure (2)
In their view participant observation is a useful tool for examining these micro-level interactions and meanings at first hand. However structural sociologists such as Marxists and functionalists see this as inadequate.
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7. Lack of a concept of structure (3)
They argue that because it focuses on the 'micro' level of actors' meanings participant observation research tends to ignore the wider structural forces that shape our behaviour. In the structuralist view therefore seeing things only through the
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7. Lack of a concept of structure (4)
actors' eyes will never give us the complete picture. For example if the actors are unaware of the structural forces shaping their behaviour then their own account of their lives, revealed through participant observation will give us a partial view.
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Card 2

Front

Non participant observation

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The researcher simply observes the group or event without taking part in it. For example they may use a two-way mirror to observe children playing.

Card 3

Front

Participant observation

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Overt observation

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Covert observation

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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