Participant observation

Two main issues of participant observation studies

1. Getting in, staying in, getting out

2. Whether to use overt or covert observations

4 types of observations

1. Non-participant observation - Observing without taking part

2. Participant observation - Taking part in the people being observed

3. Overt observation - The researcher is open about what they are doing, they make their identity known etc

4. Covert observation - Study is carried ‘under cover’

Interpretivists and positivist favour structured or unstructured participant observations

Interpretivists favour unstructured as it covers their goal of validity

Positivists favour structured as it covers their goals of reliability, representativeness and generalisability

Practical advantages and disadvantages of covert observations

Advantages: Reduces the risk of altering peoples behaviours and can obtain valid information.

Disadvantages: Requires the researcher to act and may call for a detailed knowledge of the group.

They can’t take visual notes and must rely on their memory

Cannot ask naïve but important questions

The addition of a new member can still change the groups attitudes

Ethical disadvantages of covert observation

• Dangerous for the researcher

• No informed consent

• They may have to participate in illegal or immoral activates

• They may witness illegal activates that they would have to report

Advantages of participant observation

1. Get actual information that is not artificial

2. Verstehen - gain empathy which can give them better insight on the research

3. It can built trust and therefore better understandings

Disadvantages of participant observations

• Time consuming

• The researcher needs to be carefully trained

• It can be stressful and personally demanding

• Personal characteristics such as age or gender

• Difficulty to get into a group

Downes and Rock representativeness of participant observations

How far are the ‘internally valid’ and ‘externally valid’ that is generalisable to the wider population