Primary Qualitative - Participant Observation

Question 1

What is participant observation?

Answer 1

Researcher joins in with the activities of the group

Question 2

What are the three stages of participant observation?

Answer 2

Getting in

Staying in

Getting out

Question 3

What does getting in refer to in participant observation?

Answer 3

Researcher must first gain access to the group they wish to observe

They must decide whether to do this overtly or covertly

Question 4

What does covert participant observation involve?

Answer 4

Often used on criminal or deviant group

Researcher must fully participate in all activities of the group, even if these are illegal

Very difficult to take notes or ask naive questions

Question 5

What does overt participant observation involve?

Answer 5

Researcher can ask naive questions to get more detail

Being known as an outsider may mean participants open up to them

Easier for researcher to avoid joining in with illegal activities

Question 6

What does staying in refer to in participant observation?

Answer 6

Researcher has to stay in the group

Can create a problem because the researcher must be involved in the group and remain detached so as to observe objectively

Question 7

What does it mean if the researcher goes native in participant observation?

Answer 7

Means they identify so closely with the group they can no longer see the group as a researcher and have simply become part of the group

Question 8

What does getting out refer to in participant observation?

Answer 8

Researcher must leave the group in a way that doesn’t harm relationships or put themselves at risk

Question 9

What are the advantages of participant observation?

Answer 9

Interpretivists like - high in validity because the researcher sees for themselves what people are actually doing

Interpretivists like verstehen that can be gained

May be only method that is practical to use for a topic

Overt - can ask naive questions to increase validity

Question 10

What are the disadvantages of participant observation?

Answer 10

Positivists criticise lack of reliability - not standardised

Positivists criticise lack of representativeness - one group observed

Risk of going native

Can be time consuming and expensive

Covert - recording information can be difficult

Covert unethical - deception, no informed consent

Covert - researcher may be involved in criminal acitivity

Personal characteristics of researcher may mean PO isn’t possible for a particular topic

Covert - cannot ask naive questions