Abstract
Participant observation is one of several qualitative field methodologies used to understand the culture and structure of communities. Used primarily by sociologists, participant observation involves the researcher engaging with the community being examined. This article describes the benefits and drawbacks of this form of ethnographic observation, discussing the historical development of this methodology and describing the variety of roles that a researcher can take in gathering data from a community, and comparisons with other related methodologies. The article concludes by discussing several of the ethical issues (deception, informed consent, confidentiality, and precision of descriptions) that practitioners of this methodology must confront.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition |
| Publisher | Elsevier Inc |
| Pages | 530-534 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780080970875 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780080970868 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 26 2015 |
Keywords
- Auto-ethnography
- Confidentiality
- Deception
- Ethics
- Ethnography
- Field notes
- Field research
- In-depth interview
- Informed consent
- Membership roles
- Participant observation
- Validity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Social Sciences