A Critical Evaluation of the Method of Participant Observation Used in Qualitative Research
Participant observation is a standard method of collecting data and information on culture. Carried out by researchers who are well immersed in the culture under observation. The method was pioneered by Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski (Clifford, Marcus, & Mitchell, 1986, pg. 2-3), and today it is the common method among qualitative sociologists globally. The first thing for the researcher to do is to get known in the community, know the people and their culture. Understanding the culture of the population in a detailed and intimate way is key to carrying out participant observation. It is done by observing and taking part in community's way of life. Nearly everyone who has been to a foreign land, joined another family or spouse, been a visitor to an unfamiliar environment or a casual guest understand better the importance of participant observation. The method is so effective since the researcher approaches the people directly in a natural context as opposed to taking the people out of their natural environment, and its ability to provide an explanation, causation, context, and confirmation means that the method can be a useful element in a mixed method research.
The aim of participant observation is to have a deep insight of the people's way of life from their perspective, with the goal of collecting in-depth information about their opinions, habits, issues, and relationships (McCurdy, P. and Uldam 2014, pg. 40-55), to mention but a few. Often, the group under study is a subculture or part of the greater society, like an occupational, a religious or a particular community group. For instance, participant observation can be used to study the culture of the Black community living in the United Kingdom. To conduct it, the researcher has to live in the midst of this community, become part of them, and live as a Black. This way, the researcher can access crucial information regarding their culture and way of life.
Arguably, it is the most challenging and natural method for collecting qualitative data. But the good thing with this method is that it connects the researchers to the most basic human experiences, and it places the researchers in a prime position to understand the "how" and "why" of human behaviors. The researcher has to be a player in that culture but most importantly, fulfill his or her roles as the researcher. The researcher can fulfill such roles by taking notes, recording sounds and images, or ask questions with the intent to find out the meaning of certain behaviors or aspects of the culture under study. In other words, the researcher tries to discover and analyze certain social scenes that use norms and rules, which the participants experience automatically or at subconscious levels. The result is that the researchers are not only made into acceptable participants but also they can generate information which can meaningfully help anthropologists or sociologists understand human experience better.
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Two groups have emerged, one group is pro objective participation while the other group leans towards subjective participation. With each group claiming that its school of thought is right. Logically, participant observation needs the researcher to be subjective in that the researcher uses the knowledge and information gained through personal experience to interact and possibly gain more information on the people's way of life. Also, it is important at one point for the researcher to be an objective participant and this is done by taking records of everything seen. Importantly, emotions and feelings should not influence what the researcher observes. However, true objectivity is more of an ideal than an actuality. In reality how people see the world is influenced mostly by their positionality in the social structure and past experiences.
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