Overt

• Overt observations

  the group being studied know that they are being observed
• Venkatesh's research 'Gang Leader for a Day'

  Overt observation
• Khan's ethnography of an elite high school in the US

  Overt observations
• Punch was told after his research by two of the police that 'we let you see what we wanted you to see'
• Overt observations risk the Hawthorne Effect

  this will undermine the validity of the data
• Overt observations would be preferred by positivists as they are higher in reliability
• Overt observations avoid the ethical problem of obtaining information by deceit
• You can triangulate methods when using overt observations