Participant Observation

• PO authority figure

  Yabonsky

  noted a ' teenage gangs likely to see researchers armed with questionnaires as unwelcome representatives of authority'
• PO

  Whyte

  open mindedness allows the researcher to discover things that other methods may miss - observed he learned answers to questions that he would not have asked if he had been using interviews
• PO 'going native'


  Maurice Punch

  found in striving to accepted by the the tightly knit police group he was studying to be over identified with them, even acting as a 'policeman'
• PO difficulty of 'getting out'

  'James Patrick' Glasgow gang observed

  ( pseudonym ) - due to fear of harm

  loyalty to the group can compromise validity
• PO observations difficult to repeat - unreliable

  Redfield and Lewis

  study of a Mexican village

  with PO so much depends upon the people skills of the researcher - unlikely for another researcher to replicate the original study - unable to produce reliable data
• PO Positivism

  Positivists, who see sociology as scientific, reject this method as unsystematic and unreliable
• PO covert observation should be avoided

  Polsky , Hustlers , Beats etc

  apart from stress, potential danger and possible premature conclusion secret research is far too restrictive

  'the researcher should not attempt to be one of them'
• PO 'Watch Queen'

  Laud Humphreys - The Tearoom Trade

  noted there is only one way to watch highly discreditable behaviour, and that is to pretend to be in the same boat' - however this puts researchers in a difficult position with taking on illegal activities - your cover can always be blown
• PO difficulty of making notes

  Ditton

  it is difficult to make notes openly and therefore must rely upon your memory and chance to write notes in secret

  He had to write his notes in the toilet
• PO NPO is quantitative

  Flanders Interaction Analysis

  this is used to measure pupil and pupil teacher interaction quantitatively - the observer uses a standard chart to record interactions - placing each observation into pre determined categories and counting the number of times each behaviour occurs
• PO problems

  Delamont

  interpretivist sociologists criticise structured observation for its lack of validity

  she argues that simply counting classroom behaviour ignores meaning pupils and teachers attach to it
• PO

  Lacey

  needed over 3 months just to set up his cover role for his observation - it may be easier to gain permission to just observe than to interview teachers and pupils
• PO observations restricted

  observations restricted by school timetable, holidays, health and safety legislation

  schools are also public and so the observer may find it difficult to find a private place to record observation
• PO note taking in a school setting

  Hammersley

  found that noting down staffroom conversations he overheard had to be done covertly - in one case on the back of a newspaper

  more often jotted down notes after he left the staffroom - may make mistakes and has to rely on his own interpretation of statements
• PO guilty knowledge

  Delamont

  points out observers in a school learn thing that can get a pupil into trouble - what to do with this 'guilty knowledge' is an ethical problem