PARTICIPANT OBSERVATIONS

• Participant observation


  When a sociologist becomes a part of the group they are studying to collect data and understand a social phenomenon or problem
• Covert


  When the participants do not know they are being watched
• Overt


  When the participants know they are being watched
• Going native


  When a researcher is no longer objective which leads to bias
• Verstehen


  Gaining empathy with participants by putting yourself in their shoes
• Types of data


  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Qualitative
  • Quantitative
  • Reliable
  • Valid
• Participant observation studies

  • Eileen Barker - Making of a Moonie
  • Sudhir Venkatesh - gang leader for a day
  • Laud Humphreys - the tearoom trade
  • Howard griffin - black like me
• Participant observation


  • Time consuming
  • Stressful
  • Demand lots of skills
  • Personal characteristics may limit results
• Covert participant observation


  Participants may not be able to give informed consent
• Covert participant observation


  No right to withdraw
• Overt participant observation


  Hawthorne effect may occur
• Participant observation


  • Allows for verstehen
  • May lack representativeness
  • High validity
  • Low reliability
• Strength


  Increases validity
• Limitation


  Difficult to implement
• Using participant observations


  Helps the researcher experience firsthand what pupil-teacher experiences are like in the classroom
• Experiencing firsthand what pupil-teacher experiences are like in the classroom

  Increases the validity as it gives a true idea of what it is like for students in the classroom
• Using covert observations


  Difficult to find a researcher who is qualified to carry out this research and looks like they could be a student and blend in with everyone else
• Using covert observations


  Better than using overt observation as the data would be more valid
• Using overt observations


  Teachers may change their behaviour towards students to look more socially desirable to the researcher
• Teachers changing their behaviour towards students

  Reduces the validity of the findings
• Using overt observations


  May make accessing a classroom difficult as the students are minors and letting someone into the classroom to observe the students may cause a security risk
• Accessing a classroom being difficult

  Would make the research more difficult to carry out
• Strength of using overt observations

  There is no deception involved and all the participants have the right to withdraw
• No deception and participants having the right to withdraw


  Helps the schools be more open to the idea of letting researchers study their students and teachers