Non-Participant Observations

• Non-Participant Observation


  The observer is watching but not involving themselves with the group they are studying
• Non-Participant Observation


  • Favoured by Interpretivists
  • Uses methods that generate detailed, in-depth data
  • Reveals the meanings individuals attach to behaviour (micro)
  • Attempts to establish social reality
• Overt-NPO


  The researcher is open and the participants are aware they are observing
• Overt-NPO


  • Parker - Observed a juvenile gang in Merseyside
• Covert-NPO


  The researcher is undercover and the participants are not aware they are being observed
• Covert-NPO


  • Humphries - Researched homosexual behaviour in public toilets
• Covert-NPO


  • King - Observed children's behaviour in a classroom and Wendy house
• Ethnography is the research method that involves participant observation, where the researcher immerses themselves in the group's way of life to gain a valid picture
• Ethnography


  • Favoured by Interpretivists
  • Uses methods that generate detailed, in-depth data
  • Reveals the meanings individuals attach to behaviour (micro)
  • Attempts to establish social reality
• Ethnographic Studies


  • Whyte - Street Corner Society
  • Griffin - Black Like Me
  • Venkatesh - Gang Leader for a Day