Participant Observation

Participant observation is one if the main research methods used in ethnography. Ethnography is the study of the way of life of a group of people - their culture and the structure of their society. Some would say that what participant observation lacks in reliability it makes up for in validity.

Sociologists face several problems when conducting a participant observation study.

Getting in:

Getting in may depend on persons skills, having the right connections or chance. Polsky was a good pool player and this allowed him to gain entry into a gang of pool hustlers. Patrick was able to join a Glasgow gang because he looked quite young and knew one of it's members who he had taught at an approved school. Thornton's study of the British Rave Scene found that she had to befriend a girl called Kate to gain acceptance. Thornton found that her age and nationality were a barrier: "I began my research when I was 23 and slowly aged out of the peer group I was studying. Also, as a Canadian investigating British clubs and raves, I was quite literally a stranger to the scene."

Once a researcher is in a group they have to make a decision about what type of role to adopt. They should aim to disrupt the group's normal behaviour as little as possible.

Staying in:

Once in a group, the researcher has to be involved enough to understand the group fully but not too involved that they lose a sense of objectivity. One danger of staying in a group too long is that the researcher may become too involved and "go native". This happens if you stop being an objective observer and simply become a member of the group.
Punch in his study of the Amsterdam police found that in striving to be accepted he even started acting as a "policeman" himself, chasing and holding suspects etc...
The longer someone stays with a group, the less strange their ways will appear. As Whyte put it, "I started as a non participating observer and ended as a non observing participator.

Getting out:

In practical terms, getting out of the group poses fewer problems than getting in. If the worst comes to worst, the researcher can simply call a halt and leave. This happened in Patrick's study of a Glasgow gang. Sickened by the violence, he left abruptly.
Whyte found it difficult it communicate with academics back at Harvard university after so long in a different world. The researcher may also find that loyalty prevents them disclosing everything that they have found out in case if criminal prosecutions etc... Concealment of data will reduce the validity of the study.

Overt Participant Observation
This could be used if the researcher wants to avoid the ethical issues often found when doing covert participant observation such as lying to the target group.

Covert Participant Observation

This might be used if the target group is difficult to access for example criminal gangs would be extremely difficult to access. 

The observer might require that the target group doesn't know they are being observed so as to prevent the Hawthorne or Halo effect. 

Advantages of Participant Observation:
Validity - gains information from true, everyday life of the people being studied.
Insight - by actually living with a group, we get an insight into their way of life and viewpoints. (valid again)
Flexibility - the observer can keep an open mind and vary their own methods and in some cases their topic, judged entirely upon what they see. Whyte: "I learned answers to questions that I would not have had the sense to ask if I had been using interviews"
Practical Advantages :
- Might be the only method available of studying certain groups for example crime.
- Participant Observation allows the sociologist to build trust with the group they are studying.


Disadvantages of Participant Observation:
Practical disadvantages:
- Time consuming
- The researcher has to be well trained
- Stressful and demanding
- Age, Gender etc can restrict the groups as Downes and Rock say "Not everyone would pass uneventfully into the world of punk robbers and Hells Angels"
- Powerful groups such as government and mafia could potentially resist being studied. Therefore, observation can only really work in lower level groups of criminals.
Ethical problems - deceiving people and participating in illegal or immoral acts are serious ethical problems, people must consider.
Representativeness - In participant observation, the group studied is often small and selected haphazardly, this does not provide a good basis for making generalisations from the research.
Reliability - observations cannot physically be replicated by other researchers because they may not be able to get into the same group or may not ask the same questions to the group.
Bias and lack of objectivity - issues regarding concealing information or going native lead participant observation to be criticised as too subjective a method.
Validity - positivists argue that it isn't a valid method since rather than "telling it like it is" they tell it as they see it. Criticism also regarding Hawthorne effect.
Lack of structure -  Marxists and functionalists would criticise observation for concentrating on a micro approach and ignoring structural issues such as class or race inequalities.