Participant Observation: A Guide for Fieldworkers

✍ Scribed by Kathleen M. DeWalt and Billie R. DeWalt

• Publisher: Altamira Press
• Year: 2011
• Leaves: 290
• Edition: 2nd
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Participant observation is the foundation of ethnographic research design and supports and complements other types of qualitative and quantitative data collection. Qualitative research in such diverse areas as anthropology, sociology, education, medicine draws on the insights gained through the use of participant observation. The authors have written a guide to the collection of systematic data in naturalistic settings - communities in many different cultures - to achieve an understanding of the most fundamental processes and patterns of social life. This book serves as a basic primer for the beginning researcher and as a useful reference and guide for experienced researchers in many fields who wish to reexamine their own skills and abilities in light of best practices of participant observation. This new edition includes discussions of participant observation in nontypical settings, such as the Internet, participant observation in applied research, and ethics of participant observation. It also explores in greater depth the use of computer-assisted analysis of textual data in issues of sampling and in linking method with theory.

✦ Table of Contents

What is Participant Observation?

Learning To Be A Participant Observer Theoretical Issues

Doing Participant Observation BECOMING A PARTICIPANT

The Costs Of Participation Culture Shock

Doing Participant Observation Becoming An Observer

Gender And Sex Issues In Participant Observation

Designing Research With Participant Observation

Informal Interviewing In Participant Observation

Writing Field Notes

Analyzing Field Notes

Ethical Concerns In Participant Observation

Sample Field Notes From Three Projects

Bibliography

Index

About the Authors

✦ Subjects

anthropology ethnography participant observation fieldwork