Description

Participant observation is a standard approach of anthropological and sociological research through which you become immersed in the day-to-day activities of the people you are trying to understand. Beyond simple observation and participation, it is a process for establishing rapport and for learning to blend into a community so that its members will act naturally while maintaining the ability to remove oneself from the setting to be able to analyse and write about the experience (Bernard, 2002).

Participant observation is useful for providing an in–depth and holistic view of a community or of particular phenomena under study. Extended periods of participant observation allow you to apprehend a people’s knowledge, their beliefs and practices, and how they interrelate. It is typically used in conjunction with other qualitative and quantitative methods, such as surveys, questionnaires and interviewing. By allowing you to collect various types of data, it can increase the validity of your research and facilitate involvement in sensitive activities that might otherwise remain hidden from an outsider. As a community becomes more familiar with you, and as you become more a part of the community, there are often fewer instances of what Bernard (2002) refers to as “reactivity”: people acting a certain way when they are aware of being observed. Additionally, with greater cultural understanding and awareness you can develop questions that make sense to the community and are culturally relevant, thus eliciting more accurate answers and richer data.

Critics argue that information collected during participant observation is not truly representative of a culture, as much of the data is based on a researcher’s background and goals, rather than on what actually happens within a community. Accuracy of participant observation can be improved by reflecting on how your gender, ethnicity, class, and theoretical approach may affect observation, analysis, and interpretation. For example, because male and female researchers have access to different people, settings and bodies of knowledge they often elicit different information. An awareness of these differences will allow you to accept your own subjectivity, to accurately represent your data and to portray from which subset of the community they are derived. Additionally, this awareness can ensure greater accuracy and respect from the community as they come to accept that what you think is being said matches the intentions of those observed.

Collecting the Data

Participant observation is a skill that we are all familiar with in action if not in name. From the moment we are born we are in various ways observing the world around us and trying to participate in it. In this “natural” setting participant observation is largely unconscious; the task of the researcher is to draw upon these skills to make it more deliberate.

The ways in which participant observation is practiced can differ depending on research goals and on the environment in which it is conducted. Because it is not an “external” method administered on subjects, such as a questionnaire or focus group, there are no pre-set formal steps to doing it. While there are few specifics to participant observation, it is possible to refine your observation skills with various exercises that are described below. Additionally, it can be helpful to approach your time with the community from the position of an apprentice or even that of a child who is learning elements of the culture that local adults take for granted. This approach is often very helpful in establishing rapport and in getting community members to teach and explain things.

Participation can occur at varying levels:

• Non-participation: observation alone (for example, watching television)
• Passive: watching as a spectator
• Moderate: alternating between spectator and participant (for example, watching a pool game and occasionally playing)
• Active: learning by doing (see example from the field below)
• Complete: studying a situation you are already an active participant in (for example, riding a bus or playing football)

The level(s) of participation used is dependent on research environment and goals. However, a common mistake is to make observation (the first two points) the most dominant part of participant observation. Often, this is due to a desire to remain “the objective observer” and to underestimate the importance of participation. Because you are better able to appreciate a culture and its various nuances when you have actively participated in it, the best research comes from equal attention to both observation and participation.

Although we all possess the basic skills for participant observation, it is demanding and does require skill and commitment. The success and failure of research can hinge on your interpersonal skills, ease of “fitting in”, and on your ability to communicate to people on their level and in their terms. It requires tact, clear and careful observation, and the ability to separate the role of observer from participant when necessary.

Recording the Data

Detailed field notes are an essential part of participant observation. Often it is the small details that enhance the data and help form a complete picture of a culture. While it is possible to write from memory alone, more accurate data will be generated from immediate note taking. If it is not appropriate to take notes in the immediate situation, be sure to record your findings as soon as possible. Other methods can be combined to aid the process, such as audio and visual recording. While not always possible, these allow for finer detailed field notes.

Analysing the Data

Field notes should be coded according to themes, subjects, and research relevance, and then organized accordingly. While each researcher finds they have their own method for organizing and analyzing field notes, there are computer programmes, such as Nvivo®, which can assist in the organization and analysis of masses of qualitative data. Data from participant observation often provides the necessary cultural understanding that can form the backdrop and enhance data generated by quantitative methods.

Note: As with all research, it is important to conduct participant observation in an ethical manner. The community should be made aware of your intent and of your purpose for conducting the study, and prior informed consent should be obtained from individuals where applicable. If additional tools, such as video and audio recordings, are used it is important to obtain the permission of those involved.

See www.econbot.org/_about_/index.php?sm=03 for more information on research ethics.

Advantages of Participant Observation

• Lets you collect a large and varied amount of data, including topics to explore in more detail;
• Helps you develop culturally relevant questions;
• Helpful in identifying and establishing relationships with informants;
• It enables you to “get the feel” for the culture of the community and of its various parameters, such as manners, leadership, politics, social interaction, and taboos;
• Helps you to become known and accepted by the community, facilitating the research process;
• A means to report on unscheduled events and behaviour.

Things to Remember

• Success directly depends on your ability to observe and participate;
• Bias can be introduced by omitting a range of data in order to confirm your own pre-established beliefs;
• Findings can be local, specific and not generalisable;
• Participant Observation demands a full commitment and is often subject to time constraints;
• Useful for descriptive studies, developing causal models, or hypotheses, but not for explanation or verification;
• It lacks a systematic sampling procedure.

Exercises

The following exercises may be helpful to enhance the skills that will be useful in participant observation.

• Memory Exercise: think of a familiar place, such as a room in your home and make field notes that include a map of the setting and a physical description of as much as you can remember. Then compare your field notes from memory with the actual setting. The purpose of this exercise is to realise how easy it is to overlook various aspects, especially when not consciously trying to remember them.
• Sight Without Sound: for 5 or 10 minutes observe a setting without sound (can be an unfamiliar television program). Record as much information about the interaction in as much detail as possible. This exercise helps to refine your visual observation skills.
• Sound Without Sight: similar to the above exercise, except find a setting which you are able to hear an activity/interaction but are unable to see what is going on. For 5 to 10 minutes, record as much information as you can in as much detail as possible. This exercise helps to refine your listening skills but also demonstrates the importance of body language and other physical markers in understanding.

Note: It is helpful to perform the last two exercises with another person who conducts the opposite exercise for the same setting. For example, for 5- 10 minutes one would watch a setting without sound and the other without sight. Comparison of field notes would allow both to see detail that was missed.

Example from the Field:

An example of participant observation: hunting in Borneo with the Penan

Rajindra K. Puri

Personal Journal 12 June 1991

Planting the garden and cleaning skulls were put on hold today as I joined Pak Bisa on a hunting trip to the Kedayan River. We didn't catch anything, but we did have an enjoyable walk up the river- barefoot! I've always liked walking behind Bisa because then I'm closer to his amazing feet, so broad and strong, with calluses at least a centimetre thick. He walks silently across dry leaves and thorns rarely bother him. So today I tried to walk without shoes, a good idea but maybe I should have tried a shorter walk to start with, instead of a half-day of hunting on tenderfeet! I suppose I've massaged my whole body as a result! It was so sensual, the mud of the trails, the rocks in the river, everything hurt at first but the textures were so rich and strong and evoked such intense feelings, you could practically taste them. But my whole body aches now.

At the mouth of the river I picked up some bright yellow lemons floating in the water. No one uses them here for cooking fish or even juice, and I've been trying to convince them that it makes an excellent cure for coughs and colds! They smelled so delicious in the rattan bag on my back, every time I turned my head I caught a sour whiff that opened my nose. I felt very light and strong suddenly, unencumbered by shoes, running barefoot up river hopping easily from rock to rock and splashing through shady cool pools. There were signs of babui (wild boar) everywhere, but we had the wind at our back and they were undoubtedly forewarned of our arrival. The morning was clear and crisp and drier than usual but signs of the flood on Sunday were still visible: grass on the banks was still flattened and the branches and leaves of trees along the riverside were still brown with the silt of the floodwaters. We came across Sabung's deer (that he had killed and left) on a gravel bank, reeking and covered with flies. We noticed that pigs had been eating the carcass. Bisa described the two kinds of pigs that people hunt, those that pass through on the migrations and swim the rivers and those that stay and wait for the fruit season here. So the hunting techniques for catching pigs switch from waiting (mabang satong) to searching with guns and dogs (ngasu or nyalapang) in the hills and along the riverbanks. The pigs that stay behave differently, they raid the garden of the Penan in Belaka and sometimes even those in Peliran- though I've not heard of any across the river (in the gardens) and no one is hunting over there. Bisa claims that pigs that swim go up over the mountains and into the Malinau river valley. They will travel from 7 in the morning till 7 at night. Those that stay forage by the river's edge in the early morning and then climb up hill to sleep during the mid day heat (usually hiding in thorny rattan thickets). At around 4 or 5 pm they are active again, some coming down to the river's edge. Gardens are typically raided between 8 and 10 at night, and you can find pigs rooting about the river's edge at midnight.

We passed several sungan (salt springs) and sat down to wait by one up on the forested bank, approaching it from down river. We could see well-worn animal trails disappearing up the steep hill behind the rocky outcrop where the salt water dribbled out. Being near mid-day, we didn't expect much. Pak Bisa claimed that kijang (Muntiacus muntjak) would come to drink mid day, so we hid quietly, spears poised, and waited. After almost an hour we gave up and turned around to face the steam and had our lunch of rice and boiled greens with hot chillies. At one point I turned around, and there was a kijang coming down the trail. We were too far now and our spears were planted on the side of the trail. Pak Bisa turning and eyeing the deer cursed in disgust, and so the deer bolted. He smiled and said, "How come she's late? Now we have nothing to bring home!" That comment amused me for the whole trip home. Maybe we were early? Do deer really have a set schedule? Isn't Pak Bisa denying evidence that challenges his theories about deer feeding times? Is this a case of interpreting an event in terms of a pre-existing schema, cultural model, and maybe even received wisdom from the ancestors?

I returned exhausted, with lots of leech bites, and made lemonade—saving the seeds for my garden—and then collapsed for the rest of the afternoon. Luckily Pak Bit brought over some fish for me. Rice, greens (daun ubi) and fish (with lemon) were a very satisfying combination.

For Further Reading

Bernard, H. Russell (2002) Research Methods in Anthropology: qualitative and quantitative methods, Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press

Denzin, NK and Lincoln, YS, eds. (1994) Handbook of Qualitative Research, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications

Fetterman, DM (1998) Ethnography Step by Step (Second Edition), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

Jorgensen, DL (1989) Participant Observation: A Methodology for Human Studies, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

Spradley, James P. (1997) Participant Observation, New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston Publishers.