{"id":322,"date":"2018-06-28T15:01:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T15:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/missional.university\/studybeyond\/?page_id=322"},"modified":"2018-07-19T13:36:37","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T13:36:37","slug":"participant-observation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/missional.university\/experientiallearning\/participant-observation\/","title":{"rendered":"Participant Observation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Participant Observation<\/h3>\n
\n\t

Participant-observation is a method comprised of two familiar parts: observation and participation. Observation of spatial phenomena has been a central method for geography from its very outset, whether it be observing the movement of glaciers or the traffic flows of cities. Participation, on the other hand, is a form of involvement, or association, in a group, practice or event.1<\/p>\n

Aside from geography, participant observation is a widely used methodology in many disciplines, particularly cultural anthropology, ethnology, sociology, communication and leadership studies and social psychology. The goal of participant observation is to gain a deep understanding and intimate familiarity with a certain group of individuals, their values, beliefs, practices and way of life through an intensive involvement with people in their cultural environment, usually over an extended period of time.2<\/p>\n

There are many advantages to the use of participant-observation in understanding phenomena. Patton enumerates these advantages as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Through direct observations, the inquirer is better able to understand and capture the context within which people interact. Understanding context is essential to a holistic perspective.<\/li>\n
  2. First-hand experience with a setting and the people in the setting allows an inquirer to be open, discovery oriented, and inductive because, by being on-site the observer has less need to rely on prior conceptualizations of the setting, whether those prior conceptualizations are from written documents or verbal reports.<\/li>\n
  3. The inquirer has the opportunity to see things that may routinely escape awareness among the people in the setting.<\/li>\n
  4. The chance to learn things that people would be unwilling to talk about during the interview.<\/li>\n
  5. Getting close to people in a setting through first-hand experience permits the inquirer to draw on personal knowledge during the formal interpretation state of analysis. Reflection and introspection are important part of field research. 3<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
    \n
    \n\t\t\"\"\n\t<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>

    Reference List<\/h3>\n
    \n\t
      \n
    1. Eric Laurier, \u201cParticipant Observation\u201d, accessed July 9, 2018,\u00a0https:\/\/bit.ly\/2A2s2X9<\/a><\/li>\n
    2. Ashley Crossman, Understanding Participant Observation Research: An Introduction to an Important Qualitative Research Method (April 8, 2018), accessed July 10, 2018, https:\/\/bit.ly\/2JCqmCS<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    3. Michael Quinn Patton, Qualitative research and Evaluation Methods, 3rd Ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication, 2002), 262-263.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Participant-observation is a method comprised of two familiar parts: observation and participation. Observation of spatial phenomena has been a central method for geography from its very outset, whether it be observing the movement of glaciers or the traffic flows of… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/builder.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"url":"","client":"","location":"","start_date":"","end_date":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-322","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missional.university\/experientiallearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missional.university\/experientiallearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missional.university\/experientiallearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missional.university\/experientiallearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missional.university\/experientiallearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/missional.university\/experientiallearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missional.university\/experientiallearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}