Participant Observation

Description:

What is participant observation? How is it actually done? How is it combined in mixed-methods research to produce valid findings? How can we ensure its quality? Is there an advantage to doing limited participant observation with other methods in a short-term study?

Participant observation is a key tool in the social researcher’s toolkit. Traditionally associated with ethnography, participant observation has often involved long-term and intense immersion in the field of study, requiring considerable commitment from the researcher. This course will address the practicalities of doing participant observation in diverse settings, using a range of published examples as well as practical activities. We will especially consider shorter-term participant observation and mixed methods. The course will introduce participants to the principles and practicalities of participant observation and then introduce ways in it can enhance qualitative research. It is a practical course, designed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills required to immerse themselves in a setting, to listen, to ask questions; and to supplement observation with the analysis of other data.

Topics covered

• The foundations and principles of ethnography
• Gaining access
• Participating and observing
• Making fieldnotes
• Being an ‘insider’
• Avoiding over attachment
• Participant-observer roles
• Using other methods
• Rapport and trust
• Reflexivity
• Issues of representativeness, reliability and validity

Course objectives

By the end of the course participants should:

• understand the contribution that close, theory-oriented observations, participation, observation, and conversation can make to qualitative data collection;
• be equipped to record the data produced through diverse methods;
• take a critical and creative approach to ethnographic methods and understand how they can be combined with other methods of data collection for a range of social, political and policy research areas;
• be in a position to defend the validity and reliability of ethnographic interpretations.

Who will benefit?

The course is introductory but will rapidly take participants to the level of being able to put their knowledge and skills to practice. Some prior familiarity with qualitative methods would be beneficial but not essential.

Course Tutor

Karen O'Reilly is Professor of Sociology at Loughborough University. She has taught ethnographic and qualitative methods for many years, including the Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Collection and Analysis, and the Swiss Summer School in Social Science Methods, in Lugano. She is a highly experienced ethnographer and author of two widely cited books on the subject: Ethnographic Methods (Routledge, 2nd ed. 2012) and Key Concepts in Ethnography (Sage, 2009).

Cost:

£260 but SRA members pay £195

Website and registration:

www.the-sra.org.uk/training

Region:

Greater London

Keywords:

Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis, Ethnography

Related publications and presentations:

Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis

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