Advantages and Disadvantages of Participant Observation - Essay Example

Advantages & Disadvantages of Participant Observation” Participant observation is one of the observation techniques used to collect data about a certain group of people, culture, organization or trends. The researcher has to perform double tasks in order to carry out research using participant observation method i.e. he has to act as an observer as well as a participant (Spradley, 1980). In order to get a realistic data about the concerned group of people, the researcher has to gain the trust of people and integrate among them so that the presence of the researcher causes less or no changes in their regular behaviors. Moreover, the concept of participant observation also requires maintaining a reasonable distance between the participants and the researchers so that the process of observation is not affected (Atkinson & Hammersley, 1994). Participant observation is a data gathering technique used to understand and examine the thoughts, feelings and views of the participants under their normal routine life (Adler & Adler, 1994; Wiersma, 1995). They are observed in their normal or regular milieu. The method involves the observation of participants’ behavior and requires the participant observer to look closely, listen carefully and ask sensibly (Lofland, 1971). The aim of this paper is to define participant observation in detail by describing the advantages and drawbacks of this method as a researching method. Moreover the paper suggests some possible steps to overcome the weaknesses of this method. Participant observation is widely known as a technique to collect qualitative data. The idea of participant observation is similar to other qualitative techniques which are based on the assumption that there are multiple perceptions about a particular issue in the associated population. Participant observation is always carried out in a community setting. The distinct feature of participant observation is that it does not distract the participants from their normal behavior. Other research techniques include surveys, interviews, questionnaires etc. All these techniques do not ensure the normal and actual attitude of people. People may answer the way the observer wants them or there may be a diplomatic response to the questions in the surveys and interviews. An example can be taken as a slight or considerable change in a person’s natural behavior due to the presence of television camera capturing him. However, the use of Participant observation ensures the correctness of the collected data if the observer knows how to tact situations and keep the observations away from his own perceptions. The observer needs to adopt the ways of participants. He has to think from the participants’ point of view. However, there is a need to keep his actual position in mind. His aim is to observe the behaviors of others and their true position in the setting. The participant observer has to determine the life and views of an ‘insider’ while keeping his distinct identity always in mind as an ‘outsider’. The participation of the observer in the community setting makes it possible for him to gather all the information by keeping in view the existing circumstances and issues in the setting. The participant observer is supposed to make notes of everything he sees and observes. Informal communications and interactions are important for a better observation of the study population. Every relevant information and observation has to be recorded in details for the future analysis. Participant observation carries great importance in evaluating the true picture of organizations, cultures, communities and people’s behavior under certain circumstances. The first and foremost advantage of this observation technique is its distinct quality to provide a more accurate and realistic result than can obtain from other methods. Participant observation allows the researcher participant enter and evaluate those area which are hidden or sealed off for the outsiders. Flexibility is also one of the strengths of this research method. This method makes all choices available for the researcher to find out the real facts and issues. The method is more flexible as it does not predefine the factors which are or are not important in some situation. The researcher is free to participate and find out the result rather then presuming as an outsider. He can participate and later compare his results to the presumptions made earlier. Knowledge comes from experience is a suitable standard for this researching method. The results are carried out on the basis of researcher’s personal experience. The depth and detail of data collected is another quality of participant observation. The researcher may take notes of all the happenings and aspects of the associated community or group. The highly comprehensive and top quality information about the concerned people’s behavior and their reactions may also be observed and recorded in details. Moreover, this method helps in understanding the social issues, norms, demands and influences of the participants on the society as a whole and on each other. The active participation of the researcher also gives him the idea of the group’s reaction for any change in the rules, regulation and trends of the society. Participant observation is used as a researching technique in a broad range of subjects like nursing, anthropology, business sciences etc. The use of participant observation is helpful in finding out new information which was unidentified by previous researchers and is helpful. This method helps in revealing tacit knowledge and unexpected responses and hence provides opportunities to get used to the differing conditions. Interview methods of research are used for long-time longitudinal and historical affairs, whereas, participant observation deals with the current situations arising and provides time to solve any negative occurrences likely to arise in future. The interviewing technique talks about how certain attitudes or incidents occurred. Such information may be helpful in preventing such events from repetition. However, the use of participant observation allows settling the current trends and also provides opportunities to stop them from happening in future. Participant observation requires the observer to spend time with the participants. When a person spends time with others he becomes able to gain their trust. The participants hence allow the observer to see their hidden activities. However, it depends on the qualities of the observer as to how he tackles their strict and rigid attitudes in the beginning and how he attains their attention and trust. Unlike other methods, participant observation provides a true and real background of the people who are being observed. This information and the presence of emotions, understanding and interest between the observer and the participants allow the observer to avoid believing the pre provided facts but instead provides him with the opportunity to analyze the situation by his own experiences (Spradley, 1980). The true picture of the society or culture of a workplace, community or region is mostly misrepresented by the participants. Participant observation is carried out for some specific task and hence allows the observer to concentrate more on the task and the underlying factors which are affecting it. The naturalism is another key advantage of this method. The observer may adopt the natural environment of the participants in order to identify their problems, needs and desires by acting as a participant himself. Hence, we may say that participant observation is the identification of conditions by experiencing the same situations and circumstances of the participants. Hence, this method also recognizes the reasonable reaction and the reaction of the participants. The comparison of how a reasonable person would have acted in such circumstances and the way participant react helps to solve the issues efficiently and also paves ways for other researchers if the results carry crucial findings. Despite of so many advantages the researchers do not adopt this researching method in most of the cases. The main disadvantage, which makes the researcher think twice before adopting it, is that this method is really time consuming. Traditionally the ethnographic research required the researchers to use up no less than one year in the field site to collect data using the participant observation and other researching techniques. For such an extensive time period requirement, this research method is somewhat impractical in most applied research studies. Such researches require a considerably shorter time period to collect data and produce results. This weakness, however, is a little controlled in the recent international development projects by limiting the scope of research to some the specific required information in contrast to the old ethnographic researching technique which covered a wide range of factors to be considered (Lofland, 1971). Moreover, the time which was consumed by the researcher in integration and understanding of the attitude, customs, and traditions is saved by selecting native people for the purpose of data collection rather than the foreigners. The team of native researchers may be more helpful in finding out a complete and accurate result as they are already aware of the culture and attitudes of people and may concentrate on their task properly. Another drawback of participant observation is the complexity of data documenting. It becomes complicated to note down all the important information while you are playing a dual role i.e. a participant and an observer. Hence, as a participant you are required to participate efficiently in all the tasks which may help you in the collection of data required. As a researcher, you have to observe and memorize the relevant information to write it down and expand it accurately afterwards. The observer may write down hints or main points in notes and expand it later so that no fact misses out. It is however not certain that he would be able to memorize all the necessary information for a longer period. Hence, the person has to expand those notes as soon as possible in order to avoid loss of necessary information (Palsson, 2007). The subjectivity of this method is another disadvantage as the research demands for objectivity. Hence, the researcher must pay concentration to the things he observes (more objective) and the things he see (less objective). It is important to eliminate personal biases and reach to a conclusion which is completely subjective and accurate. One of the methods which can be adopted to lessen the chances of biased result is to note down the more objective results on one side and then interpreting the more subjective face of the same event on the other side of the sheet. The interpretation becomes easier in case of groups rather than individual research because all group members can then judge their results against each other and may end up in drawing a conclusion which is more objective. Another problem with participant observation is that the researcher may be accused of invasion of privacy. The continuous presence of the observer with the participants makes it difficult to identify what matters are private and what are public i.e. which behavior may be defined as public and which may be defined as private. The observer has to identify the behaviors by evaluating the circumstances and the time and place of that event. Moreover, this technique may pose as a threat to future research. The invasion of certain hidden behaviors and actions may affect future research. The method also places a big responsibility on the investigators; hence, they may get exhausted by the pressure and burden on their shoulders. They may be held responsible for any negative attitude after the research i.e. if some or any of the observations is inaccurate, insensitive or unfair. Hence care is required while selecting members for this kind of research and the researcher must always be ready for the negative outcomes in case of revealing fraud, dishonesty, illegal behaviors and crimes. There are more chances of the disruptive behavior of the participants against the observer in such cases, no matter what researching method is used. The conflict model is proposed by Jack D. Douglas to tackle problems which may arise during the research of professionals like detectives, police officers, auditors, lawyers, investigative journalists etc. Douglas suggests that in such cases the observers must adopt covert form of participant observation. Covert participant observation hides the true identity of the observer and he plays the same role as their participants or some role which binds him to other participants. This type of observation is promoted for the safety of the observer. The problem with investigating people who make use of illegal acts like deceit, fraud, blackmailing etc. is the safety of the observer (Douglas, 1976). The overt form has its own drawbacks. If the researcher discloses his identity, it is more probable that participants would change their attitudes and be cautious while doing an unusual or strange act. In case of social behavioral research, the participants are more probable to hide their actual attitudes and pretend to be the way which may hide the weaknesses of their behaviors. To tackle with such situations, the researcher may spend a considerably longer period with the participant to judge their real attitude and behaviors. Another disadvantage of participant observation is the fact that it requires the observers to spend time and integrated between a limited numbers of people. It is inappropriate in case of large organizations or state economies. It becomes difficult for the observer to keep his two identities detached. His active participation in the regular matters may affect and alter the behaviors of the people. Hence it is an important requirement of the technique to maintain and keep a boundary among his different roles. Gerrish (1997) suggests that ‘over-familiarization’ with the setting may also be a threat to the accuracy of the results. This may be explained as the extra integration in the setting may divert the observer from researching and he may get more involved in making assumptions based on the existing situations and conditions. In conclusion, it can be said that participant observation is unquestionably a valuable tool of research. The advantages and disadvantages, however, need to be considered. It is suitable for the qualitative analysis of certain areas. The excellence of information collected depends on qualities of the observer or the team of observers. Certain natural and learnt abilities are required to tackle situations which may arise during and after completion of the research process. Participant observation requires more time, more finance, detailed notes, observation skills and thoughtfulness for a better result. If conducted properly, the results of participant observation are more accurate and vivid than other methods. The procedure of participant observation is easy but the subjects involved may make it difficult. This technique is more effective and efficient in producing results for small-scale organizations and small groups. In case of large organizations and groups it becomes difficult to concentrate on a large number of people and to record all the events occurring in the surrounding. The implication of this technique in large groups and organizations may end up in an inaccurate result with a considerable loss of necessary information. The procedure requires the researcher (or team of researchers) to make detailed notes of the incidents occurring in the organization or group. However, in larger organization the researcher may not be able to memorize all the incidents and the details of conditions (Gerald, 1994). The incomplete or disorganized information may end up providing an objectionable result and hence may carry serious ethical and moral costs. Bibliography: PA°LSSON, H. (2007). Participant observation in logistics research: Experiences from an RFID implementation study. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management. 37, 148-163. GERALD VINTEN. (1994). Participant Observation: A Model for Organizational Investigation? Journal of Managerial Psychology. 9, 30. ATKINSON, P. A. M. H. Ethnography and Participant Observation. In DENZIN, N. K., & LINCOLN, Y. S. (1994). Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 248-261). Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications. SPRADLEY, J. P. (1980). 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