Participant observation

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Participant observation emerged as the principal approach to ethnographic research by anthropologists in the twentieth century. It relies on the cultivation of personal relationships with local informants as a way of learning about a culture, and involves both observing and participating in the social life of a group.

Participant observation has its roots in anthropology and the studies of non-Western societies by people such as Bronislaw Malinowski, Wedward Evans-Pritchard, and Margaret Mead in the first half of the twentieth century. By living with the cultures they studied, these researchers were able to formulate first hand accounts of their lives and gain insight never before accomplished.

This same method of study has also been applied to groups within Western society, and is especially successful in the study of criminals or deviant behaviour, where only by taking part might the observer truly get access to their lives.

See also: qualitative research; qualitative psychological research.

ja:参与観察