Are participant observations reliable or representative?explain how?
Are participant observations reliable or representative?explain how?
Participant observation is essentially an anthropological research method, adapted largely in the field of sociology.
In this particular research method, the researcher enters the group or the culture of those who are being studied as a participating member in an attempt to know the culture or the group better and to get a first-hand perspective of the group and their activities. The researcher at once plays the role of objective observer and subjective participant instead of observing as an outsider. Through this process, the researcher can experience the things as experienced by the group under observation. Participant Observation can be conducted either openly (Overt participation) or secretly (Covert participation) in the culture in which the researcher is observing.
However, according to some positivists, participant observation lacks reliability for the following reasons:
- It is very time-consuming
- It can produce a vast amount of data
- Due to the researcher’s active participation in the group, value-neutrality is often hard to achieve
- Active participation of the observer can influence the behavior of other group members
- It might take a long time for the group members to accept the observer as a part of the group and open up
- Specialized domain knowledge can make it difficult for the researcher to participate in some groups
- The research procedures are also not explicit and also there is no way of replicating a study to check its reliability
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