Observations

Question 1

What is participant observation?

Answer 1

Researcher joins in with the group being studied and observes the behaviour

Question 2

What is non participant observation?

Answer 2

Researcher doesn’t join in with the group behavior but rather watches from afar in order to observe the participant behavior

Question 3

Do researchers solely use observations?

Answer 3

Most observers (or ‘ethnographer’) will combine their observations with other methods
- most with unstructured interviews and some combine them with more formal questions

Question 4

What are covert observations?

Answer 4

Involves the researcher not informing members of the group the reason for their presence
- killing their true intentions secret
- automatically raises ethical concerns
- can be combined with non participant or participant observations

Question 5

What are overt observations?

Answer 5

Involves researcher being open about their intentions in the field and ensuring all members of the social group are aware of what’s happening
- can be combined with non participant or participant observations

Question 6

What’s a practical advantage of observations?

Answer 6

Participant observations might be the only method to gaining access to certain groups

Question 7

What are practical disadvantages to observations?

Answer 7

• Time consuming and expensive in relation to the small amount of respondents
• Takes time to gain trust and build rapport
• Requires observational and interpersonal skills that not everyone possesses
• Gaining access can be a problem

Question 8

What are ethical advantages to observations?

Answer 8

• Interpretivists and feminist researchers prefer this method because its respondent led
• Allows respondents to speak for themselves and avoids a master client relationship (common with more quantitative methods)

Question 9

What are ethical disadvantages to observations?

Answer 9

• Mainly limited to covert participant observation
  > in which respondents are deceived and cannot give informed consent to participant in the research
• Legality can be an issue in covert research where researchers working with deviant groups may have to do illegal acts to maintain behavior

Question 10

What are theoretical advantages to observations?

Answer 10

• Participant observation (PO) allows the researcher to see what people do rather than what people say they do
• PO takes place in natural settings
  > means respondents act more naturally than in a lab or during a more formal interview

Question 11

What’s another theoretical advantage of observations?

Answer 11

• Verstehen (empathetic understanding): PO allows the researcher to fully join the group and to see things through the eyes (and actions) of the people in group
  > allows the researcher to gain empathy through personal experiences

Question 12

What are theoretical disadvantages?

Answer 12

• Low degree of reliability
  > would be almost impossible for another researcher to repeat as PO’s study relies on the personal skills and characteristics of the lone researcher
• Low degree of representativeness
  > sociologists who use quantitive methods study large, carefully selected, representative samples that provide a sound basis for making generalizations

Question 13

What are more theoretical disadvantages?

Answer 13

• Question how valid PO really is
  > argue the method lacks objectivity
  > can be hard for the researcher to avoid subjectivity
• Lack a concept of social structures such as class, gender or ethnicity
  > by focusing on the participants own interpretation of the events

Question 14

What’s an example of an observation study?

Answer 14

Mac an’ Ghaill - Participant observation

Question 15

What was Mac an’ Ghaill’s study?

Answer 15

Examined the relationships between schooling, class, masculinity and sexuality - illustrates the complexity of subculture
- Identified 3 types of subcultures

Question 16

What were the 3 subcultures?

Answer 16

• The macho lads
• The academic achievers
• The new enterprisers

Question 17

What are the features of macho lads?

Answer 17

group was hostile to school authority and learning

Question 18

What are the features of the academic achievers?

Answer 18

Group, mostly from skilled manual working class backgrounds, adopted a more traditional upwardly mobile route via academic success
- counter accusations of effeminate by confusing bullies by purposely acting that way or by having confidence to cope with the jibes

Question 19

What are the features of the new enterprisers?

Answer 19

Group identified as a new successful pro school subculture, who embraced the new vocationalism act (1980s and 1990s)
- Rejected the traditional academic curriculum, saw as a waste of time

Question 20

What are critiques of mac an’ ghaill’s study?

Answer 20

• Criticized for being unethical as the research often casually hung out with the kids
• Small scale also highly criticized