Overt Participant Observation - PERVERT Flashcards
Practical factors
Strengths: Overt participant observation allows researchers to directly immerse themselves in the social context they are studying, facilitating first-hand observation and interaction with participants.
Weaknesses: However, this method can be time-consuming and labour-intensive, requiring researchers to invest significant amounts of time in the field to gather data.
Ethical factors
Strengths: Overt participant observation typically involves transparent interactions with participants, minimizing ethical concerns related to deception or invasion of privacy.
Weaknesses: Nonetheless, researchers may still face ethical dilemmas, such as obtaining informed consent from participants, protecting their identities, and ensuring confidentiality in sensitive situations.
Reliability
Strengths: Overt participant observation can yield high reliability, as researchers have the opportunity to directly observe and document social phenomena as they naturally occur.
Weaknesses: However, reliability may be compromised if researchers’ presence influences participants’ behaviour or if they inadvertently introduce biases into their observations.
Validity
Strengths: Overt participant observation often demonstrates high ecological validity, as researchers are embedded in the social context they are studying, allowing for a nuanced understanding of the dynamics at play.
Weaknesses: Yet, the presence of the researcher may alter participants’ behaviour, leading to issues of observer bias and potentially compromising the internal validity of the study.
Examples
Strengths: Classic studies such as Margaret Mead’s research on adolescence in Samoa or Erving Goffman’s work on total institutions exemplify the rich insights that can be gained through overt participant observation, capturing the intricacies of social life through first-hand experience.
Weaknesses: However, these examples also highlight the subjective nature of interpretation inherent in participant observation and the potential for researchers to influence the outcomes through their presence and interactions.
Representativeness
Strengths: Overt participant observation allows researchers to study social phenomena in natural settings, enhancing the representativeness of findings and enabling insights into diverse cultural contexts.
Weaknesses: Nevertheless, the findings of overt participant observation may not always be generalizable beyond the specific context and participants studied, raising questions about the extent to which they can be applied to other populations or settings.
Theoretical factors
Strengths: Overt participant observation provides rich qualitative data that can inform and enrich theoretical understandings of social phenomena, offering detailed accounts of behaviour and social interactions in real-life contexts.
Weaknesses: However, the subjective nature of interpretation in participant observation may lead to challenges in theory building, as researchers grapple with reconciling their personal experiences and perspectives with broader theoretical frameworks.
