Participant Observation

Abstract

This entry provides an overview of the historical, methodological, and theoretical underpinnings of participant observation, the methodological hallmark of anthropology and ethnographic fieldwork. It highlights the defining qualities of participant observation and examines the central figures credited with developing the method. It concludes by outlining the extensive debates in anthropology and other disciplines with respect to the strengths and limitations of participant observation. Controversies over this method include the role of relationships between researchers and their subjects in shaping research findings and the rigor, validity, and objectivity of the data produced.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 174 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.