Find a situation when direct personal observation is the perfect method for data collection.

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Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector ’s Field Guide
Module 2
Participant Observation
F A M I L Y H E A L T H I N T E R N A T I O N A L
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Participant Observation
What people say they believe and say that they do are often contradicted by their behavior.A large body of scientific literature documenting this disparity exists, and we can alllikely summon examples from our own lives. Given the frequency of this very human
inconsistency, observation can be a powerful check against what people report about themselves
during interviews and focus groups.
This module presents the basics of conducting participant observation in applied research projects:
• Overview of Participant Observation
• Ethical Guidelines
• Logistics of Participant Observation
• How to Be an Effective Participant Observer
• Suggested Readings
• Case Study Samples
• Participant Observation Steps
Overview of Participant Observation
What is participant observation?
Participant observation is a qualitative method with roots in traditional ethnographic research,
whose objective is to help researchers learn the perspectives held by study populations. As quali-
tative researchers, we presume that there will be multiple perspectives within any given commu-
nity. We are interested both in knowing what those diverse perspectives are and in understanding
the interplay among them.
Qualitative researchers accomplish this through observation alone or by both observing and par-
ticipating, to varying degrees, in the study community’s daily activities. Participant observation
always takes place in community settings, in locations believed to have some relevance to the
research questions. The method is distinctive because the researcher approaches participants in
their own environment rather than having the participants come to the researcher. Generally
speaking, the researcher engaged in participant observation tries to learn what life is like for an
“insider” while remaining, inevitably, an “outsider.”
While in these community settings, researchers make careful, objective notes about what they
see, recording all accounts and observations as field notes in a field notebook. Informal conversa-
tion and interaction with members of the study population are also important components of the
method and should be recorded in the field notes, in as much detail as possible. Information and
messages communicated through mass media such as radio or television may also be pertinent
and thus desirable to document.
13Participant Observation
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
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What can we learn from participant observation?
Data obtained through participant observation serve as a check against participants’ subjective
reporting of what they believe and do. Participant observation is also useful for gaining an under-
standing of the physical, social, cultural, and economic contexts in which study participants live;
the relationships among and between people, contexts, ideas, norms, and events; and people’s
behaviors and activities – what they do, how frequently, and with whom.
In addition, the method enables researchers to develop a familiarity with the cultural milieu that
will prove invaluable throughout the project. It gives them a nuanced understanding of context
that can come only from personal experience. There is
no substitute for witnessing or participating in phe-
nomena of human interaction – interaction with other
people, with places, with things, and with states of
being such as age and health status. Observing and
participating are integral to understanding the breadth
and complexities of the human experience – an over-
arching research endeavor for any public health or
development project.
Through participant observation, researchers can also
uncover factors important for a thorough understand-
ing of the research problem but that were unknown
when the study was designed. This is the great advan-
tage of the method because, although we may get
truthful answers to the research questions we ask, we
may not always ask the right questions. Thus, what
we learn from participant observation can help us not
only to understand data collected through other meth-
ods (such as interviews, focus groups, and quantitative
research methods), but also to design questions for
those methods that will give us the best understanding
of the phenomenon being studied.
What are the disadvantages of participant observation?
The main disadvantage of participant observation is that it is time-consuming. In traditional
ethnographic research, researchers spend at least one year in the field site collecting data through
participant observation and other methods. This is not practical for most applied research studies,
which necessarily require a shorter period of data collection. This weakness is partially mitigated
in most current international development projects by the tendency for the inquiry to be more
focused than in traditional ethnographic study and for the data collection team to include
researchers who are native rather than foreign to the region. Researchers who already possess a
solid base of cultural awareness are better able to concentrate on the research question itself.
A second disadvantage of participant observation is the difficulty of documenting the data – it is
hard to write down everything that is important while you are in the act of participating and
observing. As the researcher, you must therefore rely on your memory and on your own personal
Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide
Participant observation in action
In the early 1990s, sharing needles during
injection drug use was a known risk factor for
HIV acquisition in the United States. After
educational campaigns informed injection drug
users about the importance of using clean
needles, surveys indicated that needle-sharing
had declined. High rates of HIV transmission
persisted among this population, however.
An anthropologist’s observation of heroin users
in one state confirmed that users were not
sharing needles. In observing the preparation
process leading up to injection, however, the
anthropologist noticed numerous opportunities
for cross-contamination of the instruments
shared in cooking and distributing the heroin
(such as cooking pots, cotton, and needles) and
of the liquid heroin itself. Discovery of this
phenomenon through participant observation
constituted an important contribution to
understanding injection drug use behavior as
related to HIV acquisition. The phenomenon
itself is now known as “indirect sharing.”
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discipline to write down and expand your
observations as soon and as completely as pos-
sible. It is easy to tell yourself that you will do
this task later, but, because memory fades
quickly, postponing the expansion of notes can
lead to loss or inaccurate recording of data.
The quality of the data therefore depends on
the diligence of the researcher, rather than on
technology such as tape recorders.
A third disadvantage of participant observation
is that it is an inherently subjective exercise,
whereas research requires objectivity. It is
therefore important to understand the differ-
ence between reporting or describing what you
observe (more objective) versus interpreting
what you see (less objective). Filtering out
personal biases may take some practice. One way to practice is to write down objective observa-
tions of a given event on one side of a page, and then offer more subjective interpretations of the
same event on the other side of the page, as illustrated in the box at left. Alternately, in team-
based research, field staff can review one another’s field notes and help identify objective versus
subjective observations. Table 2 below summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of participant
observation in qualitative research.
What form do participant observation data take?
In large part, participant observation data consist of the detailed field notes that the researcher
records in a field notebook. Although typically textual, such data may also include maps and
other diagrams, such as kinship or organizational charts. Occasionally, participant observation
may involve quantification of something and, as a result, produce numerical data. For example,
the researcher could count the number of people who enter a particular space and engage in a
particular activity during a specified segment of time. Textual notes are entered into computer
files, and data of all forms are analyzed and consulted on a regular basis throughout the study, as
discussed elsewhere in this module. (See the Case Study Sample Field Notes, page 26.)
Participant Observation
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Table 2. Strengths and weaknesses of participant observation
Weaknesses
Time-consuming
Documentation relies on memory, personal
discipline, and diligence of researcher
Requires conscious effort at objectivity because
method is inherently subjective
Strengths
Allows for insight into contexts, relationships,
behavior
Can provide information previously unknown to
researchers that is crucial for project design, data
collection, and interpretation of other data
More objective:
The waiting room of the antenatal clinic was
empty except for one girl who looked to be
approximately 5 to 8 years old. She was sitting in
the corner behind a chair. She peeked out from
behind it and looked at us when we entered the
room talking. Her nose was running and her eyes
were red and swollen.
More subjective:
The waiting room of the antenatal clinic was
deserted except for a young girl who had been
abandoned there by her mother. She had been
wedged into the corner behind a chair so she
wouldn't wander off. She glared at us because
we were making so much noise. She had probably
been crying for a long time.
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How are participant observation data used?
In applied research, as in traditional ethnography, participant observation is almost always used
with other qualitative methods, such as interviews and focus groups. It is an integral part of the
iterative research process – that is, the back-and-forth revising and refining – in several ways:
At the beginning stages of a research project, participant observation is used to facilitate and
develop positive relationships among researchers and key informants, stakeholders, and gate-
keepers, whose assistance and approval are needed for
the study to become a reality. These relationships are
essential to the logistics of setting up the study,
including gaining permission from appropriate offi-
cials, and identifying and gaining access to potential
study participants.
Researchers also use data collected through participant
observation to improve the design of other methods,
such as interviews and focus groups. For instance, they
help to ensure the cultural relevance and appropriate-
ness of interview and focus group questions.
Participant observation data are invaluable in deter-
mining whom to recruit for the study and how best to
recruit them.
When acting as interviewers or focus group facilitators, researchers are guided by the cultural
understanding gained through participant observation, allowing them to discern subtleties within
participant responses. Knowing what these culturally specific cues mean allows the researcher to
ask more appropriate follow-up questions and probes.
Participant observation data also provide a context for understanding data collected through other
methods. In other words, they help researchers make sense of those other data. Participant obser-
vation may be done prior to other data collection, as well as simultaneously with other methods
and during data analysis. For example, researchers might follow up on mention of a neighbor-
hood with a high immigrant population by going there to do structured observation. Or, they
might consult previously collected data that detail interactions between men and women in a
public space, in order to shed light on a cryptic male focus group discussion about how men
meet extramarital sex partners. Frequent consultation of participant observation data throughout a
study can inform instrument design, save time, and prevent mistakes.
Ethical Guidelines
How much should I disclose about who I am and what I am doing?
When conducting participant observation, you should be discreet enough about who you are
and what you are doing that you do not disrupt normal activity, yet open enough that the people
you observe and interact with do not feel that your presence compromises their privacy. In
Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide
Using participant observation to develop
interview questions
In a research study on HIV transmission, a
researcher may observe that some men who
approach women in a particular social setting are
transient truck drivers, whereas others are local
residents. Previously, researchers may not have
known that women had sexual relationships with
men who lived outside the community.This
information could be used to develop more
meaningful questions for interview guides. For
example, researchers might now ask whether it is
more or less difficult for women to negotiate
condom use with truck drivers than with men who
live in the community on a more permanent basis.
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many situations, there is no reason to announce your arrival at the scene; in many...