Mar 31, · Participant Observation is where the researcher joins in with the group being studied and observes their behaviour. This post covers the theoretical, practical and ethical strengths and limitations of using overt and covert participant observation in social research. It has been written primarily for students studying the research methods aspect of A-level sociology 7 Tips on Writing a Descriptive Essay About Favorite Food: This essay is based on personal views. It describes your personal experience and view of your favorite food. The goal is to create a vivid picture of your favorite food in the reader’s imagination. Brainstorm by using your power of observation Feb 10, · Experience Letter: An experience letter is a letter declared by an employer to an employee when he/she is leaving the organisation. The company provides a job experiance letter (company experience letter) to certify the work done by the employee and experience obtained by he/her in the organisation. These letters are often called ‘Service Certificates’ The [ ]
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Participant Observation is where the researcher joins in with the group being studied and observes their behaviour. This post covers the theoretical, practical and ethical strengths and limitations observation essay samples using overt and covert participant observation in social research, observation essay samples.
It has been written primarily for students studying the research methods aspect of A-level sociology. Ethnography is traditionally associated with anthropologywherein the anthropologist visits a usually foreign land, gains access to a group for example a tribe or villageand spends several years living with them with the aim of uncovering their culture.
The ethnographic method involves watching what participants do, listening to them, engaging in probing conversations, and joining them in day to day tasks as necessary; it also involves investigating any observation essay samples artefacts such as art work and any written work if it exists, as well as analysing what religious rituals and popular stories can tell us about the culture.
These both have their strengths and limitations — overt research is obviously more ethical because of the lack of deception, and it allows the researcher to ask probing questions and use other research methods. However, ethically it involves deception and can be very stressful for the researcher, observation essay samples. The most significant strength of both types of participant observation is the high degree of validity the method achieves.
There are at least five reasons for this:. You can observe what people do, not what they say they do — In contrast to most other methods, participant observation allows the researcher to see what people do rather than what people say they do.
Participant Observation takes place in natural settings — this should mean respondents act more naturally than in a laboratory, or during a more formal interview. This should mean the Hawthorne effect will be less, especially with covert research.
Digging deep and gaining insight — the length of time ethnographers spend with a community means that observation essay samples bonds that can be established, thus enabling the researcher to dig deeper than with other methods and find out things which may be hidden to all other means of enquiry. Joining in allows the researcher to gain empathy through personal experiences.
Flexibility and generating new ideas — when completing questionnaires researchers begin with pre-set questions. The problem with this is what if the questions the researcher thinks are important are not the same as the ones the subject thinks are important. By contrast, participant observation is much more flexible. It allows the researcher to enter the situation with an open mind and as new situations are encountered they can be followed up.
There are few practical advantages with this method, but participant observation might be the only methods for gaining access to certain groups. For example, observation essay samples, a researcher using questionnaires to research street gangs is likely to be seen as an authority figure and unlikely to be accepted. Interpretivists prefer this method because it is respondent led — it allows respondents to speak for themselves and thus avoids a master-client relationship which you get with more quantitative methods.
One theoretical disadvantage is the low degree of reliability. It would be almost impossible for another researcher to repeat given that a participant observation study relies on the personal skills and characteristics of observation essay samples lone researcher.
Another theoretical disadvantage is the low degree of representativeness. Sociologists who use quantitative research methods study large, carefully selected, representative samples that provide a sound basis for making generalisations, In contrast, the groups used in participant observation studies are usually unrepresentative, because they are accessed through snowball sampling and thus observation essay samples selected.
Critics also question how valid participant observation really is. They argue the method lacks objectivity. It can observation essay samples very difficult for the researcher to avoid subjectivity and forming biased views of the group being studied. Also, observation essay samples methods lack a concept of social structures such as class, gender or ethnicity.
By focussing on the participants own interpretation of events, observation essay samples, the researcher tends to ignore the wider social structures, which means giving only a partial explanation. Firstly, this method tends to be time consuming and expensive in relation to the relatively small amount of respondents. It can take time to gain trust and build rapport, and so for this reason, it may take several observation essay samples, weeks or even months, before the respondents really start to relax in the presence of the researcher.
Participant Observation also requires observational and interpersonal skills that not everyone possesses — you have to be able to get on with people and understand when to take a back seat and when to probe for information, observation essay samples. Gaining access can also be a problem observation essay samples many people will not want to be researched this way, and where covert research is concerned, researchers are limited by their own characteristics.
Not everyone can pass as a Hells Angel if covert observation is being used! Ethical problems are mainly limited to Covert Participant Observation, in which respondents are deceived and thus cannot give informed consent to participate in the research.
Legality can also be an issue observation essay samples covert research where researchers working with deviant groups may have to do illegal acts to maintain their cover. Students often think that Covert Observation is superior to Over Observation, however there are five reasons why Overt might be a better choice of research method:, observation essay samples. Some recent examples observation essay samples PO studies within sociology.
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Recording of Observation Essay
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Mar 31, · Participant Observation is where the researcher joins in with the group being studied and observes their behaviour. This post covers the theoretical, practical and ethical strengths and limitations of using overt and covert participant observation in social research. It has been written primarily for students studying the research methods aspect of A-level sociology Writing—1: This essay demonstrates little cohesion and inadequate skill in the use and control of language. The essay begins with a very broad central claim (In “Let there be dark,” Paul Bogard talks about the importance of darkness) but otherwise lacks a recognizable introduction and conclusion. The writer’s two main ideas are Jun 03, · The Great Gatsby () by F. Scott Fitzgerald is not a novel based around gender, but it is an available reading position. By comparing the representations of female characters, we get an insight into the effects of gender stereotypes on individual lives, namely Daisy and Jordan
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