Participant Observation: The Steps and Stages

The Ethnographic Perspective:

Anthropologists are required to take what we call a MULTIVARIATE PERSPECTIVE. This means that your job is to "stand" in many places and "observe" your culture at your fieldsite from many variable perspectives. At a minimum, you have three points of view that you are recording in your fieldnotes:

1. Your own point of view
2. Your informants point of view
3. Third person perspective (background research)

When entering the field, how much of your time is spent participating, and how much is spent observing? This will depend on the culture and the site you choose to study, and how well you are able to establish rapport (securing a good relationship with your site and establishing principal informants). 

We develop our observational skills through practice with careful note-taking. We will do this by writing "double -entry" fieldnotes (later), Where we record exactly what we observe on one side and our opinions/conclusions on the other). --BLOG POST

When we review our notes and comment on them, or go back to look again or interview more informants, we not only re-examine our data, we also begin to "theme" our notes -the process which takes us closer to discovering a research question.

Participant-observation is a method where researchers choose to live directly in the cultural group they are studying. By living and immersing oneself within a culture for a long period of time, participant-observation allows anthropologists to get deeper into the complexity of culture. (of course, we will not be able to have this full experience)--- participant-observation is largely a holistic study—meaning it considers all aspects of a culture to be interrelated and relevant.

Types of PO

There are different types of participant-observation that researchers can undertake. 

• (more participant) In some situations, the researcher chooses and requests to play an active role in that culture—including living with a local family, participating in cultural rituals and activities, speaking the language, and much more. While this type of participant-observation allows researchers to delve deeper into a culture by forming relationships, it could potentially entail less objective results, since the researcher is emotionally invested in the culture and its people.
• (more observer) In contrast, a less involved type of participant-observation would include simply being a bystander in the culture in question. This allows for a more objective approach, yet individuals may be more hesitant to answer questions—creating a less in-depth study.

Ethical concerns in PO

Whenever any type of research is done with human participants, ethical considerations should be taken into account. Researchers must follow strict guidelines regarding their study, in order to avoid harm and minimize long-lasting impact to the participants. The important one for you to know at this stage is to take notes so that you ensure the CONFIDENTIALITY/ANONYMITY of your informants (at even the start).

Establishing Rapport: 

In traditional ethnographic research, rapport is a trust‐building mechanism that primarily serves the interests of the researcher. Friendship is different from rapport and can confound research objectivity. Yet the similarity of rapport‐building behavior to friendship‐developing behavior can cause misunderstandings and feelings of deception by the researcher and their informants if misunderstood.

By having a good rapport with participant, it may give better information and data access for the researcher due to the trust and understanding built as a result from the good relationship between both of them. Rapport is an essential basis for successful communication.

1) Be accommodating. 

2) introduce yourself to your participant and tell them what your role is.

3) Show interest and empathy. 

4) Be genuine, be yourself. 

5) Keep an eye on your body language. 

6) Avoid barriers between yourself and your participant. 

7) Dress appropriately. 

8) Show interest in your participant, listen intently and backchannel to express your interest. 

How do we build rapport with live subjects?

We first need to introduce ourselves, talk about the purpose of our visit and most importantly connect with the people. 

• Once we gain permission and their trust we can start our fieldwork. This is the process of rapport building where we spend time with our respondents and informants and give them a chance to understand our work. 
• Rapport building is a two-way process where the fieldworker is also being observed and questioned by the people in the field. It is the time when the researcher tries to learn the customs, manners and the way of life of the people so that s/he can move around freely with the people. 
• During the period of rapport building, many anthropologists try to pick up the local language. 
• Rapport building is a continuous process and one must try to build a relationship of trust and understanding with the respondents throughout the period of fieldwork. 
• The most successful rapport building leads to a situation of empathy when one is able to understand the other even without actually asking questions or talking. 
• Every fieldsite is unique in itself and every day in the field presents a new kind of challenge and response---‘the field is predictably unpredictable.’

How do you build rapport in a virtual interview?

During a video interview, try to mirror the same things you would be doing in a room with someone. Sit up straight, but nod and lean forward a bit when you agree with something. Tilt your head if you're interested and smile when something is funny.

Once rapport is established, one can move on to the next step which is the process of data collection.