Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 RESEARCH PROCESS
- 2 THEORY AND METHOD
- 3 RESEARCH DESIGN
- 4 MEASUREMENT
- 5 ETHICAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES
- 6 SAMPLING
- 7 SURVEY RESEARCH
- 8 INTENSIVE INTERVIEWING
- 9 OBSERVATIONAL FIELD RESEARCH
- 10 FEMINIST METHODS
- 11 HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
- 12 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
- 13 CONTENT ANALYSIS
- 14 AGGREGATE DATA ANALYSIS
- 15 COMPARATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
- 16 EVALUATION RESEARCH
- 17 INDEXES AND SCALES
- 18 BASIC STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
- 19 MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS AND STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE
- EPILOGUE: THE VALUE AND LIMITS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE
- Appendix A A Precoded Questionnaire
- Appendix B Excerpt from a Codebook
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
9 - OBSERVATIONAL FIELD RESEARCH
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 RESEARCH PROCESS
- 2 THEORY AND METHOD
- 3 RESEARCH DESIGN
- 4 MEASUREMENT
- 5 ETHICAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES
- 6 SAMPLING
- 7 SURVEY RESEARCH
- 8 INTENSIVE INTERVIEWING
- 9 OBSERVATIONAL FIELD RESEARCH
- 10 FEMINIST METHODS
- 11 HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
- 12 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
- 13 CONTENT ANALYSIS
- 14 AGGREGATE DATA ANALYSIS
- 15 COMPARATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
- 16 EVALUATION RESEARCH
- 17 INDEXES AND SCALES
- 18 BASIC STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
- 19 MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS AND STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE
- EPILOGUE: THE VALUE AND LIMITS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE
- Appendix A A Precoded Questionnaire
- Appendix B Excerpt from a Codebook
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
INTRODUCTION
In contrast to most survey research and all experimental research, in this chapter we concentrate on techniques that are almost always inductive, where theory is primarily generated from data. Rather than using data to confirm or support existing theory, researchers use observational field research, or participant observation, to discover theory. They try to gain an understanding of human action and social process by entering, as far as possible, the worlds of those whose behaviors they are trying to understand. Participant observation lets us see the world as others see it – “in their own terms.” When we do that we learn how they achieve a coherent, ordered existence. Participant observation is, therefore, based on the presumption that by studying people in the natural settings where they live and work, social scientists will maximize the ability to grasp the motives, values, beliefs, concerns, troubles, and interests that underlie human behavior.
The Chicago School and Beyond
The famous researcher Robert Park is quoted as having issued the following methodological directive to his students:
You have been told to go grubbing in the library, thereby accumulating a mass of notes and a liberal coating of grime. You have been told to choose problems wherever you can find musty stacks of routine records based on trivial schedules prepared by tired bureaucrats and filled out by reluctant applicants for aid or fussy do-gooders or indifferent clerks. This is called “getting your hands dirty in real research.” Those who counsel you are wise and honorable; the reasons they offer are of great value. […]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Research ImaginationAn Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, pp. 179 - 210Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
References
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