Making Sense of
the Social World
th
4 Edition
Chapter 9, Qualitative Methods
What Are the Possible Roles?
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Complete observation
Mixed participation/observation
Complete participation
Chambliss/Schutt, Making Sense of the Social World 4th edition
© 2012 SAGE Publications
Complete Observation
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In complete observation, researchers try to
see things as they happen, without actively
participating in these events.
What might be one problem you would
encounter?
 Will
people act naturally knowing that you’re
watching them?
 Reactive Effects occur when people are aware
that they are being observed and their actions are
being recorded
Chambliss/Schutt, Making Sense of the Social World 4th edition
© 2012 SAGE Publications
Mixed Participation/Observation
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Most field researchers adopt a role that
involves some active participation in the setting.
Usually they inform at least some group
members of their research interests, but then
they participate in enough group activities to
develop rapport with members and to gain a
direct sense of what group members
experience. This is not an easy balancing act.
Chambliss/Schutt, Making Sense of the Social World 4th edition
© 2012 SAGE Publications
A strategy of mixed participation and observation
has two clear ethical advantages.
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Because group members know the
researcher’s real role in the group, they can
choose to keep some information or attitudes
hidden.
A researcher can decline to participate in
unethical or dangerous activities.
Chambliss/Schutt, Making Sense of the Social World 4th edition
© 2012 SAGE Publications
Complete Participation
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Some field researchers adopt a complete
participation role, in which they operate as a
fully functioning member of the setting. Most
often, such research is also covert, or secret—
other members don’t know the researcher is
doing research.
Chambliss/Schutt, Making Sense of the Social World 4th edition
© 2012 SAGE Publications
Ethical issues have been at the forefront of debate
over the strategy of covert participation.
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They “go native”—and so may end up “going
along to get along” with group activities that are
themselves unethical.
If others suspect the researcher’s identity or if
the researcher contributes to, or impedes,
group action, these consequences can be
adverse.
Chambliss/Schutt, Making Sense of the Social World 4th edition
© 2012 SAGE Publications
Qualitative Research Aims to Go
Where Real People Live
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Which role you take depends on the specifics of
the social situation being studied, the
researcher’s own background and personality,
the larger sociopolitical context, and ethical
concerns.
Chambliss/Schutt, Making Sense of the Social World 4th edition
© 2012 SAGE Publications