First impressions are important and you need to make sure that you dress and act appropriately within the community. You must
not appear threatening in any way. Some people will be suspicious of the motives of a researcher, especially if they’re not familiar with the research process. In the early stages it is better to answer any questions or suspicions directly and honestly rather than try to avoid them or shrug them off.
A
CTING ETHICALLYBecause of the nature of participant observation, there tends to be more issues involving ethics and morals to consider. As you intend to become part of a specific group, will you be expected to undertake anything illegal? This could happen with research into drug use or crime syndicates where people may not trust you until you become one of them and join in their activities. Would you be prepared to do this and put up with any consequences that could arise as a result of your activities?
If the group is suspicious, do you intend to be completely honest about who you are and what you’re doing? Are you prepared to lie if it means you can gain access? How would you deal with any problems which may arise as a consequence of your deception? What if your participation within a group causes problems, anxiety or argument amongst other members? Would you know how to deal with the situation? Would you be prepared to withdraw and ruin all your hard work for the sake of your
TIP
If you find that your presence initially causes a sense of personal
discomfort among some participants it is important to record and analyse this discomfort. This is because it can provide deeper insight into the personal behaviour, actions and motivation of people involved in your research. Similarly, it is important to record and analyse other reactions to your presence, such as an over- eagerness to please or a constant challenging of your words.
informants? These issues and others are covered in more depth in Chapter 13. Also, there are many personal considerations and dilemmas which you need to think about before undertaking participant observation, as illustrated below:
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ERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS WHEN ENTERING THEFIELD
Some people will not accept you. Are you prepared for rejection and can you handle it when it happens? Are you able to banish rejection anxieties from the outset?
Are you prepared to spend many months studying others and not indulging in talk about yourself? Some researchers overcome this problem by making sure that they have someone outside the community who they can talk to if they need to.
Will your contact be traumatic or upsetting? If so, can you handle this?
If you’re going to come across people with very different social and political beliefs, can you remain neutral and keep your opinions to yourself? Some researchers may try arguing their point in the hope that they will get more information and it will deepen their understanding. However, you must be careful not to compromise your position.
Are you prepared for the emergence of as yet unconscious emotional factors? You may find out things about yourself which you do not like, especially in terms of your own prejudices. Are you prepared to be used as a scapegoat if things go wrong within the community under study? Often it is easier for the
community to blame an outsider and many researchers are happy to go along with this because they know they will be leaving the community at some point.
Can you handle the feelings of guilt which may arise as a result of the roles you’ve got to play?
Are you prepared to pretend to have feelings which may not be real? Some researchers would argue that you should not do this because it is being dishonest. The level to which you are prepared to do this has to be your own choice.
Are you aware of your own likes and dislikes? Can you put stereotypes and prejudices aside?
C
OLLECTING AND ANALYSING INFORMATIONAt the beginning of a participant observation study it is hard to understand what everything means. At first something may appear very significant, but later it might become a minor detail. However, you will not know this until you have started to analyse what is going on. So it is important from the outset to start taking copious notes. You need to have a good memory as in many situations it is not possible to take notes at the time. You need to have a notepad and/or laptop with you at all times so that you can write down your thoughts as soon as possible after the encounter. All researchers ask questions. However, in the beginning stages of a participant observation study, it is better to seek information by not asking questions. This is because it is hard for you to know what to ask at this stage. Instead, you will find that people come to you and ask questions. This in itself is valuable information and
can tell you a lot about those people, so all questions should be noted and analysed.