SOAN 2120 Chapter 11: SOAN 2120 cH.11.docx

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology and Anthropology
• Course: SOAN 2120
• Professor: Scott Schau

Document Summary

Appropriate to the study of attributes and behaviours best understood in their natural settings & well suited for study of social processes over time. Focused attention on a single instance of some social phenomenon/person. Meant to focus on the specificities of the case as well as to be descriptive. Acting as a participant has an ethical dilemma. Sometimes it"s needed to deceive participants so that they do not act differently from knowing they are being studied [ reactivity ] Anything the participant-observer does will affect the group in some way. Found that rushing into trying to fit in didn"t work [had to be patient] Soon he became close w/many members and became more involved [over 3 year period] Found that the friendships he made w/them were genuine and they were more like brothers than subjects to him. As he became more fully participating, role as researcher became problematic [doing secretive research on his now friends]