SOCI 211 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Social Fact, Grounded Theory, Fieldnotes
1 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Field researchers immerse themselves in the settings that they study yet the extent to which they immerse themselves may vary. Field research is a qualitative method of data collection aimed at understanding, observing, and interacting with people in their natural settings. Sometimes researchers use the terms ethnography or participant observation to refer to this method of data collection; the former is most commonly used in anthropology, while the latter is used commonly in sociology. In this text, field research and participant observation will be used. The participation and observation aspects of field research = participant observation: the parts of field research that involve spending time with and watching one"s research participants; interviewing and document/artifact analysis are the other two components of field research. Complete observer participant observer complete participant. Participant observation might be said to rest on a continuum. At one end, the researcher may play the role of complete observer, not interacting with her subjects.
