Role-Making in Participant Observation

Processes in the Researcher-Actor Relationship

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2498068
AutoresVirginia Olesen (University of California, San Francisco), Elvi Whittaker (0000-0003-1693-5540, University of California, San Francisco)
Año1967
Volumen26
Número4
Páginas273-281
Fecha de publicación1967-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHuman Organization (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0018-7259 • E-ISSN: 1938-3517
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.17730/humo.26.4.lq08k01314k36802
OpenAlexW2076529345
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas16
Referencias citadas2

Although recent essays about participant observations have extended our understanding of that research method and its problematic aspects, few methodologists have scrutinized intensively the processes by which roles are developed in this type of fieldwork or the relationship of role development to the data gathered. Our purpose in reviewing our own experiences as participant observers in a longitudinal study of baccalaureate student nurses is to explore these questions. We have also studied reports of the encounters of other researchers in participant observation. Using information from such experiences, we have tried to outline and interpret the characteristic processes of role defining in this type of research. We have restricted ourselves to consideration of fieldwork situations in which the involved parties are mutually aware of the research, thus avoiding the special problems of role definitions in hidden research

Ethnography · Participant observation · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Applications · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Social Psychology