The Meaning of "Participation" in Participant Observation

Bibliographic Data

ID4642829
AuthorsPeter D Ashworth (Sheffield Hallam University, British Psychological Society), Peter Ashworth (British Psychological Society, corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume5
Issue3
Pages366-387
Publication date1995-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/104973239500500307
OpenAlexW2139406834
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited23

Whether writers have a postmodernist orientation or a residual concern to defend the technique against positivist criticisms as providing unequivocal scientific data, theoretically systematic accounts of participant observation in terms of its nature as a social activity carried out by conscious human agents are missing from the literature of health research and the human sciences generally. In this article, the technique of participant observation, as a process of social interaction, is viewed in the context of a phenomenology of participation. Participation involves the following constituents: (a) attunement to the others' stock of knowledge at hand, (b) emotional and motivational attunement to the group's concerns, (c) taking for granted that one can contribute appropriately, and (d) being able to assume that one's identity is not under threat. It is shown that the features of participant observation, as a technique that first and foremost entails conscious social engagement, can be systematized in the light of the phenomenology of participation

Attunement · Epistemology · Participant observation · Positivism · Social science · Sociology · Empathy and Medical Education · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Representations and Identity