Political Science 3324F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Ethnography, Participant Observation, Gie
21 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Chapter 10/ lesson 7 ethnography and participant observation. Participant observation and ethnography are synonymous, however ethnography can include participant observation: participant observation will refer to the observational component of some sort of work. With both, researcher is immersed in a particular social setting for a long period of time, sometimes even years. Behaviour is observed in an unstructured way, and often in depth/ unstructured discussions and interviews are held with people studied. How to gain access to social setting depends on several things. Overt = people being studied know they are. Covert people being studied do not know. Covert role not to disclose you are a researcher. Open vs closed setting and overt vs covert creates a fourfold distinction in forms of ethnography. Overt vs covert distinction can vary from context to context even within same project: even if researchers are overt, some participants may not be aware.
