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9 - OBSERVATIONAL FIELD RESEARCH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Paul S. Gray ,
John B. Williamson ,
David A. Karp  and
John R. Dalphin
Paul S. Gray
Affiliation:
Boston College, Massachusetts
John B. Williamson
Affiliation:
Boston College, Massachusetts
David A. Karp
Affiliation:
Boston College, Massachusetts
John R. Dalphin
Affiliation:
Merrimack College, Massachusetts
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

In contrast to most survey research and all experimental research, in this chapter we concentrate on techniques that are almost always inductive, where theory is primarily generated from data. Rather than using data to confirm or support existing theory, researchers use observational field research, or participant observation, to discover theory. They try to gain an understanding of human action and social process by entering, as far as possible, the worlds of those whose behaviors they are trying to understand. Participant observation lets us see the world as others see it – “in their own terms.” When we do that we learn how they achieve a coherent, ordered existence. Participant observation is, therefore, based on the presumption that by studying people in the natural settings where they live and work, social scientists will maximize the ability to grasp the motives, values, beliefs, concerns, troubles, and interests that underlie human behavior.

The Chicago School and Beyond

The famous researcher Robert Park is quoted as having issued the following methodological directive to his students:

You have been told to go grubbing in the library, thereby accumulating a mass of notes and a liberal coating of grime. You have been told to choose problems wherever you can find musty stacks of routine records based on trivial schedules prepared by tired bureaucrats and filled out by reluctant applicants for aid or fussy do-gooders or indifferent clerks. This is called “getting your hands dirty in real research.” Those who counsel you are wise and honorable; the reasons they offer are of great value. […]

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Chapter
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The Research Imagination
An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
 , pp. 179 - 210
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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