Participant observation is a standard method of collecting data and information about culture, carried out by researchers who are well immersed in the culture under observation. The method was introduced by Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski (Clifford, Marcus, & Mitchell, 1986, p. 2-3), and today it is the common method among qualitative sociologists globally. The first thing for the researcher to do is to make himself known in the community, to get to know the people and their culture. Understanding the culture of the population in a detailed and intimate way is fundamental to carrying out participant observation. It is achieved by observing and taking part in the lifestyle of the community. Almost everyone who has been to a foreign land, joined another family or spouse, been a visitor to an unfamiliar environment, or been an occasional guest better understands the importance of participant observation. The method is so effective because the researcher approaches people directly in a natural context rather than taking them out of their natural environment, and its ability to provide explanation, causation, context and confirmation means that the method can be a useful element of research mixed method. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The purpose of participant observation is to gain insight into people's lifestyles from their point of view, with the goal of gathering in-depth information about their opinions, habits, problems, and relationships (McCurdy, P. and Uldam 2014, pages 40-55), to name just a few. Often, the group studied is a subculture or part of larger society, such as a professional, religious group, or a particular community. For example, participant observation can be used to study the culture of the black community living in the UK. To conduct it, the researcher must live among this community, become part of it and live as a black person. In this way, the researcher can access crucial information regarding their culture and lifestyle. Arguably, it is the most challenging and natural method to collect qualitative data. But the positive aspect of this method is that it connects researchers to the most basic human experiences and puts them in a privileged position to understand the “how” and “why” of human behaviors. The researcher must be an actor of that culture but, above all, fulfill his or her roles as a researcher. The researcher can fulfill these roles by taking notes, recording sounds and images, or asking questions with the intent of discovering the meaning of certain behaviors or aspects of the culture being studied. In other words, the researcher tries to discover and analyze some social scenes that use norms and rules, which participants experience automatically or at a subconscious level. The result is that researchers are not only transformed into acceptable participants, but can also generate information that can significantly help anthropologists or sociologists better understand the human experience. Two groups have emerged, one group is in favor of objective participation while the other group tends towards subjective participation. . Each group claims that their school of thought is right. Logically, participant observation requires the researcher to be subjective as he uses knowledge and information gained through personal experience to interact and possibly gain more insight into people's lifestyles. Furthermore, at some point it is important for the researcher to be an objective participant and this is done by recording everything he sees.It is important to emphasize that emotions and feelings should not influence what the researcher observes. However, true objectivity is more of an ideal than a reality. In reality, the way people see the world is influenced primarily by their position in the social structure and past experiences. Therefore, Young (1991) in the article Participant Observation, notes that the participant observer must have critical self-reflexivity (p. 9) in order to recognize the ways in which he or she can influence the research and data. harvest. Both objective and subjective participation are important in participant observation, and good research should use both. A good researcher must be part of society and live as a member of society (subjective participation), but that is not all. The person must record the observation, both images and sounds, and ask questions where necessary (objective participation). In fact, one of the reasons for carrying out participant observation is that most social or cultural aspects of people are visible only to them. insiders, and only certain people can enter. It is claimed that the oily skin of the house is not to be rubbed on the skin of strangers. As a result, it becomes difficult for people who are not part of a particular group to obtain information about that particular group. For example, Liza Dalby's study of Geisha culture could only have been conducted by a researcher who spoke fluent Japanese and was prepared to undergo rigorous training to become a Geisha. There is no way a male researcher could have been apprenticed as a Geisha (Dalby, 2008). Being an outsider (not a person of Japanese descent) ensured that her experience was different from what a native Japanese might experience. Therefore, Dalby's study was a compelling blend of internal knowledge and external objectivity. As such, both the subjective and objective personal aspects of participant observation are critical: it has either captured a point of view that could not have been captured in other ways, or it has distorted the point of view to such an extent that the results are questionable . Participant observation has been the source of the most fascinating and useful studies in anthropology and sociology because it focuses on the perspectives, knowledge, and experiences of the people studied. Participant observation opens the field of inquiry for the researcher to gather a wide range of information. Only a researcher with the same privileges as participants can observe certain behaviors. Essentially, in most social groups, outsiders are not allowed to see or experience certain things. Furthermore, the use of participant observation is critical to reduce the impact of reactivity. Typically, individuals change their behaviors when they know they are being studied or in the company of a stranger (Collins 1984, p. 57). But a participant observer fits in perfectly with people to such an extent that people forget the fact that that person is an outsider and start treating them like an insider. Even if the person does unexpected things like taking notes, recording audio or video, taking photos or interviewing them, people are less likely to care: this is not possible when the person is seen as an outsider. VanDienderen observes that the method inspires confidence in people (VanDienderen 2007, p. 252). Participant observations allow the researcher to understand the right questions to ask. When research is deeply rooted in people's social context, it is easy for the researcher to know the most relevant questions and be able to ask the questions in a way that makes sense to them. One of the mistakes. 51-83).