Participant observation is one of the most commonly used research methods in qualitative dissertation data research. It’s a way of observing your subject or subjects over time and recording information about them. Participant observation is useful for gaining an insider’s view into your subject’s life or community—for example, if you wanted to study how people interact with their smartphones while they’re working out at the gym. In order to do this type of study well, however, you’ll need to write up everything in your dissertation first before going on with any actual data collection activities with real people. In this article, we will discuss some of the rules that you can follow to ensure credibility in your participant observation research.
RULES TO FOLLOW:
Define participant observation in the intro of your thesis.
Participant observation is a dissertation data research method that involves studying behavior in its natural environment. It’s used primarily in the social sciences and has been described as a way of doing research that involves becoming a part of the setting being studied. Participant observation often involves observing subjects’ actions and recording them in an unbiased way.
For example, a sociologist might observe how people use public transportation on their commute to work in order to measure how much time they spend on this mode of transport and what patterns emerge over time (i.e., do people tend to take buses or trains?).
Participant observation can be particularly helpful when you’re trying to understand how something works from an insider’s perspective – for example, if you want insights into why someone does something or thinks about something differently than most people or what motivates them at work every day
Explain the nature of participant observation.
Participant observation is a method of dissertation data research where the researcher collects data by participating in a social situation. By observing and interacting with people, you can learn more about their lives and how they interact with one another. This method has many benefits:
- It allows you to collect firsthand information, which is often more reliable than secondhand information.
- It allows you to gather evidence that could not be obtained otherwise because it requires direct observation of interactions between people (e.g., conversations).
- You can determine whether or not your hypothesis holds true in real life!
However, there are some caveats to consider when using this method. First, since your presence influences the behavior of others due to social norms and expectations, it’s important that you make yourself as unobtrusive as possible so as not to influence their behavior or get them talking about something else altogether! Second, since most participants have never been asked these questions before (“What did you do today?”), they may respond differently than normal so take note if this happens during interviews/interactions with them!
Justify why you’re using participant observation in your dissertation.
The first step in justifying your choice of participant observation is to explain why it fits with your research question. Your dissertation should be organized around a single, focused research question. This will make it easier for readers to understand the purpose of each chapter, and will help them follow the logic behind your analysis and conclusions. If you are finding it difficult to conduct participant observation research then get help from dissertation writing services.
Consider how participant observation may fit with your theoretical framework. If you’re conducting a qualitative study, then you may have used or studied a particular theoretical framework in university or through previous research papers. In that case, use this knowledge to evaluate whether or not participant observation is an appropriate methodology for answering the question at hand.
Similarly, consider how participant observation fits within your dissertation data research methods section as well as within its corresponding chapters (i.e., Chapter 3: Data Collection). Is there already some sort of empirical evidence from which you can draw conclusions? How does this new method complement what has been done before? How could this new method improve upon existing data collection methods?
Describe the participants and setting of your study.
You should describe the participants in terms of their demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity). It is important to note that your study may have multiple participants. If this is the case, be sure to describe each participant separately and provide some information about them so readers can easily follow along with your results.
When describing the setting of your dissertation data research, be sure to include details about where you will observe or interact with participants (e.g., a public park or library). You should also describe how you will observe or interact with participants (e.g., sitting at a table outside on a sunny day).
Clarify how long you’ll observe your subjects and where you’ll observe them.
You should also clarify how long you’ll observe your subjects and where you’ll observe them. The duration of a dissertation data research can have an impact on what data is collected, such as how much time is available for data collection and if there are time restrictions or opportunities (e.g., breaks between classes). The duration may also be influenced by limitations in resources that make it difficult to conduct observations over longer periods of time.
If this is the case and other factors are equal, then more information could be gained from shorter studies than from longer studies because there will be more opportunities for observation over shorter periods of time. Conversely, if there aren’t any limitations on resources that make it difficult to conduct observations over longer periods of time but other factors are equal (e.g., funding), then more information could be gained from longer studies than from shorter ones because they provide more opportunities for observation during which potential problems might arise if not addressed immediately rather than waiting until later when these issues may become harder or even impossible to resolve without disrupting ongoing activities at the site being studied.
Explain your role as an observer.
It is important to explain your role as an observer. You can do so by saying that you are going to be observing the participants and their activities, such as eating lunch or playing in the park. It’s also important to explain what you will be observing. For example, “I will observe how they interact with each other through casual conversations.”
You should also provide an in-depth explanation of how you plan on observing these activities and interactions. For example: “I plan on sitting at a table nearby them for about fifteen minutes and then walk away so that I am not noticed or disturbed by any of their actions.”
Lastly, it’s important for your reader (in this case, your supervisor) knows why it’s significant for what you are doing during this study/research project; this will help them understand why it’s necessary for their committee members who are judging whether or not they approve funding for such projects because we know how strict reviewers can sometimes be when it comes down to approving funds
Provide a rationale for how you’ll collect data (e.g., notes, audio, video).
You should provide a rationale for why you are collecting the data. How will you collect it? What kind of data do you plan to gather? Where do you plan on conducting your study? How long should it take to gather all the data necessary for your dissertation research project?
Clarify that you’ll protect the identity of participants (and describe how) if they don’t want to be identified.
Confidentiality and anonymity are two different things. Confidentiality means that the information you collect from participants will not be shared with anyone else, including your supervisor. Anonymous data is data that has been coded so that it cannot be traced back to an individual participant (for example by removing all identifying information before you enter it into a database).
You should clarify that you’ll protect any personal details about them (including their name, address and phone number) if they don’t want to give this information, but in most cases it’s better if you do ask for some basic contact details at the very least so you can follow up with participants later on in case anything comes up during the interview process. If someone doesn’t want their identity known when they take part in an interview or focus group then it’s best practice for them to wear something distinctive – like an orange shirt – so we know who everyone is talking about when we’re transcribing notes afterwards rather than calling every participant ‘the person wearing black’.
Mention that you’ve received approval from your university.
As you begin your dissertation data research, it’s important to mention that you’ve received approval from your university. Your Institute is responsible for ensuring that research is ethical and follows federal regulations, which are mandated by law. They protect participants by ensuring their rights are respected and can also help researchers identify any ethical issues within their work prior to beginning the study.
Conclusion
If you’re not sure about how to conduct your dissertation data research using participant observation, we recommend that you read up on the subject and start practicing. For example, if you have access to a library or bookstore with good books on participant observation (such as Becoming Qualitative Researchers by Glesne), those are great places to start learning about what it means and how it works!
