Editing Participant observation (section)

{{Short description|Method in anthropology}}
{{Anthropology |methods}}

'''Participant observation''' is one type of [[data collection]] method by [[Practitioner–scholar model|practitioner-scholars]] typically used in [[qualitative research]] and [[ethnography]]. This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly anthropology (including [[cultural anthropology]] and [[ethnology]]), [[sociology]] (including [[sociology of culture]] and [[cultural criminology]]), [[communication studies]], [[human geography]], and [[social psychology]]. Its aim is to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious, occupational, youth group, or a particular community) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their cultural environment, usually over an extended period of time.

The concept "participant observation" was first coined in 1924 by [[Eduard C. Lindeman]] (1885-1953), an American pioneer in adult education influenced by [[John Dewey]] and Danish educator-philosopher [[N.F.S.Grundtvig]], in his 1925 book 
''Social Discovery: An Approach to the Study of Functional Groups''. The method, however, originated earlier and was applied in the [[Field work|field research]] linked to [[European and American voyages of scientific exploration]].

In 1800 one of precursors of the method, [[Joseph Marie, baron de Gérando]], said that: "The first way to get to know the Indians is to become like one of them; and it is by learning their language that we will become their fellow citizens."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Degérando|first=Joseph-Marie|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6544113q|title=Considérations sur les diverses méthodes à suivre dans l'observation des peuples sauvages|publisher=[[National Library of France]] and [[Société des observateurs de l'homme]]|year=2013|language=fr|author-link=Joseph Marie, baron de Gérando|orig-date=1800|department=Department of Philosophy, History, Human Sciences}}</ref> Later, the method would be popularized by [[Bronisław Malinowski]] and his students in Britain; the students of [[Franz Boas]] in the United States; and, in the later urban research, the students of the [[Chicago school (sociology)|Chicago school of sociology]].