On Making the Most of Participant Observation

Participant observation is a scientific method whose full potential for discovery and social change is seldom utilized or even recognized in sociology today. It can be overt or covert; there are advantages and disadvantages to each. The population under study can and should benefit from the research in many different ways. Some informants can be more useful as active collaborators in research than as passive subjects. A research project can be aimed at the specific needs of the organization under study, as well as provide data for the researcher. Action or intervention research offers many opportunities to observe social change, and can have important theoretical implications for the scholar. Sociologists should be aware of the many commonly unrecognized potentialities of participant observation.