Glossary definition

Participating in an activity whilst also observing the activity.
Participant observation is a key method in ethnographic research whereby the researcher (traditionally an anthropologist) takes part in the events they are observing, describing, and analysing. As an assessment task, the ‘ethnographer’ learns from ‘ordinary people’ or local experts via a research process of closely observing, recording, and engaging in the daily life of a group community or ‘culture’, and then writes accounts of this experience, emphasising descriptive detail. Participant observation tasks require the student to take part in the events they study in order to understand local thought and behaviour through experiential learning.