William Whyte ("Street Corner Society") for example, was substantially older than the members of the juvenile gang whose behaviour he wanted to study. His solution to the "problem of access" came through doing overt participant observation; he gained the co-operation of gang's leader ("Doc"), who served to explain Whyte's presence in the group to other gang members.

Additionally, some groups require their members to have actual qualifications (a degree, for example) and overt participant observation overcomes this potential obstacle to entrance.