| Overt Participant Observation | Previous Page | Naturalism |
The problem here is that, even though people are being studied in their
natural environment / habitat and the research is carried-out with the co-operation of
the people involved, there is no way of measuring how the presence of the observer influences the behaviour of group
members. 
The basic question, therefore, is that of the extent to which people who know they are being studied change the way they "normally" behave. Is the observer seeing "normal behaviour" or does the observer's presence produce an unknown level of change in people's behaviour? W.F.Whyte ("Street Corner Society") recognised - but never really solved - this problem. |
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