4. Complete the summary of the text given below

Participant observation enables researcher a)__________ , experience and b) _____________ ____________ in the activities under investigation. There are two typical roles or a c)___________ __________. In the role of a complete participant he/she takes d)_________ __________ _________ and e)_________ ___________ _________ as naturally as possible. In this kind of observation the researcher may be concerned with inevitable f)__________ , but subjects may g)________ from the research.

A participant-as-observer is never a h)________ ________ __________ of the group. He/she i)__________ __________ of some key members of the group and gradually j)_________ __________ and establishes a necessary k)__________ _________ with other members of the group.

A researcher may combine both aspects using creatively his/her everyday role, sometimes turning l)_________ _________ _______.

Through participant observation sociologists do m)_________ __________ to construct a theory which they can test through n)________ _________.

5. Use words and expressions from exercises 2 and 3 in the sentences or a situation of your own Grammar Studies The Present Participle Passive

The present participle describing a noun can be both active and passive.

Compare:

Men living in slums = men who live in slums

The group being studied = the group which someone is studying

Complete the rule:

The Present Participle Passive is formed with _________ __________ of the verb _______ + _________ __________ of the main verb.

6. Find in the text four more cases of the Present Participle Passive and explain them

7. Describe the noun in italics with the Present Participle, Active or Passive

1. the research that someone is doing

2. the subject that the observer is interacting with

3. the sociologist who is using this method

4. the role that the observer is playing

5. a researcher who is becoming a complete participant

6. a student who is studying sociology

7. the study that someone carries out

8. the person who someone is introducing

9. the researcher who the group is accepting

10. the observer who is gaining access

11. the research that is showing good results

12. the aspects that the researcher is combining

13. a student who knows the subject

14. the researcher who the group knows

Free Practice

8. Give the presentation Methods of Participant Observation.

9. Discuss the following questions:

1. Do you agree with Judith Rollins that her research gains were worth the deception? Why? Why not?

2. Do you think that the results obtained by the complete participant method are always worth deception?

3. What sort of research could you conduct using your everyday role?

Text 2

Read the text and say how it is connected with Participant Observation ?

Field Research

1. Creativity is the hallmark of field research. Field researchers collect data about the social behavior of people in natural settings. Sociologists conducting field research routinely combine data collection methods, especially observations and personal interviews. Often they do not begin with specific research questions, but rather undertake an exploratory study that ends with questions or hypotheses that will be tested later. In this way field research is sometimes just the first phase of an ongoing research project.

2. Field research typically uses qualitative analysis, which usually summarizes data in numerical ways in order to discover underlying meanings and build theory. Rather than testing hypotheses, qualitative analysis is commonly used to develop hypotheses.

Sometimes the goal of field research is to produce an ethnography, a description of customs, beliefs, and values of a particular culture compiled by researchers who spent prolonged periods actually living with the people they are studying. These researchers rely heavily on data collection methods that allow them to get an “insider” view.

3. Of course, field research sometimes begins with “outsider” observation of the people who are of interest to the researcher. Such observations are used primarily as a pre-fieldwork technique that allows the researcher to become familiar with a specific setting. For example, a sociologist interactions of teenagers who frequent malls on weekends may start by simply standing in a mall and watching adolescents. These preliminary observations are of limited usefulness, however, since only teenagers themselves can say what their behaviors mean. Talking with these adolescents and building relationship with them is essential to complete the research. For field research to be effective, generally close involvement between observer and observed is needed.