Abstract
The participant observation method involves numerous methodological competencies and procedures, yet no systematic research has been found to date that evaluates the qualitative practice. The method has played a foundational role in the field of journalism and is growing in use among researchers. Despite its contributions to knowledge about organizations, movements, and cultures, the procedures that encompass the method may be unfamiliar or unclear for some researchers according to the literature. The study analyzed journalism researchers’ reporting of methodological information in studies involving news contexts and assessed scholars’ adherence to methodological reporting best practices in 150 journal articles. The results showed participant observation researchers employed data trustworthiness techniques by primarily using qualitative formal interviews and they also provided site selection logic. The results, however, also showed evidence of methodological conceptual ambiguity when referring to participant observation method techniques and low reporting of several specific recommended techniques associated with participation observation. The narrative reflects our desire to help other researchers learn more about the method, while also encouraging methodological transparency to improve the collective understanding of the method. We put forth eight participant observation reporting recommendations rooted in anthropology and sociology to consider when reporting methodological practices. The hope is this introduction and the proposed measures will initiate discussions and support community around the practice of participant observation.
References
Adler, P., A, & Adler, P. (2011). The history and epistemology of fieldwork roles. In membership roles in field research (pp. 9-36). Sage. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412984973.n1
Atkinson, P., & Hammersley, M. (1998). Ethnography and participant observation. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Strategies of qualitative inquiry (pp. 248-261). Sage.
Angen, M. J. (2000). Evaluating interpretative inquiry: Reviewing the validity debate and opening the dialogue. Qualitative Health Research, 10(3), 378-395. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973230001000308
A?Ik, O. (2019). Politics, power, and performativity in the newsroom: an ethnography of television journalism in Turkey. Media, Culture & Society, 41(5), 587-603. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443718799400
Aziz, H. A. (2017). Comparison between field research and controlled laboratory research. Archive of Clinical and Biomedical Research, 1, 101-104. https://doi.org/10.26502/acbr.50170011
Baker, L. (2006). Observation: A complex research method. Library Trends, 55, 171-189.
doi:10.1353/lib.2006.0045.
Batabyal, S. (2012). The story of Nandigram. Continuum, 26(2), 261-273. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2011.538470
Bauman, L. J., & Greenberg Adair, E. (1992). The use of ethnographic interviewing to inform questionnaire construction. Health Education Quarterly, 19(1), 9-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019819201900102
Becker, H. S. (1996). The epistemology of qualitative research. In R. Jessor, A. Colby, & R. A.
Shweder (Ed.), Ethnography and human development: Context and meaning in social inquiry (pp. 53–71). The University of Chicago Press.
Becker, H. S., & Geer, B. (1958). “Participant observation and interviewing": Rejoinder. Human Organization, 17, 39-43. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.17.2.mm7q44u54l347521
Becker, H. S. (1958). Problems of inferences and proof in participant observation. American Sociological Review, 23(6), 652-660. https://doi.org/10.2307/2089053
Beckmann, E. A. (2017). Leadership through fellowship: Distributed leadership in a professional recognition scheme for university educators. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 39, 155-168. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080x.2017.1276663
Belair-Gagnon, V., & Revers, M. (2018). The sociology of journalism. In T. P. Vos (Ed.)
Journalism. Handbooks of Communication Science (pp. 257-280). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501500084-013
Bernard, H. Russell (1994). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (2nd ed.). Alta Mira Press.
Benson, R., & Neveu, E. (2005). Introduction. In R. Benson & E. Neveu (Ed.), Bourdieu and the journalistic field (pp. 1-25). Polity.
Birt, L., Scott, S., Cavers, D., Campbell, C., & Walter, F. (2016). Member checking: a tool to enhance trustworthiness or merely a nod to validation? Qualitative Health Research, 26(13), 1802-1811. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316654870
Blevins, M. D., (2017). Participant observation. In M. Allen (Ed.), Encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 1188-1190). Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483381411.n412
Becker, L. B., & Vlad, T. (2009). News organizations and routines. In K. Wahl-Jorgensen & T. Hanitzsch (Eds.), The handbook of journalism studies (pp. 59-72). Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (2005). The political field, the social science field, and the journalistic field. In R.
Benson & E. Neveu (Eds.), Bourdieu and the journalistic field (pp. 29-47). Polity.
Boczkowski, P. J. (2009). Rethinking hard and soft news production: From common ground to divergent paths. Journal of Communication, 59, 98-116. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.01406.x
Boczkowski, P. J. (2004). The processes of adopting multimedia and interactivity in three online
newsrooms. Journal of Communication, 54(2), 197-213. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2004.tb02624.x
Borg, S. (2021). Video-based observation in impact evaluation. Evaluation and Program
Planning, 89, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2021.102007
Breed, W. (1955). Social control in the newsroom. Social Forces, 33, 326-335. https://doi.org/10.2307/2573002
Bunce, M. (2019). Management and resistance in the digital newsroom. Journalism, 20, 890-
https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884916688963
Caines, K. E. (2010). Field study. In N. J. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Research Design (pp. 431-433). Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412961288.n152
Cohen, J. H. (2000). Problems in the field: Participant observation and the assumption of neutrality. Field Methods, 12(4), 316-333. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X0001200404
Corbetta, P. (2003). Participant observation. In Social research: Theory, methods, and techniques (pp. 235-263). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849209922.n9
Cottle, S. (2007). Ethnography and news production: New(s) developments in the field. Sociology Compass, 1, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00002.x
Cottle, S. (2000). New(s) times: Towards a ‘second wave’ of news ethnography. Communications, 25, 19-41. https://doi.org/10.1515/comm.2000.25.1.19
Cottle, S. (2009). Participant observation: Researching news production. In A. Hansen
(Ed.), Mass Communication Research Methods (pp. 260-285). Sage.
Crick, J. M. (2021). Qualitative research in marketing: What can academics do better? Journal of Strategic Marketing, 29(5), 390-429. https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2020.1743738
De Beer, A. S. (1993). Qualitative research in journalism: The quest for validity and objectivity. Communication, 10, 80-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/02500169308537728
DeWalt, K.M., & DeWalt, B. R. (2011). Participant observation: A guide for fieldworkers. Altamira. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.49-0366
Di Domenico, M. L., & Phillips, N. (2010). Participant observation. In A. J. Mills & E. Wiebe (Ed.), Encyclopedia of case study research (pp. 653-655). Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412957397.n244
Duffy, A., Tandoc, E. C., & Ling, R. (2018). Frankenstein journalism. Information, Communication & Society, 21(10), 1354-1368. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1313884
Eckman, A., & Lindlof, T. (2003). Negotiating the gray lines: An ethnographic case study of organizational conflict between advertorials and news. Journalism Studies, 4(1), 65-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700306507
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532-550. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1989.4308385
Elmasry, M. H. (2011). Producing news in Mubarak’s Egypt: An analysis of Egyptian newspaper production during the last Hosni Mubarak era. Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, 4(2&3), 121-144. https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr.4.2-3.121_1
Emerson, R. M. (1987). Four ways to improve the craft of fieldwork. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 16(1), 540-548. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241687161005
Epstein, B. (1973). News from nowhere: Television and the news. Random House.
Erjavec, K., & Poler Kova?i?, M. (2010). News producers' pressures on advertisers: Production of paid news in Slovenian television programs. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 54(3), 357-372. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2010.498853
Erjavec, K. (2004). Beyond advertising and journalism: Hybrid promotional news discourse. Discourse & Society, 15(5), 553-578. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926504045032
Ferrucci, P., Russell, F. M., Choi, H., Duffy, M., & Thorson, E. (2017). Times are a changin’:
How a merger affects the construction of news processes. Journalism Studies, 18(3), 247-264. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2015.1065197
Fink, E. J. & Gantz, W. (1996). A content analysis of three mass communication traditions: Social science, interpretative, and critical analysis. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 73(1), 114- 134. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909607300111
Flick, U. (2009). An introduction to qualitative research, 4th ed. Sage.
Forsey, M. (2010). Ethnography and the myth of participant observation. In S. Hillyard (Ed.), New frontiers in ethnography, studies in qualitative methodology, vol. 11 (pp. 65-79). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1042-3192(2010)0000011007
Frank, A. W. (2012). Practicing dialogical narrative analysis. In J. A. Holstein & J. F. Gubrium (Ed.), Varieties of narrative analysis (pp. 33-52). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506335117.n3
Gans, H. (2011). Participant observation in the era of “ethnography.” In P. Atkinson & S. Delmont. Sage Qualitative Research Methods (pp. 1-8). Sage.
Gans, H. (1999). Participant observation in the era of “ethnography.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 28(5), 69-89. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124199129023532
Gans, H. (1979). Deciding what’s news. Pantheon. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02701600
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books.
Gehman, J., Glaser, V. L., Eisenhardt, K. M., Gioia, D., Langley, A., & Corley, K. G. (2018). Finding theory-method fit: A comparison of three qualitative approaches to theory building. Journal of Management Inquiry, 27(3), 284-300. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492617706029
Genovese, J. (2015). Sports television reporters and the negotiation of fragmented professional identities. Communication, Culture & Critique, 8, 55–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/cccr.12069
Gerring, J. (2004). What is a case study and what is it good for? American Political Science Review, 341-354. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055404001182
Given, L. M., & Leckie, G. J. (2003). “Sweeping” the library: Mapping the social activity space of the public library. Library & Information Science Research, 25, 365-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0740-8188(03)00049-5
Glaser, B. G., Strauss, A. L., & Strutzel, E. (1968). The discovery of grounded theory; strategies for qualitative research. Nursing Research, 17, 364. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-196807000-00014
Gold, R. L. (1958). Roles in sociological field observations. Social Forces, 36(3), 217-223. https://doi.org/10.2307/2573808
Guest, G., Namey, E. E., & Mitchell, M. L. (2013). Collecting qualitative data: A field manual for applied research. Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506374680
Gustafsson, J. (2017). Single case studies vs. multiple case studies: A comparative study. (Thesis). Halmstad, Sweden: Halmstad University.
Hammersley, M. (2006). Ethnography: problems and prospects. Ethnography and Education, 1(1), 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457820500512697
Hammersley, M. (1995). Theory and evidence in qualitative research. Quality and Quantity, 29, 55-66. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01107983
Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography: Principles in Practice, 3rd ed.
Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203944769
Harrison, A. K. (2018). Ethnography. Understanding qualitative research. Oxford
University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199371785.001.0001
Hart, T. (2022). Exploring cultural communication from the inside out. An ethnographic toolkit. Cognella.
Hassan, M. M., & Elmasry, M. H. (2019). Convergence between platforms in the newsroom. Journalism Practice, 13(4), 476-492. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1507681
Hennell, K., Limmer, M., & Piacentini, M. (2020). Ethical dilemmas using social media in qualitative social research: A case study of online participant observation. Sociological Research Online, 25(3), 473-489. https://doi.org/10.1177/1360780419888933
Hettinga, K. E. (2013) Experiencing error: How journalists describe what it's like when the press fails. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 28(1), 30-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/08900523.2012.746529
Hockey, J., & Forsey, M. (2012). Ethnography is not participant observation: Reflections on the interview as participatory qualitative research. In J. Skinner (Ed.), The interview: An ethnographic approach (pp. 69–87). Berg. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474214230.ch-002
Hokka, J. (2019). Towards nuanced universality: Developing a concept bible for public service online news production. European Journal of Communication, 34(1), 74–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323118810862
Humphreys, L, Lewis, N. A., Sender, K., & Stevenson Won, A. (2021). Integrating qualitative methods and open science: Five principles for more trustworthy research. Journal of Communication, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab026
Jorgensen, D. L. (1989). A participant observation. A methodology for human studies. Sage. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412985376.n1
Kawulich, B. B. (2005). Participant observation as a data collection method. Qualitative Social Research, 6, 1-22. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/
Korbin, J. E. (2018). Participant observation. In M. H. Bornstein (Eds.), Encyclopedia of
Lifespan Human Development (pp. 1597-1599). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506307633.n598
Kumar, A., & Haneef, M. S. (2018). Is mojo (en) de-skilling? Unfolding the practices of mobile
journalism in an Indian newsroom. Journalism Practice, 12, 1292-1310. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2017.1389291
Kurz, D. E. (1983). The use of participant observation research in evaluation research. Evaluation and Program Planning, 6, 93-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/0149-7189(83)90022-8
Lacy, S., Watson, B. R., Riffe, D., & Lovejoy, J. (2015). Issues and best practices in content analysis. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 92(4), 791-811. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699015607338
LeCompte, M. D. (2000). Analyzing qualitative data. Theory into Practice, 39, 146-154. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip3903_5
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage.
Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B.C. (2017). Qualitative communication research methods, 4th ed. Sage.
Lu, A. S. (2007). The characteristics of introductory research methods in mass communication doctoral programs. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 62(3), 289-304. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769580706200305
Luff, P., Hindmarsh, J., & Heath, C. (2000). Workplace studies: Recovering work practice and information system design. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511628122
Lund, M. K. (2012). More news for less. How the professional values of 24/7 journalism reshaped Norway's TV2 newsroom. Journalism Practice, 6(2), 201-216. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2011.633791
Manninen, V. J. (2017). Sourcing practices in online journalism: An ethnographic study of the formation of trust in and the use of journalistic sources. Journal of Media Practice, 18, 212-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/14682753.2017.1375252
Mabweazara, H. M. (2013). Ethnography as negotiated lived experience’: Researching the fluid and multi-sited uses of digital technologies in journalism practice. Westminster Papers, 9(3), 97-120. doi:10.16997/wpcc.175
Malinowski, B. (1922). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
McKechnie, L. E. (2008). Participant observation. In L. M. Given (Ed.), Encyclopedia of qualitative research methods (pp. 599-600). Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412963909.n309
McQuail, D. (1985). Sociology of mass communication. Annual Review of Sociology, 11, 93-11. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.11.080185.000521
Moon, R. (2019). Beyond puppet journalism: The bridging work of transnational journalists in a local field. Journalism Studies, 20(12), 1714-1731. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2019.1638293
Morse, J. (1994). Designing funded qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Ed.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 138-157). Sage.
Nip, J. Y. M. (2008) The last days of civic journalism. Journalism Practice, 2(2), 179-196. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512780801999352
Paterson, C., & Domingo, D. (2008). Making online news: The ethnography of new media production. Peter Lang.
Persaud, I. (2010). Field study. In N. J. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of research design (pp. 489-490). Sage. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412961288.n152
Platt, J. (1983). The development of the “participant observation” method in sociology: Origin myth and history. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 19(4), 379-393. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6696(198310)19:4<379::AID-JHBS2300190407>3.0.CO;2-5
Reese, S. D. (2016). The new geography of journalism research: Levels and spaces. Digital Journalism, 4, 816-826. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1152903
Reese, S. D. (2009). Managing the symbolic arena: The media sociology of Herbert Gans. In C.
Holtz-Bacha, G. Reus, & L. B. Becker (Ed.), Wissenschaft mit Wirkung (pp. 279–293). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. doi:10.1007/978-3-531-91756-6_20
Reese, S. D., & Ballinger, J. (2001). The roots of a sociology of news: Remembering Mr. Gates
and social control in the newsroom. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 78(4), 641-658. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900107800402
Revers, M. (2015). The augmented newsbeat: Spatial structuring in a Twitterized news
ecosystem. Media, Culture & Society, 37(1), 51-67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443714549085
Riffe, D., Lacy, S., Watson, B., & Fico, F. G. (2019). Analyzing media messages. Using
quantitative analysis in research. Lawrence Erlbaum. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429464287
Roberts, L. D., & Povee, K. (2014). A brief measure of attitudes towards qualitative research in psychology. Australian Journal of Psychology, 66(4), 249-256. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12059
Sandiford, P. J. (2015). Participant observation as ethnography or ethnography as participant observation in organizational research. In K. D. Strang (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Research Design in Business and Management, (pp. 411-443). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137484956.0031
Schensul, J. J., & LeCompte, M. D. (2012). Essential ethnographic methods: A mixed methods approach. Rowman Altamira.
Shenton, A. K. (2004). Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects.
Education for Information, 22, 63-75. doi:10.3233/EFI-2004-22201
Seim, J. (2021). Participant observation, observant participation, and hybrid ethnography. Sociological Methods & Research, 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124120986209
Silverman, D. (2006). Interpreting qualitative data. Sage
Silverman, D. (2020). Collecting qualitative data during a pandemic. Communication and Medicine, 17(1), 76-84. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.19256
Singer, J. B. (2009). Ethnography. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 86, 191-198. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900908600112
Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant observation. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Hold, Rinehart and Winston.
Steele, R. M. (1987). Video ethics: The dilemma of value balancing. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 2(2), 7-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/08900528709358289
Steensen, S. (2009). The shaping of an online feature journalist. Journalism, 10(5), 702-718. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884909106540
Stryker, J. E., Wray, R. J., Hornik, R. C., & Yanovitzky, I. (2006). Validation of database search terms for content analysis: The case of cancer news coverage. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 83(2), 413-430. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900608300212
Sumiala, J., & Tikka, M. (2020). Digital media ethnographers on the move–An unexpected proposal. Journal of Digital Social Research, 2(1), 39-55. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/316299
Tameling, K., & Broersma, M. (2013). De-converging the newsroom: Strategies for newsroom change and their influence on journalism practice. International Communication Gazette, 75(1), 19–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048512461760
Tandoc, E. C., & Vos, T. P. (2016). The journalist is marketing the news. Social media in the gatekeeping process. Journalism Practice, 10(8), 950-966. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2015.1087811
Taylor, S. J., & Bogdan, R. (1998). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. (3rd ed.). Wiley.
Tenzek, K. E. (2018). Field notes. In M. Allen (Ed.), The Sage encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 1-6). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483381411.n201
The British Sociological Society (2021). Ethics guidelines for internet-mediated research, 1-23. Retrieved from http://www.bps.org.uk/sites/www.bps.org.uk/files/Policy/Policy%20-%20Files/Ethics%20Guidelines%20for%20Internet-mediated%20Research.pdf
Tong, A., Sainsbury, P., & Craig, P. (2007). Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): A 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. International Journal of Quality in Health Care, 19(6), 349-357. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzm042
Tuchman, G. (1973). Making news by doing work: Routinizing the unexpected. American Journal of Sociology, 79, 110-131. https://doi.org/10.1086/225510
Tuchman, G. (2002). Media institutions qualitative methods in the study of news. In A handbook of qualitative methodologies for mass communication research (pp. 93-106). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203409800-9
Van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S. (2017). Field research methods. In J. A. Baum (Ed.), The Blackwell companion to organizations (pp. 867-888). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405164061.ch38
Vandendaele, A., & Jacobs, G. (2014). The Lowlands Newsroom Model: Fieldwork notes on the position of the newspaper sub-editor. Journalism Studies, 15(6), 879-897. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2013.851161
Verd, J. M., Barranco, O., & Lozares, C. (2021). Blending the focused ethnographic method and case study research: Implication regarding case selection and generalization of results. Field Methods, 33(1), 25-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X20932495
White, D. (1950). The 'gatekeeper': A case study in the selection of news. Journalism Quarterly, 27, 383-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769905002700403
Willig, I. (2013). Newsroom ethnography in a field perspective. Journalism, 14(3), 372-387. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884912442638
Westlund, O., & Ekström, M. (2019). The dislocation of news journalism: A conceptual framework for the study of epistemologies of digital journalism. Media and Communication, 7, 259-270. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i1.1763
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research. Design and methods, 3rd ed. Sage.
Zelizer, B. (2004). Taking journalism seriously: News and the Academy. Sage.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2021 Array