What is the process of participant observation in anthropology?

Question

I know there are before, during and after research processes, but I don't know sub-processes. Hope you help.

Answer 1

It is an anthropological theory first proposed by Malinowski under his so called "functional social anthropology" where he says the following conditions must occur when we do ethnography of a tribe:

1.Donot study the "natives" by mingling with the colonialist (white people)

2.Make your tent/living space within the place of which the subject studied.

3. respect their rites and follow their way of life as much as you can so you get respect and honest feedbacks.

4. respect the "informant" but also question his feedbacks by putting him under scientific guidelines and rules.

And, above all, donot compare his own society with theirs. This would deeply encourage the negative/positive biases that is innate within our "unschooled" minds.

he said a lot of other things but why not read his famous "argonauts of the western pacific (1922)"

Answer 2

Participant observation, by learning the language and living among the people. One must learn the language in order to communicate and thus appear genuine to the native or ingenious people you plan to study. This is called fieldwork, and participant-observation  is a method of field work.  The cultural anthropologist lives with the people under study and observes their everyday activities keeping logs/journals. Conducting interviews of open and closed questions. I hope this was helpful. God bless****

Answer 3

It's exactly as it sounds - becoming a "participant" in the group you are studying while simultaneously remaining an outside "observer" - the old subjective/obejective dichotomy.  Many anthropologists take notebooks full of notes during the study.  S/he will also research like crazy to get the most information s/he can.  The after-process is a reflection on the notebooks full of details.  It can also bring to mind personal biases - kind of like a self/post-analysis.