Example of undisguised participant observation method

Typically, there are 5 basic methods of ethnographic research which are naturalism, participant observation, interviews, surveys, and archival research. Carrying out ethnographic research will involve one or more research techniques depending on the field, sample size, and purpose of the research. Live and work. In one study, for example, researchers video-recorded a subset of their participants' reactions and had two observers independently code them. The two observers showed that they agreed on the reactions that were exhibited 97% of the time, indicating good interrater reliability. Lastly, disguised observation raises some ethical issues regarding obtaining information without respondents' knowledge. For example, the observations collected by an observer participating in an internet chat room discussing how racists advocate racial violence may be seen as incriminating evidence collected without the respondents' knowledge. Compared to naturalistic observation, participant observation provides a greater opportunity to gain insights about the personal meaning of behaviour to group members, particularly when the observation is undisguised and the researcher is thus free to supplement observations with interviews or other data collection methods. A psychologist/sociologist observing the behaviour of people on a railway platform without any explicit principles and procedures is an example of unsystematic observation. Observation has also been classified on the basis of the role played by the investigator.