is this participant observation? (1 Viewer)

[soulshine]

um. yeah well for my PIP i need to investigate what the lyrics of music off to individuals in the way of self actualisation, and i have decided to join the message board of a certain band which i'm looking at. Would being a user of this message board - reading all the discussions and their ideas and occasionally contributing to conversations and stuff - be participant observation?

 

[Kulazzi]

Participant and non-participant I would think so

 

[winicat]

i think participant would mean you actually have to get pretty involved in the community rather than "occassionaly contributing". simply adding comments once in a while would be kind of like observing a group and asking what they are doing (or the like) -- ie. non-partcipant.

 

[mishka]

and "observe" indicates that watching would be involved. i don't know whether or not forum discussions would be regarded as valid research, but i could be wrong. personally i would steer clear of that sort of thing.

 

[soulshine]

and "observe" indicates that watching would be involved. i don't know whether or not forum discussions would be regarded as valid research, but i could be wrong. personally i would steer clear of that sort of thing.

but i am observing their attitudes and responses to situations and questions...

 

[Abbeygale]

but i am observing their attitudes and responses to situations and questions...

I used a forum discussion in my Mini PIP, but called it content analysis.

 

[soulshine]

yeah? i dunno if i can do that with this, seeing as though i'm not really controlling or in charge of whats happening at all. i'm just kinda keeping low and seeing how people act and what they say amomgst themselves and seeing what clues it gives me in regards to my studies...

 

[soulshine]

I'M SPYING ON THEM! ...with the occasional interjection...

 

[Abbeygale]

I assume you're referring to my post?

You don't have to be in control to do content analysis on a forum thread. If you're not participating all that much in the discussion (in fact, zero participation is best for content analysis) then it probably is CA.

 

[Survivor39]

um. yeah well for my PIP i need to investigate what the lyrics of music off to individuals in the way of self actualisation, and i have decided to join the message board of a certain band which i'm looking at. Would being a user of this message board - reading all the discussions and their ideas and occasionally contributing to conversations and stuff - be participant observation?

If you actually post and participate in the conversation, then you are doing participant observation.

If you just simply read other people's comments and not posting/replying, then it is just observation.

 

[steffo]

it seems that it would be participant observation. it seems like a pretty good idea to use a forum. i suppose you could have a chat to the forum members, see what thoughts and ideas they have, then establish whether it would be more appropriate to use it as participant observation (whether you could justify it as this, reveal why you consider it to be this type of research) or content analysis, or even an element media analysis perhaps. ask your teacher too.

 

[winicat]

this is kind of a side note but: how much easier (lazier? lol) is the PIP with the internet? lol you can do all of your methodologies online really? good old IM-ing, forums and freesurvey *sighs*

 

[pirotess4]

I think that the internet is a really useful tool for the PIP. It's certainly help advance my research but there still are other methodologies that can be used in the real world which are really good too!

Your PIP sounds good soulshine!! Good luck with everything!!

 

[shady_03]

Nah i dont think it is, for my pip last yr i did participant observation and i had to go out and do it. Then again i did it at 2 concerts lol

 

[shady_03]

Mine was kinda like that, it was the effect of rap and metal music on impressionable teenagers. I wrote a bit on self acutalisation i think ...

 

[soulshine]

hey i've pmed you shady bro. yeehaw!

 

[hiphophorray123]

i did mine last year with shady 03, we went to same school, mine was on diff topic though, it's not participant observation i don't think, that's a bit difficult, but if it's people posting on what they know about the band and then u analysing that then it is secondary research (content analysis)