NAME: HAREEM ZEHRA.

ID : FA19-BBAH-0033

Assignment 1
Study the following material and answer the questions below.
'Getting a taste of participant observation is not particularly easy because it is not just a matter of
joining in with some suitable group. The skill is to "join in" but to maintain a degree of detachment
and to analyse the experience systematically from a sociological point of view. Nevertheless, the
following exercise should be of value. Choose a "new experience" - some social situation or activity
that you have never undertaken before. The experience should be one where there are not serious
problems of "entry", "gatekeepers' or 'acquiring a native costume". As far as possible try to find out
about the situation before you participate in it. Go into the observation

with some broad issue that you wish to focus on; it is not enough to "just experience". Observe with
care. Write up a detailed description as soon as possible afterwards, noting any aspect that seemed
relevant and also the ways that other participants interpreted or "made sense" of their world.'

'We are all familiar with the image of the scientist as the uncommitted searcher after truth. He is the
explorer of nature -the man who rejects prejudice at the threshold of his laboratory, who collects
and examines the bare and objective facts, and whose loyalty is to such facts and to them alone.
These are the characteristics which make the testimony of scientists so valuable when advertising
products. To be scientific is, among other things, to be objective and openminded.'

Q1: With reference to one or more examples, explain why 'acquiring a native costume' might cause
problems for the researcher using participant observation (Item A, lines 8-9).

ANSWER :1

Acquiring a native costume' might cause problems for the researcher because it is be more difficult
to find out whether there is an experiment conducting and thus there would be more chance of
getting accurate and more realistic answers. Secondly, there wouldn’t be any misrepresentations in
the experiment as no one would be able to find out the objectives and this would also lead to
realistic outcomes.

Q2:To what extent can participant observation be regarded as scientific in the sense described in
Item B?

ANSWER:2

Participant observation is a qualitative research method in which the researcher not only observes
the research participants, but also actively engages in the activities of the research participants. …
Most researchers who conduct participant observations take on the role that they are interested in
studying
Q2: far is the image of scientists presented in Item B an accurate portrayal of how natural Scientists
actually work?

ANSWER:3

We are all familiar with the image of the scientist as the uncommitted searcher after truth. He is the
explorer of Nature -the man who rejects prejudice at the threshold of his laboratory, who collects
and examines the bare and Objective facts, and whose loyalty is to such facts and to them alone.
These are the characteristics which make The testimony of scientists so valuable when advertising
products. To be scientific is, among other things, to be Objective and open-minded