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Ann Bonner and Gerda Tolhurst provide personal accounts of their experiences in conducting research involving participant observation. Issues discussed include the advantages and disadvantages of nurse researchers as insiders and outsiders. Also considered are strategies used to overcome both researcher effect and participant response to the researcher
Key words: data collection, nursing research, participant observation
Introduction
In undertaking research involving participant observation, the nurse researcher needs to be concerned with balancing the dual roles of being a nurse and a researcher (Gerrish 1997, Spradley 1980). There is a need to develop a trusting relationship with participants and to `fit in' so that the researcher's presence causes as little disruption as possible to normal activities. At the same time the balance is needed to establish a sufficient distance between the researcher and the nurses to make sense of the observations (Atkinson and Hammersley 1994, Spradley 1980).
Participant observation is a typical data-collection method used in grounded theory research (Glaser and Strauss 1967, Morse and Field 1996), with data collection occurring in the natural setting in which the participants are located (Adler and Adler 1994). Observations are made of people in the context of their normal environment, setting or field; hence, the term fieldwork or field research (Minichiello et al 1991). Participant observation consists of gathering impressions of the participants' behaviour and involves looking, listening and asking (Lofland 1971). The researcher as participant observer attempts to assume the role of the individuals under study and to understand his or her thoughts, feelings and actions (Wiersma 1995). According to several authors, participant observation represents an excellent source of qualitative data (Davis 1986, Morse and Field 1996, Polit and Hungler 1991). Participant observation allows a researcher to view nurses as they practice nursing, and this feature assists with the 'validation' and interpretation of information provided by participants during any subsequent interviews (Morse and Field 1996). Participant observation allows the researcher, therefore, to observe nurses' actions and interactions, together with their antecedent and consequent conditions. The multitude of demands on the investigator includes collecting, coding, and analysing of data as well as maintaining an active and close relationship with the participants in the research study. At times, in an attempt to provide an account of the participants' world...