Example Of Participant Observation

For my participant observation assignment, I chose to investigate the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in San Francisco. This year’s procession was held accordingly in the city’s famous Mission district on the twelfth of March. As I have attended in years past and am familiar with the humbug of the day, I anticipated an even grander turnout in honor of the big year. I chose to examine the festivities because in my years attending the parade I have been always been skeptical of the motives of the attendees because many seem to use the event as a platform to get belligerently drunk but do not actually acknowledge the cultural component. For this reason, I chose to expand my curiosity and brave the rainy parade as a participant-observer. Typically characterized as the heart of ethnographic research, participant-observation is the compilation of daily fieldwork over a period of time, favorably a long period. Although my observation was just one day, as an active participant-observer I gathered a substantial pool of research that has allowed me to make conclusions. Additionally, because I have been to the parade a number of times I have the advantage of being able to compare multiple years as …show more content…
During my empirical study I was able to get a first hand account of the topic. Because this event only occurs once a year it would be difficult to carry out an extensive study however because the event is so large there is a lot to observe in the small amount of time. If I were to continue this study, I would interview different attendees and would hopefully research other parades around the country. In comparison to the interviewing process, participant observation is a first hand and an interview is a secondary source. Although they are both crucial to the ethnographer, from practicing both it seems that the participant observation provides more