The Participant observation is a method of conducting research, where the researcher stays within the observable group in overt or covert way to study them and arrive at some theory based on their hypothesis.
However, there are lots of fallacy in the method which makes it nothing more than a case study like
1) To Quantitative researchers, the samples used in Participant Observation is to small and untypical for generalization to be made. It applies more to the specific group studied.
2) Such studies can'be replicated, hence the results can't be verified. Therefore it is difficult to compare with the results of other studies.
3) The data and results are heavily dependent on the observant interpretative and observational skills.
4) the data collected and results are highly selective, the participant tend to collect data points which suits only his hypothesis. Hence, many conclusions can be drawn from the same subject group and data points
5) The presence of researchers affects the behavior of the group and hence skews the data
However, qualitative researchers have argued that its not merely a case study but the theory produced can be useful through the concept of "Grounded Theory", which basically means producing theory based on the data from one observed sample and with time validate it as grounded theory based on observations made from other samples. But, proving Grounded Theory is not an easy task and it involves lots of complexity and subjectivity.
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