Cover -- Half title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1: What Is Participant Observation? -- The Method of Participant Observation -- History of the Method -- Why Participant Observation Is Important -- Enhancing the Quality of Data Collection and Analysis -- Formulating New Research Questions -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Learning To Be a Participant Observer: Theoretical Issues -- Learning To Be a Participant Observer -- Observation and Participation -- Participation and Observation: An Oxymoron in Action? -- What Determines the Role a Researcher Will Adopt? -- Limits to Participation? -- Beyond the Reflexivity Frontier -- Participant Observation on the Fast Track -- Notes -- Chapter 3: Doing Participant Observation: Becoming a Participant -- Entering the Field -- First Contact -- Establishing Rapport -- Breaking Through -- Talking the Talk -- Walking the Walk -- Making Mistakes -- Notes -- Chapter 4: The Costs of Participation: Culture Shock -- Coping with Culture Shock -- Participating and Parenting: Children and Field Research -- Reverse Culture Shock (Reentry Shock) -- Note -- Chapter 5: Doing Participant Observation: Becoming an Observer -- The Role of Theory and Conceptual Frameworks -- Taking the Observer Role -- Attending to Detail: Mapping the Scene -- (Participatory) Community Mapping -- Counting -- Attending to Conversation -- Field Notes as a Training Tool for Observation -- Seeing Old Events with New Eyes -- Practicing and Improving Observation and Memory -- What to Observe -- Just Experiencing -- Limits to Observation -- Ethnographer Bias -- Notes -- Chapter 6: Gender and Sex Issues in Participant Observation -- The Gendered Ethnographer -- Up Close and Personal: Sex in the Field -- Note -- Chapter 7: Designing Research with Participant Observation -- Participant Observation and Research Design.

Fundamentals of Design of Participant Observation -- Objectivity -- Reliability -- Elements of Design -- Choosing a Question -- Appropriate Questions -- Choosing a Site -- Appropriate Methods and the Benefits of Triangulation -- Enhancing Representativeness: Sampling in Participant Observation -- Proposing Participant Observation -- Research Objectives -- Notes -- Chapter 8: Informal Interviewing in Participant Observation -- Types of Interviews -- Interview Techniques -- Active Listening -- Sensitive Silence -- The Uh-huh Prompt -- Repetition Feedback -- Summary Feedback -- Asking Questions in Interviewing -- Tell Me More -- For Clarification -- Naïve Questions -- Avoiding Confrontation -- Changing Topics -- Talking About Sensitive Subjects -- Concluding an Interview -- Notes -- Chapter 9: Writing Field Notes -- History -- Kinds of Field Notes -- Jot Notes -- Expanded Notes: Field Notes Proper -- Methodological Notes -- Diaries and Journals -- Logs -- Meta-notes/Analytic Notes -- Headnotes -- Field Notes in Virtual Research -- How to Record -- Research Integrity: Who Owns the Field Notes -- Notes -- Chapter 10: Analyzing Field Notes -- Process of Data Analysis -- Managing Qualitative Data -- Data Reduction -- Approaches to Indexing -- Coding for Themes -- Coding for Characteristics -- Managing Coding and Indexing -- Word Searches -- Data Display -- Quotes -- Vignettes and Cases -- Tables and Matrices -- Charts -- Decision Modeling -- Interpretation and Verification -- Audit Trails -- Writing Up -- Notes -- Chapter 11: Ethical Concerns in Participant Observation -- Need for Competency -- The Meaning of Informed Consent in Participant Observation -- Right to Privacy -- Ethical Conduct of Participant Observation in Online Settings -- Ethical Publication -- Relationships -- Ethics and the Limits to Participation -- Note.

Appendix: Sample Field Notes from Three Projects -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Authors.