Observational Studies
Observational research, also called field research, is a staple of sociology. Sociologists have long gone into the
field to observe people and social settings, and the result has been many rich descriptions and analyses of behavior
in juvenile gangs, bars, urban street corners, and even whole communities.
Observational studies consist of both participant observation and nonparticipant observation. Their names
describe how they differ. In participant observation, the researcher is part of the group that she or he is studying,
spends time with the group, and might even live with people in the group. Several classical social problems studies
of this type exist, many of them involving people in urban neighborhoods (Liebow, 1967; Liebow, 1993; Whyte,
1943). In nonparticipant observation, the researcher observes a group of people but does not otherwise interact
with them. If you went to your local shopping mall to observe, say, whether people walking with children looked
happier than people without children, you would be engaging in nonparticipant observation.
Similar to experiments, observational studies cannot automatically be generalized to other settings or members of
the population. But in many ways they provide a richer account of people’s lives than surveys do, and they remain
an important method of research on social problems.
