‘Episodic participant observation’: Critiquing the ideal and offering an inclusive version of participant observation as a supplementary method in qualitative studies

This article argues that one specific way of conducting participant observation is idealized in the qualitative research community. This ideal is the traditional version which has been and continues to be long-term fieldwork of participant observation far from home. Unfortunate effects of this idealization are the production of one ideal ethnographer as well as systematic exclusion of some groups of academics and their knowledges and perspectives, for instance (some) disabled researchers. To increase accessibility, an inclusive version of the method is introduced under the term ‘episodic participant observation’. It opens for a flexible and pragmatic use of participant observation which in this version may be conducted ‘episodic’, meaning for shorter or longer timespans, planned or spontaneously, and at any location. Two empirical examples are used to illustrate the potential scientific value of ‘episodic participant observation’ as a supplementary method in qualitative studies.