Participant Observation as a Research Methodology

Quite some years ago when I was teaching junior high literature we chanced to read an excerpt from a biography of Benjamin West entitled Fork in the Road. Briefly, the author recounted the sequence of events which led to West's Quaker community bestowing its blessing upon his choice of vocation. I had long since forgotten the story but my memory was reawakened as I recently read Kenneth Beittel's An Alternative Path For Inquiry Into Art.' In a most appropriate and symbolic way Professor Beittel uses precisely the same in the road metaphor to describe his own search identity as a researcher in art. He recalls how one day, for no premeditated reason, he varied his routine by taking the left fork rather than the right in his daily amble through the woods adjoining his studio. The territory was the same; but the perceptions, meanings, and experiences encountered were quite different. For Beittel the choice of the left fork over the right was significant it reflected the choices the researcher has in selecting methodologies. The purpose of this paper is to explore one of those choices-the use of participant observation in research.