Participant Observation

Danny L. Jorgensen is Professor (and former Chair) of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida, Tampa, where he has been employed since 1978 (initially in sociology until 1991). His academic training and degrees are in sociology: B.S., Northern Arizona University, 1972; M.A. Western Kentucky University, 1974; and The Ohio State University, 1979. Jorgensen′s teaching and research is in the areas of participant observation, ethnography, and qualitative research; the sociology of religion; and new religions in America, including Mormonism, Neopaganism and Witchcraft, Scientology, and Old Order Anabaptists (Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites, and Brethren). He is the author of several books, edited books, and an extensive array of book chapters and journal articles, many of them based on participant observation and other qualitative, ethnographic methods in these areas. He and spouse, June, reside part of the year in Tampa and part of the year near Lebanon, in southern Missouri, on a hundred acre horse farm.

This is a well written manual for any undergraduate looking to conduct participant observations as part of their research project. Highly recommended.

• The Methodology of Participant ObservationThe Process of Defining a ProblemGaining Entrée to a SettingParticipating in Everyday LifeDeveloping and Sustaining Field RelationshipsObserving and Gathering InformationNotes, Records, and FilesAnalyzing and TheorizingLeaving the Field and Communicating Results