Participant observation emerged as the principal approach to ethnographic research by anthropologists in the twentieth century. It relies on the cultivation of personal relationships with local informants as a way of learning about a culture, and involves both observing and participating in the social life of a group.

Participant observation has its roots in anthropology and as a methodology can be attributed to Frank Hamilton Cushing in his study of the Zuni Indians in the later part of the nineteenth century, followed by the studies of non-Western societies by people such as Bronislaw Malinowski, Edward Evans-Pritchard, and Margaret Mead in the first half of the twentieth century. By living with the cultures they studied, these researchers were able to formulate first hand accounts of their lives and gain insight never before accomplished.

This same method of study has also been applied to groups within Western society, and is especially successful in the study of sub-cultures or groups sharing a strong sens of identity, where only by taking part might the observer truly get access to the lives of those being studied.

See also: Participatory Action Research , qualitative research, qualitative psychological research.