Participant Observation in Political Science: Methodological Reflection and Field Report

Authors

  • Helmar Schöne Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-4.2.720

Keywords:

political science, parliament, participant observation, legislative studies, qualitative research, research methods in political science, politicians, political behavior

Abstract

The usage of participant observation in empirical studies in political science has been rare and moreover the reflection of the underlying theories and methods has been very unsatisfactory. After a theoretical introduction this article shows a way of applying participant observation efficiently to political science research, based on the practical and methodical experience from two research projects on parliamentarism. The article discusses the chances of cognition provided by participant observation and suggests solutions to problems that emerge during the preparation of survey instruments, during the field work and during the data analysis. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0302202

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Author Biography

Helmar Schöne, Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd

Helmar SCHÖNE, Dr.-phil., Dipl.-Politologe, geboren 1966, Studium der Politikwissenschaft und Soziologie in Berlin. Seit 2002 wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter der Abt. Soziologie/Politikwissenschaft an der Pädagogischen Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd. Forschungsschwerpunkte: Parlamentarismusforschung, Politische-Kultur-Forschung, Regierungssystem der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Qualitative Methoden in der Politikwissenschaft.

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Published

2003-05-31

How to Cite

Schöne, H. (2003). Participant Observation in Political Science: Methodological Reflection and Field Report. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-4.2.720

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2003): Subjectivity and Reflexivity in Qualitative Research II

Section

Single Contributions

License

Copyright (c) 2003 Helmar Schöne

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.