ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the full range of activities that constitute participant-observation research. A multifaceted research method and theory, participant-observation is the process of living, working, and otherwise hanging out with a defined group of people might be considered an interpretive community. It discusses an ethnographic sensibility such as a feeling, an excitement, and a deep appreciation, may be even a bit of awe, that human groups create the intricate, rich, and dynamic structures of living people call culture. One central tool for US policy analysis and formation is demographic data such as the decennial census, the American Housing Survey, and various other large databases. Participant-observation plays a role in interpreting the meanings of their numbers. This deeper analytic orientation is particularly apparent in one of the central issues in contemporary policy analysis. More and more, planners and policy analysts are looking for ways to incorporate multiple and varied stakeholders in the decision-making process.
