ABSTRACT
The researcher unobtrusively records information about the subjects as they go about their regular activities. However, some settings, such as a hospital emergency waiting room, require more detailed information about the social circumstances, medical conditions, and subjects’ backgrounds than detached observation might provide. If a participant observer interacts with the group being studied, the interaction might influence the social event under study. However, a researcher could study an event without becoming a part of it. Nonparticipant observation, sometimes called a complete observation, allows observations to be made without making the subjects aware that they are being studied. It usually is undertaken in public settings, where the researcher is unlikely to know most other people. The subjects might not even know they are part of a research project. The nonparticipant observer also is likely to have limited time before being noticed and queried by hospital staff.
