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(2013) New challenges to philosophy of science, Dordrecht, Springer.
In this paper, I examine the early history of discussions of participant observation and objectivity in anthropology. The discussions resolve around the question of whether participant observation is a reliable method for obtaining data that may serve as the basis for true accounts of native ways of life. I show how Malinowski in 1922 introduced participant observation as a straightforwardly reliable method and then discuss how – and why – most of the discussants in the 1940s and 1950s maintained that the method is reliable only if the researcher takes a whole number of precautionary measures.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-5845-2_29
Full citation:
Zahle, J. (2013)., Participant observation and objectivity in anthropology, in H. Andersen, D. Dieks, T. Uebel, W. J. González & G. Wheeler (eds.), New challenges to philosophy of science, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 365-376.
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