Parkers participant observation describes The Boys everyday lives but what else does it do? Critically consider the impact of the study and its relevance to theory, methodology, and policy.

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Parker's participant observation describes 'The Boys' everyday lives but what else does it do? Critically consider the impact of the study and it's relevance to theory, methodology, and policy.

In this essay I will be looking at the observational study carried out by Howard Parker, 'A View from the Boys' (1947). In this study Parker covertly participated to find out about the lives of a gang of adolescent boys from Liverpool.

The study was looking into the sub-culture aspect of crime and deviance with a strong hold of Functionalism. Both the Functionalist and the sub-culture theories stress the learning of norms and values are crucial to the relation to crime committed. The sub-culture in Parker's study focused on the behaviour and beliefs of the boys that he studied that differentiated them from the public generally. The sub-culture in a 'View from the Boys' came about due to the boys being in a gang and separating themselves from the rest of the public and engaging themselves in criminal behaviour.

It is possible to see that it would have been difficult for Parker to have gained access to the group. This is a difficult aspect of participant observation as the observer cannot go into a group without them being curious, which would affect their behaviour and would question the validity of the study. However, in Parkers case he was easily able to gain access as he had met some of the boys previously at a country holiday centre set up for Liverpool's deprived children.

In addition to this it was necessary that Parker would fit in with the boys. In saying this we would have to accept the fact that a female researcher wouldn't have been able to fit in with the 'boys'. According to Parker, 'If I had not been young, hairy, boozy, willing to keep long hours and accept permissive standards, the liaison would never have worked'.

The study carried out by Parker has always been given great weight as it looks closely at participation observation and the effects that it may have. Throughout the study Parker deliberately kept his identity hidden as he knew that if he allowed his identity to be known then the boys might not accept him as part of the group and wouldn't trust him. He couldn't allow this to happen as he wanted the boys to behave the way that would under normal circumstances and only then would he be able to get any real results.

However, as Parker became 'one' of the boys the validity of the study was in question as it is possible to see that in the many times throughout the study he did stop the boys from committing crimes and therefore affecting the study. Due to his involvement in the gang he did many a times change their behaviour, not due to his presence but because of his actions as part of the gang. For example, Parker occasionally stepped in when the gang members would try to steal cars and would stop them. At one point, he even provided legal advice to gang members charged with theft.

It has been criticised that covert participation studies were not actually ethical as many times the researcher would have to act in a way that would be illegal or unethical. However, when Parker did engage in criminal behaviour, for example receiving stolen goods, he claimed that this involvement was necessary for the gang to carry on trusting him and accepting him into their activities on more of a daily basis.
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It is seen by many that participation observation is the method of anthropology that is 'concerned with all humans at all times and with all dimensions of humanity.'1 This has been used in a wide range of sociological studies already as when the researcher has 'become part of a daily round, learning languages and meanings, rules of impersonal...and in short, living the life of the people under study.' (Hughes, 1976).

Analysing Parkers study it is possible to see that it allowed sociologists to take a closer look at the way that covert participant observation was carried out ...

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