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An Example of Participant Observation William Whyte Street Corner Society, 1955 Whyte's study is a classic of research in the P.O. tradition. It is a study of young men from an inner city Italian community in Boston, USA. All observation involves the selection of data, but in P.O. the observer is very much influenced by what is presented to him/her. This will depend, very much, on how s/he is seen by the group being studied. Whyte illustrates some of these problems of data collection and observer role. The spring of 1937 provided me with an intensive course in participant observation. I was learning how to conduct myself, and I learned from various groups, particularly from the Norton Street Gang. I soon found that people were developing their own explanations about me: I was writing a book about Cornerville. This might seem entirely too vague an explanation, yet it sufficed. I found that my...

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