 We have earlier described participant observation. It is a method of learning in which we participate in the everyday and occasional activities of the phenomena that we want to study. By participating in a phenomena, we try to learn the meanings that the other associates with it. Let us refer to my research with Bheel artists in which I collaborated with them on an animated film. As part of the research, I focused on the traditional art of the Bheels. I wanted to understand the reason that motivated them to practice their art. And I wanted to learn what the art meant to them since it is also a part of their rituals. I realized that this would be difficult to understand simply by observing them paint. And it was difficult for the Bheel artists to explain in words how they practice their art. So I decided to participate in the art making, learning to paint in the style of the Bheels. In the process of learning, I came to imbibe the sense of color and form that define Bheel paintings. I also learned the technique, skill and discipline that goes into making these paintings. While painting together, we had several informal conversations about why they paint. These learnings combined with knowledge gathered from conversations and readings help me understand the relationship between the Bheel artists and their art form. The ideas for our film emerge from these conversations. So just like observation is about seeing and trying to make sense of what we are looking at, participant observation is about trying to understand a phenomena as we take part in it. Some ethnographers consider participant observation as the core of ethnographic practice and as the primary way of immersing ourselves in the context. Whether we agree with this or not, participant observation is an invaluable method which enriches our research engagements in many ways. Let us elaborate. Participant observation enables us and our participants to shift out of roles of observer and observed. We become participants, sometimes even collaborators, in a shared activity. This collaboration makes the researcher more of a member of the community and not someone observing from the outside. While we may still be outsiders, we take on the role of someone who is learning to be a part of the context. This blunts the power hierarchy that may otherwise exist between the observer and the observed. And we are able to develop a more equal relationship, that of co-participants. As I participated with the Bheel artist, we took on the roles of teacher and learner with Sher Singh teaching me. And eventually we became fellow artists and collaborators. In becoming the learner, I opened myself up to trying something new and making mistakes at a task which the Bheel artists were already adept at. This helped create a sense of empathy between us. They were able to identify with the difficulties I was facing and I was able to appreciate their skill and craftsmanship and the value they attached to their work. Participating in an activity enables us to access tacit knowledge or knowledge that cannot be articulated in words. This is the kind of knowledge that is often learned through practice and experience. In the Bheel form of painting, each image is composed of several dots. As I learned to paint in that style, I realized that this process puts the painter in an almost meditative state. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why for the Bheels the act of painting is a sacred one. I may not have understood this had I not participated with the Bheel artists. This is the value of participation. By participating in activities and routines that make up our participants lives, we place ourselves in the physical and emotional conditions that they experience. It is like the old adage of understanding someone by walking in their shoes. Here we may not be walking in the shoes of our participants but we are often quite literally walking with them to wherever they might be going. This brings us to the key question, how to do participant observation or rather how to be a participant observer. It requires us to do two tasks simultaneously. This is very similar to asking how to immerse oneself in the context. In fact, the practice of participant observation is quite similar to immersion. Participant observation, like immersion, is an attempt to find a role and place for ourselves among our participant community. But there is also a significant difference. In participant observation, the emphasis is on participating, not simply on spending time in the context. A good way to learn how to do participant observation is to look at the work of other ethnographers who have used this method and there are some standard ways in which researchers participate. Apprenticeship or learning is a great way to be a participant observer. An example of this is the work of Robert Desjolais among the Yolmo community in Nepal. Desjolais was studying healing practices that the community follows. In the process of this research, he trained to become a Yolmo shaman or healer. This is participating through learning. It is similar to my work with the Bheel artists, where I participated in their world by learning their art form. My work with the Bheels is also an example of collaboration as participant observation. In working together to make a film about their art tradition, we became collaborators. This gave me a new way of participating and learning about the Bheels. And the film became a shared project which each of us owned and worked on. Volunteering or working with the community we want to study is another way of participating. Researcher studying buying behavior, for example, often played the role of salespersons at shops, assisting customers and learning about the factors that drive buying decisions. Qualitative researcher, Amir Marvasti, in trying to work with homeless people, took on the job of a volunteer staff at a homeless shelter. Even though he was not living as them or with them, he was able to play a certain role in their world of which the shelter was a part. Sometimes there are more structured or formal groups within the participants community that we can become a part of. In conducting research on British migrants to Spain, Karen O'Reilly found clubs which some of the migrants were a part of. These clubs played an important role in their social lives. O'Reilly joined some of these clubs as a way of accessing her participants. By becoming a part of the club's activities, she automatically became a part of her participants' social lives. Let us take a minute to revise what we have learned. Over the course of this section, we have been discussing different ways of doing participant observation. I would like you to make a diagram or a mind map of these. Here's how you can go about it. Go to this mind map tool or take a sheet of paper and some pens. Think of the different ways of doing participant observation that we have discussed. Map these onto your mind map. For each way of doing participant observation, note down one distinguishing feature. Then take a picture or a screenshot of the map you have created and post it on our discussion forum. Take a minute to make your notes. Here is a collection of case studies of participant observation. Go through these and then you can take a quiz to revise and test what you have learned. Just like with immersion, there are also degrees of participant observation. We will discuss this in our next section.