participant observation in reality

I held a lecture at Hyper Island and one of the students asked me: ”Uh, I don’t really understand, are you together with the people in their lives?”. We take it for granted, but for many people it’s odd. The anthropological research method is all about spending a lot of time together with people in their natural environment, in their places, together with their friends and family. By being there it’s possible to observe at close range and participate in their lives as much as possible. It’s called participant observation.