Jämför metoder

	Online deltagande observation	Icke-deltagande observation
Ämnesområde	Surveymetodik	Surveymetodik
Familj	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Ursprungsår	Late 1990s–2000s	Formalized mid-20th century (Gold 1958); practice dates to late 19th-century social surveys
Upphovsperson	Christine Hine (virtual ethnography); Robert Kozinets (netnography)	Raymond Gold (role typology); earlier roots in social survey movement and Chicago School sociology
Typ	Qualitative data collection method	Qualitative / quantitative observational data collection
Ursprungskälla	Hine, C. (2000). Virtual Ethnography. SAGE Publications. ISBN: 978-0761958956	Gold, R. L. (1958). Roles in sociological field observations. Social Forces, 36(3), 217–223.
Alias	virtual participant observation, digital ethnographic observation, cyber participant observation, internet participant observation	detached observation, systematic observation, structured field observation, external observation
Närliggande	5	5
Sammanfattning	Online participant observation is a qualitative data collection method in which the researcher enters a digital community or online environment — forums, social media groups, multiplayer games, virtual workplaces — both as a participant and as an observer, systematically documenting social interactions, practices, and meanings as they naturally unfold in the digital space.	Non-participant observation is a data-collection method in which the researcher observes behavior, interactions, or events in a natural or structured setting without joining or influencing the activity under study. The observer maintains a deliberate distance from participants to minimize their own effect on the phenomena being recorded, producing field notes, behavioral tallies, or recordings that reflect naturally occurring behavior rather than behavior shaped by researcher involvement.