Methods of data collection in medical anthropology fall into three broad categories: participant observation, systematic observation, and interview methods. Participant observation is the bedrock of data collection in medical anthropology, as it is in the parent discipline. DeWalt and DeWalt (2011, p. 2) define participant observation as “a way to collect data in naturalistic settings by ethnographers who observe and/or take part in the common and uncommon activities of the people being studied.” The key task of participant observation is to create a systematic record of everyday life by writing field notes about informal observations, interactions, and conversations.

There is variation in how researchers balance the roles of participant and observer in ethnographic research (Spradley 1980). For his work on immigration, social hierarchy, and health, Holmes (2013) immersed himself in the lives of migrant farmworkers. Over 18 months of participant observation, he lived in the village of San Miguel in Oaxaca State, earned the trust of Triqui people planning to cross the U.S.–Mexico border, was apprehended with but separated from his Triqui companions by U.S. border patrols, and eventually lived and worked in a labor camp, picking strawberries in Central California. Holmes placed high value on participation, drawing attention to his own bodily experiences as a field worker (in both senses) as a source of insight into social suffering (p. 34).