Jarod is conducting research on the homeless. for six weeks, he has lived among the homeless "24/7," sleeping on the street or at a shelter, and engaging in the same activities as the population he is studying. by doing so, jarod has been able to gather a broad understanding of the homeless, their needs, and characteristics. in view of this, jarod is using ________ as a method of gathering data.
a. secondary analysisb. participant observationc. content analysisd. representative sampling

Participant observation is an specific qualitative research method in which the researcher not only observes the research participants, but also actively engages in the activities of the research participants in order to attain a comprehensive understanding of the group and their needs and characteristics.

In this example, Jarod is doing research on the homeless. He has lived among them, sleeping on the street and engaging in their activities. This has helped him gather a broad understanding of the homeless and their needs. We can see that Jarod is not only observing the homeless but he is engaging in their activities and by being one of them he has attained a comprehensive understanding of them. Thus, he is using participant observation as a method of gathering data.