OBSERVATIONS

OBSERVATIONS

1. Definition

   • Research characterized by a prolonged period of intense social interaction between the researcher and the subjects, in the milieu of the latter, during which time data, in the form of field notes, are unobtrusively and systematically collected.

2. Planning and conducting your observation

   • Before embarking on the planning stages of your observation you will find it helpful to be reasonably confident of two things:
     • The focus of your study
     • The research questions you intend to address.
   • Choosing what to observe: the social situation
     • All social situations possess three components:
       • Location
       • People
       • Activity or activities taking place
   • Gaining access and establishing yourself
     • Be unobstrusive
     • Be honest
     • Be unassuming
     • Be a good listener
     • Be approachable
   • How to observe: telling the story
     • We have always found it helpful to set ourselves six questions
       • Who
         • Who is present?
       • What
         • What is happening?
       • When
         • When does it happen?
       • Where
         • Where is it happening?
       • Why
         • Why is it happening?
       • How
         • How is it happening?

3. Issues

   • All observation strategies possess two basic features – what is to be observed, and how it is to be recorded.
     • Is not as straightforward as you expected it to be.
     • A whole variety of options awaits you as you prepare to set foot in your research setting.
     • How to record what you observe is another decision you will have to make and, once again, there are choices to be made.

4. Data analysis

   • There are many questions about quantities in social settings and, therefore, a number of ways of quantifying what happens in them.
     • They all share a common characteristic: because the aim is to determine how often or to what extent some activity or event occurs within the social setting being studied
       • it is necessary to have already decided what is to be quantified in other words, the structure of your observation.

5. Uses

   • Know how to select what we want to analyze.
   • Describe and explain the behavior
   • To provide information on a given performance or observations made without any prior planning.
   • Provide adequate and reliable data.

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