Observational Field Research

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Observational Field Research
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Advantages and Role of Observations

• Records actual behavior, not what people say they
  said they did or believe they will say/do.
• Recorded behavior can be compared to their
  statements, to check for the validity of their
  responses.

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Limitations

• Observation techniques do not provide insights
  into what the person may be thinking, why they
  performed a behavior, or what might motivate a
  given behavior/comment.
• That type of information can only be obtained by
  asking people directly or indirectly.

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Ethical Considerations

• When people are being observed, whether they are
  aware of it or not, ethical issues arise
• Technological advances--cameras and
  microphones--make it possible to gather a
  significant amount of information about verbal
  and non-verbal behavior of customers as well as
  employees that might easily be considered to be
  an invasion of privacy or abusive, particularly
  if the subject is unaware of being observed
• Yet the information is used to make decisions
  that impact him/her.

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Should you Collect Your Data by Observation?

• Questions to consider
• Is the topic sensitive?
• Can you observe the Phenomena?
• Do you have a lot of time?
• Are you sure what you are looking for?

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Types of Observations

• Observation is a primary method of collecting
  data by human, mechanical, electrical or
  electronic means.
• The researcher may or may not have direct contact
  or communication with the people whose behavior
  is being recorded. Observation techniques can be
  part of qualitative research as well as
  quantitative research techniques.

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Six Different Ways Of Classifying Observation
Methods

1. Participant and Nonparticipant observation,
2. Obtrusive and Unobtrusive (including physical
   trace observation),
3. Observation in natural vs. contrived settings,
4. Disguised and non-disguised observation,
5. Structured and unstructured observation, and
6. Direct and indirect observation.

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Two Commonly Used Methods Of Direct Observations

1. Continuous Monitoring
2. Time Allocation

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Continuous Monitoring

• Continuous monitoring (CM) involves observing a
  and recording (either manually, electronically,
  or both) as much of their behavior as possible.
• This may be problematic due to the Hawthorne
  Effect, which showed that people react to the
  attention they are getting from the researchers
  and their behavior changes.

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Two Major Techniques Of Continuous Monitoring

• Focal subject sampling
• Sequence sampling

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Focal Subject Sampling

• Used to study specific behavior patterns.
• Observe a single individual, for a specified
  time, recording all instances of the behavior
  under study.
• Generates data on frequency of behaviors used to
  compare between single subjects (or groups of
  individuals) for instance males vs. females,
  kayakers vs. rafters, etc..
• Qualitative observations are summed to produce an
  "ethogram a description and inventory (usually
  with some information on relative frequency or
  sequence of expression) of all (or at least most)
  of the behavior patterns exhibited by a subject
  group.
• The production of an ethogram requires
  considerable effort and numerous observation
  periods throughout the life cycle of the subject.

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Sequence Sampling

• Similar to focal subject sampling, in that a
  specific individual is observed.
• Focus is on a chain or sequence of specific
  behaviors that are generally exhibited in a
  particular sequence.
• However, the observation period is not arbitrary,
  but begins when the observer thinks the
  behavioral sequence begins, and ends when the
  observer thinks it ends.
• Some potential for subjectivity and bias.
• Careful and well-trained observers can usually
  recognize changes ("events") in the behavior of
  subjects, and use these as starting and ending
  points for an observation period. Videography can
  be helpful.
• The result is a description of the sequence of
  behaviors that are expressed in some type of
  activity or interaction.

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Time Allocation

• Randomly selecting a place and time and then
  recording what people are doing when they are
  first seen and before they see you.
• Useful when you want to find out the percent of
  time people are doing things (i.e., playing with
  kids, working, eating, etc.).
• There are several sampling problems with this
  approach.
• A large representative sample is needed to
  generalize about how people spend their time.
• Questions such as when, how often, and where to
  observe are problematic.
• Many overcome these by visits to nonrandom
  locations, at random times, and/or using scan
  sampling or instantaneous sampling.

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2 Types of Time Allocation

• Scan Sampling
• Instantaneous Sampling

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Scan Sampling

• A census of a large number of individuals
  leading to records of behavior at the instant
  they are observed.
• Because scan sampling must be done relatively
  quickly (otherwise it reverts to focal subject
  sampling with short but variable sampling
  periods), it is usually restricted to broad
  categories of behavior such as "feeding",
  "reading", or "resting".
• Scan sampling is vital for estimates of time
  budgets what individuals in the group are doing
  at any given time.
• If 100 individuals are observed , and 70 are
  resting, 25 are feeding, and 5 are interacting
  aggressively, the assumption is that any given
  individual spends 70 of its time resting, 25
  feeding, and 5 interacting aggressively at that
  time of day and/or in that place.

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Instantaneous Sampling

• One individual is observed repeatedly, but
  behaviors are recorded at specified intervals.
• The specific behavior at the instant of
  observation is recorded (hence the name
  "instantaneous sampling").
• For instance, one might observe a bird watcher at
  30 second intervals. At one instant, the bird
  watcher might be searching for birds, at another,
  looking up a bird book, at another, walking
  rapidly along a trail.
• The result of this type of observation is a
  time/activity budget, which is derived from the
  proportion of instantaneous observations in which
  an individual is engaged in various activities.
• Preferably, several individuals of the same
  subject group would be observed, to get average
  proportions of time spent on different
  activities.

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Direct Observation
Continuous
Time Allocation
Focal Subject
Sequence
Scan
Instantaneous
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Know How You Are Going To Interpret Your
Observations

• DescriptiveRequires no inference making.You see
  something and write it down.
• InferentialRequires making inferences about the
  emotion/motives underlying what is observed. For
  example, you may observe Tara pounding her
  keyboard. From this you assume (correctly) that
  she is frustrated with yet another computer.
• EvaluativeRequires making an inference and a
  judgment from the observed behavior. For example,
  you may wonder whether computers and humans have
  a positive relationship. "Positive" is an
  evaluative judgment. You observe Tara banging on
  her keyboard and conclude that humans and
  computers do not have a positive relationship.

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Field Notes

• When writing field notes you should include
  descriptive as well as inferential data. It is
  important to describe the setting and the mood in
  a detailed manner. All such things that may
  change behavior need to be noted. Especially
  reflect upon your presence. Do you think that you
  changed the behavior noticeably?

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Recording Data

• Recording data on blank sheets is not
  recommended!
• Create data recording forms and, when possible,
  use simple codes to record data quickly.
• Agree on what to observe and record as a team,
  practice, debrief, and refine. Practice again.

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