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Chapter 8

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Observation

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Observation

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  • Observation involves going into ‘the field’, - the factory, the supermarket, the waiting room, the office, or the trading room - watching what workers, consumers, or day traders do, and describing, analyzing, and interpreting what one has seen.

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Examples

  • Shadowing a Wall Street broker engaged in his daily routine.
  • Observing in-store shopping behavior of consumers via a camera.
  • Sitting in the corner of an office to observe how a merchant bank trader operates.
  • Working in a plant to study factory life.
  • Studying the approach skills of sales people disguised as a shopper.

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Key Dimensions Characterizing Type of Observation

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  • Controlled versus Uncontrolled Observational Studies
  • Participant versus Non-Participant Observation
  • Structured versus Unstructured Observational Studies
  • Concealed versus Unconcealed observation

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Participant Observation

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  • The participatory aspect:
    • Complete participation
    • Moderate participation
    • Active participation

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  • To what extent should I participate?

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Participant Observation

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  • The observation aspect
    • Obtaining permission
    • Finding a ‘sponsor’
    • Establishing rapport

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What to Observe?

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  • Descriptive observation stage:
    • Space
    • Objects
    • Actors
    • Feelings
    • Events

Spradly, 1980

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What to Observe?

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  • Focused and selective observation stage:
    • Look for a story line
    • Sort out regular from irregular activities
    • Look for variation in the storyline
    • Look for negative cases or exceptions
    • Develop a plan for systematic observation if needed

DeWalt and DeWalt, 2002

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Structured Observation

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  • Looks selectively at predetermined phenomena

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  • Different levels of structure

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Coding Schemes

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  • Focus

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  • Objective

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  • Ease of use

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  • Mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

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Standard Coding Schemes

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  • Simple checklist

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  • Sequence record

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  • Sequence record on time scale

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