Lecture Notes
Field Research Methods
Psyc 311
Lecture 1 | Lecture 2 | Lecture 3 |
Lecture 4 | Lecture 5 | Lecture 6 |
Lecture 7| Lecture 8 |
Lecture 9 |
Lecture 10 | Lecture 11 | Lecture 12 |
Lecture 13 | Lecture 14 | Lecture 15 |
Lecture 16 | Lecture 17
Lecture Notes:
Field Research Methods (PSYC 311)
LECTURE 14: Observational Research Methods
Research Planning Model
Research Definition Stage (I)
Understand the Problem
Identify Questions (Hypothesize)
Research Design\Plan Stage (II)
Choose Design
Data Collection Approaches
Design of Observational Instrument
As with research plan in general, survey design is an iterative process
Ask self series of questions:
- What do you need to know?
Based on hypotheses identified in Stage I of Research Planning Model
Most important question researcher can ask before begin writing instrument
Have to be selective: Can't observe everything
- How will observation be accomplished?
Variably intrusive: How far intrude?
From what vantage point do make observations?
- Secret Outsider
Distant observer unknown to participants in natural setting
Non-intrusive
Major Disadvantage: Removed from the immediacy of the action
- Recognized Outsider
Firsthand observer made known to participants
Intrusive: Hawthorne effect
Western Electric Company (Roethlisberger & Dixon, 1939)
Effect of known observation: increase performance
Minimize Hawthorne effect by ss adapting to presence
Major Disadvantage: Recognized authority affiliation
- Marginal Participant
Adopt position of commonly accepted and unimportant participant
Non-intrusive as long as subjects unaware of being observed
Choice of clothes\objects carried
Physical posturing
Major Disadvantage: Familiarity with situation influences what data is
recorded
- Full Participant
Adopt position of central importance in situation
Intrusive if not perceived as resident and meet membership criteria
Major Disadvantage: Ability to unintentionally change others
behavior.
- What type of population are you sampling?
Important consideration before one begins to define instrument
Consider number of qualities respondents possess:
- Access to subjects' behavior
- Amount of activity
- Awareness of being observed
- How will observation be recorded?
Recording devices depend upon:
Detail required of information gathered
Amount previously known (exploratory vs. confirmatory)
- Notation/Narrative Accounts
Recording behavior in verbal and diagrammatic notes
Decide what to record and what to overlook on the spot
- Pre-coded Checklists
Select from series of pre-coded checklists
Decide important information beforehand (participant characteristics,
place, time, situational characteristics)
Requires previous diagnostic evaluation
- Maps
Recording of activity on floor plans, diagrams or maps
Convenient to record behavior of several people in one general area at
the same time
Useful to record sequences of behavior
- Photographs\Videotapes
Accurate recording of behavior
Record only what expect (direction of lens, focus)
Requires additional observation of images captured
What to observe?
Actor (Who is?)
Act (doing What?)
Significant others (with Whom?)
Relationships (in what Relationship?)
Sociocultural context (in what Context?)
Physical setting (Where?)
Time (Across what times?)
Actor
Identify populations of interest
Identify characteristics of interest
Level of analysis (individual or group)
Act
Decide on level of abstraction (molar vs molecular)
How distinguish between individual acts from connected sequence of acts
Significant Others
Acts partly defined by how other people are or are not included as
participants
Influence of presence and absence
Relationships
Connections and separations between people
Meaningfulness of relationships among participants
Context
Situational and cultural contexts
Reactions under variety of conditions
Time
Time scale of observation vs time scale of behavior
Important element to be sampled
Physical Situations
Environment influences behavior
Rules that reflect in behavior based on surrounding environment
Observing Physical Traces
Systematically looking at physical surroundings to find reflections of previous activity
Purposive and unintentional behaviors
Inferences:
How environment acquired its current state
How people actually use space
How people feel toward surroundings
How environment meets needs of users
Advantages
Unobtrusive
Durable (traces do not quickly disappear)
Types of traces
By-products of use (Reflect what people do in settings)
- Erosions = use wears away parts of the environment
- Leftovers = physical objects as the result of some activities get left
behind
- Missing traces = indication of what people are not doing
Adaptions for use (Reflect how people change surrounding environment)
- Props = addition or removal of objects from setting
- Separations = division of spaces formerly together
- Connections = physical adaptions to allow interaction or movement
Displays of self (Communication)
- Identification = allow others to recognize territory
- Group membership = displays of affiliation
Public messages
- Official = communicate publicly in settings designed for it
- Unofficial = communicate publicly in settings not designed for it
- Illegitimate = not planned or approved
Methods of Recording
Annotated Diagrams
Note where objects located during interview\survey
Standard symbols to refer to objects
Photographs
Useful in generation of hypotheses and determining categories
Decide what to include beforehand
Counting