Direct Observation Describe methods and goals of direct observation Carry out an unstructured...

Direct Observation

• Describe methods and goals of direct observation

• Carry out an unstructured observation on a segment of video, writing up notes, with as little analysis as possible

Direct Observations

• Participant Observation

• Unstructured Direct Observation

• Structured Observation

6 differences between (ordinary) observer and participant observer

1 PURPOSE• engage in activities appropriate to the situation

• observe the activities, people & physical aspects of the situation

2. EXPLICIT AWARENESSnormally filter out much of what goes on in an activity, but not as a participant observer

3. WIDE-ANGLE LENStake in a much broader spectrum of information

4. INSIDER/OUTSIDER Experiencedo the activity and see what people around you are doing too, so can be both at the same time

5. INTROSPECTION-Normally take most of an experience for granted-As a participant observer, find out what it feels like to do something

6. RECORD KEEPING

Get close enough to people and make them feel comfortable

enough in your presence so you can record information about

their lives

Alternate between roles of

participant & observer • (active to passive),

participating observer (usual role for social research), passive

observing participant, active

What to do?

attend ceremonies (funerals, seasonal festive events)

– do the work– be around and talk when conversation

comes up– jokes

5 reasons to do participant observation to learn about culture

1 Can collect sensitive data, impossible as a stranger

STUDENT EXAMPLES

reasons to do participant observation to learn about culture

2. Reduces reactivity, get higher validity of data

(Beloksi visit)

reasons to do participant observation to learn about culture

3. Helps formulate questions, as you understand culture better

(supervision in health post workers)

reasons to do participant observation to learn about culture

4. Helps understand meanings, can make strong statements about cultural data you have collected

(telling mothers to boil water)

reasons to do participant observation to learn about culture

5. Basis for general understanding of how social organization works

(emic concept of poverty absent)

5 rules to follow for making an entry into fieldwork

1. Choose easy site over a difficult one, if all else is the same

rules to follow for making an entry into fieldwork

2. Bring documentation about yourself and project

rules to follow for making an entry into fieldwork

3. Arrange to be introduced, have a contact

(Gongtala, Ephrosini)

rules to follow for making an entry into fieldwork

4. Prepare answers to questions expected to be asked

What will you do with this information?

What are you doing here?

What are your qualifications?

Why do you want to do this?

Who sent you?

Who is paying you?

What good to us is the work that you do?

Why are you working with the other group and not us?

How many children do you have?

Is it true about American women that they.......?

How much money do you make?

What does your camera cost?

Do you have some medicine?

rules to follow for making an entry into fieldwork

5. Get to know the physical and social layout of the scene

• Ethnographies

• Maps

• Organizational charts

• Internet

Skills

Establish rapport

eye contact?

physical contact?

(materials about yourself, pictures)

Skills

Language esp. the sounds:

Skills

Explicit awareness (facial expressions, body language):

(Newars nose piercings)

Skills

Naiveté

Skills

Memory

Skills

Writing skills to expand what you observed

THICK DESCRIPTION

Possible conflicting roles

participant or observer:

Reactivity

Objectivity

Record your feelings and reactions to what you observe

Studying your Own Culture

FIELDWORK: Gender, Parenting,

Personal Characteristics, Sex

Consent issues:

– Many political aspects

Unstructured focused observations

Purpose is exploration

Speak in 5 different ways:– Body– Face– Eyes– Tone of voice– What we actually say (~20% of communication)

Emphasis on note-taking

– record what you see and hear, emphasize thick, detailed description

– video and film technology helpful, but limited to field of lens

Scripting format

– Time, activities in sequence– Can record a timeline when activities

occurred

Levels of observation

– regional (often impractical)– community (walk around, do a map, go

to markets, stores, temples)– neighborhood/compound (types of

buildings, where walls are, how used)– household/event– individual

Focal topic or subject

– person (follow child around)– location (meeting room for village

committee?)– event (wedding or meal, or disciplining

behavior)– have a guide like EFG

What to record?

– who – where– when– what (break behaviors into discrete

units)

What to record?

– why – key behaviors– what does not happen – maps and diagrams

Description Question Matrix

Spradley Participant Observation

Descriptive Question Matrix Pg. 82-3

SPACE OBJECT ACT ACTIVITY EVENT TIME ACTOR GOAL FEELING

SPACE

OBJECT

ACT

ACTIVITY

EVENT

TIME

ACTOR

GOAL

FEELING

SPACE OBJECT ACT ACTIVITY EVENT TIME ACTOR GOAL FEELING

SPACE Can youdescribe in

detail all the

places?

What are all theways space is

organized by

objects?

What are all theways space is

organized by

acts?

What are all theways space is

organized by

activities?

What are all theways space is

organized by

events?

What spatialchanges occur

over time?

What are all theways space is

used by actors?

What are all theways space is

related to goals?

What places areassociated with

feelings?

OBJECT Where are

objects located?

Can you

describe in

detail all theobjects?

What are all the

ways objects are

used in acts?

What are all the

ways objects are

used inactivities?

What are all the

ways objects are

used in events?

How are objects

used at different

times?

What are all the

ways objects are

used by actors?

How are objects

used in seeking

goals?

What are all the

ways objects

evoke feelings?

ACT Where do the

acts occur?

How do acts

incorporate the

use of objects?

Can you

describe in

detail all the

acts?

How are acts a

part of

activities?

How are acts a

part of events?

How do acts

vary over time?

What are the

ways acts are

performed by

actors?

What are all the

ways acts are

related to goals?

What are all the

ways acts are

linked to

feelings?

ACTIVITY What are all theplaces activities

occur?

What are all theways activities

incorporate

objects?

What are all theways activities

incorporate

acts?

Can youdescribe in

detail all the

activities?

What are all theways activities

are part of

events?

How doactivities vary at

different times?

What are all theways activities

involve actors?

What are all theways activities

involve goals?

How doactivities

involve

feelings?

EVENT What are all the

places events

occur?

What are all the

ways events

incorporateobjects?

What are all the

ways events

incorporateacts?

What are all the

ways events

incorporateactivities?

Can you

describe in

detail all theevents?

How do events

occur over

time? Is thereany sequencing?

How do events

involve the

various actors?

How are events

related to goals?

How do events

involve

feelings?

TIME Where do time

periods occur?

What are all the

ways time

affects objects?

How do acts fall

into time

periods?

How do

activities fall

into time

periods?

How do events

fall into time

periods?

Can you

describe in

detail all the

time periods?

When are all the

times actors are

"on stage"?

How are goals

related to time

periods?

When are

feelings

evoked?

ACTOR Where do actors

placethemselves?

What are all the

ways actors useobjects?

What are all the

ways actors useacts?

How are actors

involved inactivities?

How are actors

involved inevents?

How do actors

change overtime or at

different times?

Can you

describe indetail all the

actors?

Which actors

are linked towhich goals?

What are the

feelingsexperienced by

actors?

GOAL Where are goals

sought and

achieved?

What are all the

ways goals

involved use of

objects?

What are all the

ways goals

involve acts?

What activities

are goal seeking

or linked to

goals?

What are all the

ways events are

linked to goals?

Which goals are

scheduled for

which times?

How do the

various goals

affect the

various actors?

Can you

describe in

detail all the

goals?

What are all the

ways goals

evoke feelings?

FEELING Where do the

various feeling

states occur?

What feelings

lead to the use

of what objects?

What are all the

ways feelings

affect acts?

What are all the

ways feelings

affect activities?

What are all the

ways feelings

affect events?

How are

feelings related

to various time

periods?

What are all the

ways feelings

involve actors?

What are the

ways feelings

influence goals?

Can you

describe in

detail all the

feelings?

Practice Exercise

– Observing at mall

Structured observation

always preceded by unstructured observations

Quantifiable record of behavior(s) or the outcome(s) of behaviors collected by a trained observer through the use of a pre-coded or partly coded data instrument

Continuous Monitoringbehavioral stream

• behaviors observed in order, in context, get a sense of flow, duration of behaviors

• prioritization, develop set of rules, focal actor (e.g. child age 2-5 in the kitchen), & set of priorities in relation to actor & other activities in order, develop a sense of what comes first

• use codebook of “key behaviors” which are behaviors you have identified & defined from unstructured observations, Birdwhistell 1970 example lists body language

Continuous monitoring

– observer watches a subject(s) for a specific period of time & records their behavior as faithfully as possible, following a structured format with time, location & features of importance, tend to observe for an extended period of time

http://www.filmsdulosange.fr/kitchen-stories/

http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=99843

spot check observationsobserver appears at randomly selected

places/times and records people’s activities when they are first encountered, recording behaviors in isolation from other behaviors (not part of behavioral stream)

New York Times Sept 17, 1996

Rating observations

need to make a decision based on observation about the presence or absence of a particular feature or abstract quality, often along some sort of scale, may need judgment

Rating observations

clear definitions essential, • Clean

• Dirty

Reliability

– clear operational definitions required, considering all possibilities (determined from key informant what if situations)

– need to train & standardize observers, look at intra-observer consistence over time, kappa or other measure

Reactivity (observer effect)

– record what you see (e.g. people eat with their backs to you)

– ways to reduce:• repeated observations

• extended visits

• interact or not (perhaps minimal interaction is best?)

Reactivity

identify reactive/non-reactive behaviors – determine those behaviors which are highly

reactive & those that aren’t – observing reactive behaviors is problematic

Con

tinu

ous

mon

itor

ing

Child feed / care and XerophthalmiaCase-Control Study in Nepal 78 pairs aged 1-6 (hh with Vit. A Def.)

7 day-long (6a-8p) (blinded) continuous monitoring over 15 months, ≥2 months apart, recording key behaviors, one record per 5 min. (time, location, actor (of behavior), recipient, behavior, food/quantity

Findings: – Cases tended to receive food from another's already served food (? Small initial

servings, so child requests food from others, more 2nd helpings

– Large meal gatherings protective

– Child neglect during feeding and other aspects of child care and care giving nurturing may directly influence quality of child's diet

Caregiver-child and child care behaviors more important than intra-household food allocation behavior in determining rural Nepali child's risk for xerophthalmia

Par

tici

pant

Obs

erva

tion

-->

Int

.

Participant Observation of homeless youth in SF

June-Sept. 1997, Castro District, San Francisco

Two 4-5 hour sessions a week during afternoons and early evenings

Alternating week-end and weed-days to sample youth in neighborhood at different times

"sitting on sidewalks with youth while they were panhandling or selling goods and walking around the site with a youth as they interacted with their peers"

Included being ask to "move along" by police

Led to finding key informant and interviews

Observation Exercise

Observe segment of video (no sound)

Write continuous monitoring notes

Do not analyze, report what you see

Exercise #2

Visual information, not dialogue, or description of etic events, explanations, etc.

CodingDevelop a scheme: Consider what are behaviors, observations,

events in the setting that are significant and make up a mnemonic code (discuss with team what elements will be) place in margin– Bernard and in exercise– Can modify afterwards

Discussed Session 7

Sampling

– samples are usually not random but purposeful, or convenient

– could do a cluster sample exercise, if wanted some element of randomness, and could also observe at random times