Instructor Morteza Maleki Ph D 2 3 If

Instructor Morteza Maleki Ph. D

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ü If your research question(s) and objectives are concerned with what people do, an obvious way in which to discover this is to watch them do it. ü This is essentially what observation involves: the systematic observation, recording, description, analysis and interpretation of people’s behaviour. ü There are essential two types of observations: 1) 2) Participant observation structured observation 4

ü Participant Observation is qualitative and derives from the work of social anthropology earlier in the 20 th century. ü Its emphasis is on discovering the meanings that people attach to their actions. ü Structured Observation is quantitative and is more concerned with the frequency of those actions. 5

What is participant observation? ü In participant observation, the researcher attempts to participate fully in the lives and activities of subjects and thus becomes a member of their group, organisation or community. ü This enables researchers to share their experiences by not merely observing what is happening but also feeling it’ (Gill and Johnson, 2002: 144). ü It has been used extensively in sociology or anthropology disciplines to attempt to get to the root of ‘what is going on’ in a wide range of social settings. 6

ü Participant observation has its roots in social anthropology, but it was the Chicago school of social research that encouraged its students to study by observation the constantly changing social phenomena of Chicago in the 1920 s and 1930 s. ü Participant observation has been used much less in management and business research. ü It can be a very valuable tool, but possibly in combination with other methods. 7

ü Delbridge and Kirkpatrick (1994: 37) note that participant observation implies a research strategy of ‘immersion [by the researcher] in the research setting, with the objective of sharing in peoples’ lives while attempting to learn their symbolic world’. ü This is quite different from data collection by means of questionnaire, where you probably will know little of the context in which the respondents’ comments are set or the delicate nuances of meaning with which the respondents garnish their responses. 8

ü In participant observation, the purpose is to discover those delicate nuances of meaning. ü ‘In the social sciences we cannot hope to adequately explain the behaviour of social actors unless we at least try to understand their meanings’ (Delbridge and Kirkpatrick, 1994: 39). Attempting to learn the [respondents’] symbolic world (Delbridge and Kirkpatrick, 1994). 9

ü The symbolic frame of reference is located within the school of sociology known as symbolic interactionism. ü In symbolic interactionism the individual derives a sense of identity from interaction and communication with others. ü Through this process of interaction and communication the individual responds to others and adjusts his or her understandings and behaviour as a shared sense of order and reality is ‘negotiated’ with others. ü People continually change in the light of the social circumstances in which they find themselves. ü The individual’s sense of identity is constantly being constructed and reconstructed as he or she moves through differing social contexts and encounters different situations and different people. 10

Three examples of participant observation Whyte (1955) lived among a poor American-Italian community in order to 1) understand ‘street corner society’. 2) Roy (1952) worked in a machine shop for 10 months as an employee. ü He wanted to understand how and why his ‘fellow workers’ operated the piecework bonus system. 3) Rosen (1991) worked as a participant observer in a Philadelphia advertising agency. ü ü Rosen was working within theoretical domain of dramaturgy. He wanted to understand how organisations used social drama to create and sustain power relationships and social structures. 11

1. 2. 3. Should the participant observer keep his or her purpose concealed? Does the participant observer need to be an employee or an organisational member, albeit temporarily? Can the participant observer just observe? 12

ü Different roles in which the participant observer may be cast (Gill and Johnson, 2002). 1) Complete Participant 2) Complete Observer 3) Observer as Participant 4) Participant as Observer ü The complete participant and the complete observer involve you as the researcher in concealing your identity. ü This has the significant advantage of your not conditioning the behaviour of the research subjects you are studying. ü Observer as participant and participant as observer, entail you revealing your purpose to those with whom you are mixing in the research setting. ü Ethically, these two roles are less problematic. 13

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I. Complete participant ü The researcher attempt to become a member of the group in which they are performing research. ü You do not reveal your true purpose to the group members. ü For example, you may be interested to know the extent of lunchtime drinking in a particular work setting. ü You would probably be keen to discover which particular employees drink at lunchtimes, what they drink, how much they drink, and how they explain their drinking. ü Were you to explain your research objectives to the group you wished to study, it is rather unlikely that they would cooperate since employers would usually discourage lunchtime drinking. ü In addition, they might see your research activity as prying. 15

II. Complete observer ü You would not reveal the purpose of your activity to those you were observing. ü Unlike the complete participant role, you do not take part in the activities of the group. ü For example, the complete observer role may be used in studying consumer behaviour in supermarkets. ü Your research question may concern your wish to observe consumers at the checkout. 1) Which checkouts do they choose? 2) How much interaction is there with fellow shoppers and the cashier? 3) How do they appear to be influenced by the attitude of the cashier? 4) What level of impatience is displayed when delays are experienced? 16

III. Observer as participant ü Observer as participant is an outward-bound course to assist team building; ü You are attending to observe without taking part in the activities in the same way as the ‘real’ candidates. ü You would be a ‘spectator’. ü However, your identity as a researcher would be clear to all concerned. ü They would know your purpose, as would the trainers running the course. ü This would present the advantage of you being able to focus on your researcher role. ü ü You would be able to jot down insights as they occurred to you. You would be able to concentrate on your discussions with the participants. ü Yet, emotional involvement will be lost: really knowing what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the experience. 17

IV. Participant as observer ü In the role of participant as observer you reveal your purpose as a researcher. ü Both you and the subjects are aware of the fact that it is a fieldwork relationship (Ackroyd and Hughes, 1992). ü You are particularly interested to gain the trust of the group. ü Key informants are likely to adopt a perspective of analytic reflection on the processes in which they are involved. 18

Factors that will determine the choice of participant observer role 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) The purpose of your research The time you have to devote to your research The degree to which you feel suited to participant observation Organisational access Ethical considerations 19

ü Delbridge and Kirkpatrick (1994) categorise the types of data generated by participant observation as ‘primary’, ‘secondary’ and ‘experiential’. ü Primary observations are those where you would note what happened or what was said at the time. ü Keeping a diary is a good way of doing this. ü Secondary observations are statements by observers of what happened or was said. ü This necessarily involves those observers’ interpretations. 20

ü Experiential data are those data on your perceptions and feelings as you experience the process you are researching. ü Keeping a diary of these perceptions proves a valuable source of data when the time comes to write up your research. ü This may also include notes on how you feel that your values have intervened, or changed, over the research process. ü Finally, you will also collect data on factors material to the research setting: ü For example, roles played by key participants and how these may have changed; organisational structures and communication patterns. 21

Data collection ü In the participant observation, formal set-piece interviewing is unlikely to take place. ü Informal discussion takes place. ü It will be part of the overall approach of asking questions that should be adopted in this research method. ü These questions are of two types (Robson, 2002): ü ü First, to informants to clarify the situations you have observed and, Second, to yourself to clarify the situation and the accounts given of the situation. 22

ü Your data may well be classed as ‘descriptive observation’ and ‘narrative account’ (Robson, 2002); ü In descriptive observation you may concentrate on observing the physical setting, the key participants and their activities, particular events and their sequence and the attendant processes and emotions involved. ü This description may be the basis for your writing of a narrative account. ü Your job as the researcher is to go on and develop a framework of theory that will help you to understand, and to explain to others, what is going on in the research setting you are studying. 23

Data analysis ü In participant observation research, your data collection and analysis activity may be part of the same process. ü You would turn rough notes into something rather more systematic at the time of collecting data. ü What would be emerging is what the investigative journalist might call ‘promising lines of enquiry’ that you might wish to follow up in your continued observation. ü However, remember that the journalist is interested in the story, while you are interested in generating a theory to help you understand ‘what is going on’. ü This will lead you to adopt the researcher’s equivalent of ‘promising lines of enquiry’. ü A common approach to this is what is called analytic induction. 24

ü Threats to reliability and validity ü Participant observation is very high on ecological validity because it involves studying social phenomena in their natural contexts. ü It is subject to history and maturation threats of validity. ü The fact that your study is likely to be over an extended time period will overcome most of these. ü Observer bias is the greatest threat to the reliability. ü Because we are part of the social world we are studying we cannot detach ourselves from it, or for that matter avoid relying on our common sense knowledge and life experiences when we try to interpret it (Delbridge and Kirkpatrick, 1994). 25

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ü Structured observation is systematic and has a high level of predetermined structure. ü Researchers will be adopting a more detached stance in data collection process. ü Their concern would be in quantifying behaviour. ü Structured observation may form only a part of your data collection approach because its function is to tell you how often things happen rather than why they happen. 27

Situations in which structured observation may be used ü This is a straightforward descriptive research. Some Examples ü The call centre has emerged as a focus for structured observation. ü One of the best-known examples of managerial research was the study of the work of senior managers by Mintzberg (1973). ü ü He did this by direct observation and the recording of events on three predetermined coding schedules. This followed a period of ‘unstructured’ observation in which the categories of activity that formed the basis of the coding schedules he used were developed. ü Another well-known setting for structured observation is the large retail store. 28

ü The proliferation of the Internet ü This may be restricted to what they call ‘indirect observation’ by which they mean observation of the traces of behaviour. ü Online retailers similarly use a form of indirect observation of the buying behaviour of their customers and search engines such as Google regularly do research on the search behaviour of their users. ü Using the Internet for structured observation offers researchers the advantage of non-intrusiveness and the removal of possible observer bias (Hewson et al. 2003). 29

Advantages It can be used by anyone after suitable training in the use of the measuring instrument. 1) ü ü ü Researchers could delegate this extremely time-consuming task. It may be carried out simultaneously in different locations. It would present the opportunity of comparison between locations It should yield highly reliable results by virtue of its replicability. 2) ü The easier the observation instrument to use and understand, the more reliable the results will be 30

Structured observation is capable of more than simply observing the frequency of events. 3) ü It is also possible to record the relationship between events. ü The method allows the collection of data at the time they occur in their natural setting. 4) ü 5) For example, is the visit to the retail chemist’s counter to present a prescription preceded by an examination of merchandise unrelated to the prescription transaction? There is no need to depend on ‘second-hand’ accounts of phenomena from respondents who put their own interpretation on events Structured observation secures information that most participants would ignore because to them it was too mundane or irrelevant 31

Disadvantages 1) The observer must be in the research setting when the phenomena under study are taking place. 2) Research results are limited to overt action or surface indicators from which the observer must make inferences. 3) Data are slow and expensive to collect. 32

Using coding schedules to collect data key decision ü Whether you use an ‘off-the-shelf’ coding schedule or design your own. ü This depends on your research questions and objectives. 33

Choosing an ‘off-the-shelf’ coding schedule ü There a number of questions you should ask yourself when choosing an ‘off-the-shelf’ coding schedule. 34

ü One of the most frequent uses of established coding schedules in management and business is for recording interpersonal interactions in social situations such as meetings or negotiations. ü This lends itself to structured observation particularly well. ü It is recommended to use an ‘off-the-shelf’ coding schedule if you can find one that is suitable. ü Not only will it save you a lot of time, but it will be tried and tested. ü It makes your results and conclusions more reliable and valid. 35

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ü You may decide that no ‘off-the-shelf’ coding schedule is suitable for your purposes. ü In this case you will need to develop your own schedule. 37

Threats to validity and reliability Subject error ü Subject error may cause your data to be unreliable. ü Choose subjects who in as many respects as possible are ‘normal’ examples of the population under study. 1) Time error ü The time at which you conduct the observation does not provide data that are untypical of the total time period in which you are interested. 2) 38

Observer effect ü The process of the observer’s observation of behaviour changes the nature of that behaviour owing to the fact that the subject is conscious of being observed. ü The observation can take place in secret. 3) ü However, this is often not possible, even if it were ethically sound to do so. 39

ü Robson (2002) notes two strategies for overcoming observer effect. ü The first, minimal interaction, means that the observer tries as much as possible to ‘melt into the background’ – having as little interaction as possible with the subjects of the observation. ü The second strategy is habituation, where the subjects being observed become familiar with the process of observation so that they take it for granted. 40

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