Research workshop: Observation and field notes

Rebecca Pardo Research Director

1. What is observable

2. Objectivity and filters of experience

3. How to actually do it - tips and tricks

4. A fun and cool exercise!

What we will cover today

You can use observable data to learn something about a social or semiotic phenomenon - interaction, behaviour, processes, etc…

What are observations all about?

Things you can directly perceive with the senses, not with analysis

What is observable data?

Mental states, emotions, social structures • progress • feminism • patriarchy

What is not directly perceivable?

Unless you are doing covert research, you will never get a “natural” setting.

Period.

Objectivity? No.

People act different when they know they’re being watched.

You will never observe behaviour as it would be without your presence—you can never be a “fly on the wall.”

Unless you are doing covert research (no-no), you are *always* affecting what you see.

Sometimes people act in a way they think is what you want to see; they may directly benefit from this.

Sometimes they hide things from you because they are suspicious or nervous about what you will do with that information.

This should be expected.

Keep in mind that:

You are never a neutral observer.

That’s okay. You subjectivity is actually data.

Always ask yourself: what may be influencing my perception?

• Culture, individual taste, preferences, beliefs, experience, religion, gender, ethnicity and race, family, self-image, prejudices

• You know what your boss wants to hear

• Respect for some people more than others e.g. valuing the perspective of a doctor more than that of a pregnant teenager

• Belief about who is trustworthy e.g. assuming that children are usually telling the truth

• Internalized norms of politeness e.g. someone cuts in front of you in line; subconsciously in your account of the scene, this person is framed as ignorant or unimportant.

Filters

Ignoring your filters will produce bad research.

“What we call our data are really our own constructions of other people's constructions of what they and their compatriots are up to.”

-Clifford Geertz

an involuntary twitch

an intentional wink

an intentional but fake wink

a parody of a wink

a rehearsal of a wink

Let’s say you observe a wink. Is it:

?

“Right down at the factual base we are already explicating: and worse, explicating explications. Winks upon winks upon winks. Analysis, then, is sorting out the structures of signification and determining their social ground and import.”

-Clifford Geertz

Okay, now we’ve covered the danger zones. So…now how do you actually do it?

• Take notes even if you’re recording

• Go over them as soon as possible and elaborate/reflect; it’s not fun but otherwise you will forget important details

• You don’t necessarily know what’s important now; patterns will emerge

• But you can follow instincts; find ways of flagging things for yourself

• Find ways of distinguishing observation from interpretation • that way you can go back later and re-evaluate your interpretations as you collect more data

and conduct more analysis; others can too

Basic guidelines

Harry Wolcott’s observational strategies

strategy

look for everything

look for nothing

what it is

try - and fail - to observe everything

attending to things that seem somehow out of line with the norms - “bumps”

helpful for

forces narrowing; highlights scope

too familiar scenarios: urge to evaluate too complex scenarios: overwhelmed by information

look for paradoxesinconsistencies; contradictions

surfaces interesting problems; something is doing on here - tensions, conflicting ideologies, change

look for the key problem

central challenge/concern/objective that group orients to in their activities

understanding what a group has in common; highlighting organizing motivations and priorities

Dell Hymes’ SPEAKING method

setting

participants

ends

act sequence

key

instrumentalities

norms

genre

s setting

participants

i.e.

time, place, circumstances, cultural setting

who is involved and in what role

e.g.

demographics; age, gender, ethnicity, profession, proficiency with a technology; attitudes, beliefs

home, design studio, co-working space, evening, vacation; noisy; fluorescent lights

p

ends purposes, goals, desired outcomesdeveloping a to-do list; brainstorming; making a request; playing; developing consensus; getting information

e

act sequence form and order of the eventturn-taking; one person speaks followed by Q+A; overlapping talk and interruptions; applause+change of topic

a

key tone playful, serious, sarcastic, rushedk

instrumentalities form/styles of speech writing or communication medium; language variety/register/dialect

i

norms social rules expected of the event (may be violated)

n

genre type of event personal anecdote, political debate, casual conversation, lesson

g

no applause; don’t talk in caps; raise your hand to speak; call and response; cheering; wait in line

An alternative: Rebecca’s super basic model

observation interpretation

user imagines waitlist as book traveling through time, not a line of people?

next steps/implications for design

need to follow up on people’s mental models of waitlists; if this is the case may need to redesign waitlist function

methodological notes

is this a leading question? consider rewording it for next time

participant did not understand that their place in line meant the number of people ahead of them to receive the book

Making these distinctions is helpful to think with internally (and also for clients) to prevent jumping to design recommendations.

And now for some fun! An observational exercise…

Split into groups and watch this short video

(If the link doesn’t work, Google “The Situation ordering a cab”)

Split into groups

Compare notes Did you notice different things? What were they?

Why do you think this happened?

Did you identify any filters that coloured your perception?

Thank you

If you have any questions or feedback I’d love to hear from you.

Find me on Twitter at @msrmp or rebecca@normative.com