BRM II - Literature
Business Research Methods II - Literature Summary
Patton (2002) - Observations
- "In the fields of observation, chance favours the prepared mind." (Pasteur, 1822)
- "People only see what they are prepared to see." (Emerson, 1803)
- When looking at the same scene or object, different people will see different things.
What people "see" is highly dependent on their interests, biases, and backgrounds. Our
culture shapes what we see, our early childhood socialisation forms how we look at the
world, and our value systems tell us how to interpret what passes before our eyes.
- The fact that a person is equipped with functioning senses does not make the person a
skilled observer.
- Training to become a skilled observer includes:
• Learning to pay attention, see what there is to see, and hear what there is hear: practice
in writing descriptively
• Acquiring discipline in recording field notes
• Knowing how to seperate detail from trivia to achieve the former without being
overwhelmed by the latter
• Using rigorous methods to validate and triangulate observations
• Reporting the strengths and limitations of one's own perspective, which requires both
self-knowledge and self-disclosure
- Preparation for observation has mental, physical, intellectual, and psychological
dimensions. The skilled observer is able to improve the accuracy, authenticity, and
reliability of observations through intensive training and rigorous preparation.
- The purposes of observational data are to describe the setting observed, the activities
that took place in that setting, the people who participated in those activities, and the
meaning of what was observed from the perspectives of those observed.
- Descriptions of observations should be factual, accurate, and thorough without being
cluttered by irrelevant details.
- Naturalistic observations take place in the field.
- Direct, personal contact with and observations of a setting have several advantages:
1. The inquirer is better able to understand and capture the context within which people
interact - crucial to a holistic perspective.
2. Allows an inquirer to be open, discovery oriented, and inductive because, by being on-
!1
, BRM II - Literature
site, the observer has less need to rely on prior conceptualisations of the setting, w peter
those priori conceptualisations are from written documents or verbal reports.
3. The inquirer has the opportunity to see things that routinely escape awareness among
the people in the setting.
4. Chance to learn things that people would be unwilling to talk about in an interview.
5. Permits the inquirer to draw on personal knowledge during the formal interpretation
stage of analysis. The observer takes in information and forms impressions that go
beyond what can be fully recorded in even the most detailed field notes.
- Observational research explores the world in many ways. Deciding which observational
approaches are appropriate for evaluation or action research involves different criteria
than those same decisions made to undertake basic social scientific research. These
differences emerge from the nature of applied research, the politics of evaluation, the
nature of contract funding in most evaluations, and the accountability fo evaluators to
information users.
- One distinction that differentiates observational strategies concerns the extent to which
the observer will be a participant in the setting being studied. This involves the extent of
participation, which is a continuum that varies from complete immersion in the setting as
full participant to complete separation from the setting as spectator, with great deal of
variation along the continuum between those two end points.
- Full participant observation simultaneously combines document analysis, interviewing of
respondents and informants, direct participation and observation, and introspection.
- The extent to which it is possible for an evaluator to become participant in a program
depends on the nature of the program. In human services and education programs that
serve children, the evaluator cannot participate as a child but may be able to participate
as a volunteer, parent, or staff member.
- Social, cultural, political, and interpersonal factors can limit the nature and degree of
participation in participant observation. Therefore, full and complete participant
observation is fairly rare, especially for a program participation.
- The ideal in evaluation is to design and negotiate the degree of participation that will
yield the most meaningful data about the program given the characteristics of the
participants, the nature of staff-participant interaction, the socio-political context of the
program, and the information needs of intended evaluation users.
- The researcher's plan and intentions regarding the degree of program involvement to be
experienced may not be the way things actually turn out.
!2
, BRM II - Literature
- "People who are insiders to a setting being studied often have a view of the setting and
any findings about it quite different from that of the outside researchers who are
conducting the study." (Bartunek and Louis, 1996)
- A participant observer shares as intimately as possible in the life and activities of the
setting under study in order to develop an insider's view of what is happening, the emic
perspective. At the same time, the inquirer remains aware of being an outsider. The
challenge is to combine participation and observation so as to become capable of
understanding the setting as an insider while describing it to and for outsiders.
- People may behave differently when they know they are being over served versus how
they behave naturally when they don't think they're being observed.
- Researchers have expressed a range of opinions concerning the ethics and morality of
conducting observational research - do you let the participant know you are observing
them, or do you not. Some argue that there should be full disclosure of the purpose of
any research project, whereas, other argue that we should search for truth and therefore
not reveal that you are observing.
- One form of deception in fieldwork involve pretending to share values and belief in order
to become part of the group being studied.
- The issue of confidentiality deals with concealing names, locations, and other identifying
information - so that the people who have been observed will be protected from harm or
punitive action.
- A dimension along which observational studies vary is in the length of time devoted to
gathering. Fieldwork should last long enough to get the job done - to answer the
research questions being asked and fulfil the purpose of the study.
- There are five dimensions that can be used to describe the primary variations in
fieldwork. These dimensions are summarised below:
!3
Business Research Methods II - Literature Summary
Patton (2002) - Observations
- "In the fields of observation, chance favours the prepared mind." (Pasteur, 1822)
- "People only see what they are prepared to see." (Emerson, 1803)
- When looking at the same scene or object, different people will see different things.
What people "see" is highly dependent on their interests, biases, and backgrounds. Our
culture shapes what we see, our early childhood socialisation forms how we look at the
world, and our value systems tell us how to interpret what passes before our eyes.
- The fact that a person is equipped with functioning senses does not make the person a
skilled observer.
- Training to become a skilled observer includes:
• Learning to pay attention, see what there is to see, and hear what there is hear: practice
in writing descriptively
• Acquiring discipline in recording field notes
• Knowing how to seperate detail from trivia to achieve the former without being
overwhelmed by the latter
• Using rigorous methods to validate and triangulate observations
• Reporting the strengths and limitations of one's own perspective, which requires both
self-knowledge and self-disclosure
- Preparation for observation has mental, physical, intellectual, and psychological
dimensions. The skilled observer is able to improve the accuracy, authenticity, and
reliability of observations through intensive training and rigorous preparation.
- The purposes of observational data are to describe the setting observed, the activities
that took place in that setting, the people who participated in those activities, and the
meaning of what was observed from the perspectives of those observed.
- Descriptions of observations should be factual, accurate, and thorough without being
cluttered by irrelevant details.
- Naturalistic observations take place in the field.
- Direct, personal contact with and observations of a setting have several advantages:
1. The inquirer is better able to understand and capture the context within which people
interact - crucial to a holistic perspective.
2. Allows an inquirer to be open, discovery oriented, and inductive because, by being on-
!1
, BRM II - Literature
site, the observer has less need to rely on prior conceptualisations of the setting, w peter
those priori conceptualisations are from written documents or verbal reports.
3. The inquirer has the opportunity to see things that routinely escape awareness among
the people in the setting.
4. Chance to learn things that people would be unwilling to talk about in an interview.
5. Permits the inquirer to draw on personal knowledge during the formal interpretation
stage of analysis. The observer takes in information and forms impressions that go
beyond what can be fully recorded in even the most detailed field notes.
- Observational research explores the world in many ways. Deciding which observational
approaches are appropriate for evaluation or action research involves different criteria
than those same decisions made to undertake basic social scientific research. These
differences emerge from the nature of applied research, the politics of evaluation, the
nature of contract funding in most evaluations, and the accountability fo evaluators to
information users.
- One distinction that differentiates observational strategies concerns the extent to which
the observer will be a participant in the setting being studied. This involves the extent of
participation, which is a continuum that varies from complete immersion in the setting as
full participant to complete separation from the setting as spectator, with great deal of
variation along the continuum between those two end points.
- Full participant observation simultaneously combines document analysis, interviewing of
respondents and informants, direct participation and observation, and introspection.
- The extent to which it is possible for an evaluator to become participant in a program
depends on the nature of the program. In human services and education programs that
serve children, the evaluator cannot participate as a child but may be able to participate
as a volunteer, parent, or staff member.
- Social, cultural, political, and interpersonal factors can limit the nature and degree of
participation in participant observation. Therefore, full and complete participant
observation is fairly rare, especially for a program participation.
- The ideal in evaluation is to design and negotiate the degree of participation that will
yield the most meaningful data about the program given the characteristics of the
participants, the nature of staff-participant interaction, the socio-political context of the
program, and the information needs of intended evaluation users.
- The researcher's plan and intentions regarding the degree of program involvement to be
experienced may not be the way things actually turn out.
!2
, BRM II - Literature
- "People who are insiders to a setting being studied often have a view of the setting and
any findings about it quite different from that of the outside researchers who are
conducting the study." (Bartunek and Louis, 1996)
- A participant observer shares as intimately as possible in the life and activities of the
setting under study in order to develop an insider's view of what is happening, the emic
perspective. At the same time, the inquirer remains aware of being an outsider. The
challenge is to combine participation and observation so as to become capable of
understanding the setting as an insider while describing it to and for outsiders.
- People may behave differently when they know they are being over served versus how
they behave naturally when they don't think they're being observed.
- Researchers have expressed a range of opinions concerning the ethics and morality of
conducting observational research - do you let the participant know you are observing
them, or do you not. Some argue that there should be full disclosure of the purpose of
any research project, whereas, other argue that we should search for truth and therefore
not reveal that you are observing.
- One form of deception in fieldwork involve pretending to share values and belief in order
to become part of the group being studied.
- The issue of confidentiality deals with concealing names, locations, and other identifying
information - so that the people who have been observed will be protected from harm or
punitive action.
- A dimension along which observational studies vary is in the length of time devoted to
gathering. Fieldwork should last long enough to get the job done - to answer the
research questions being asked and fulfil the purpose of the study.
- There are five dimensions that can be used to describe the primary variations in
fieldwork. These dimensions are summarised below:
!3
