Lecture 12 - Observations & texts

Question 1

(!) Describe observations in general, situations for use & types

Answer 1

General:
- No interfering
- Usually exploratory
- Observer experience important
- Important w. legitime data source

Situations for use:
- Social dynamics
- Little is known
- Natural setting
- “Insider view”
- Perspectives & practices
- Implicit / tacit knowledge
- Holistic picture
- Often when triangulation
- Find/refine construct

Choices:
- Direct vs. indirect: Own or others obs.
- Active / Passive involvement: Objective/subjective dim.
- Single vs. multiple settings
- Covert/overt: Implicit/explicit

Examples:
- Systematic events: Eg. Meeting, tasks & projects
- Individual participants
- Interaction/conversation
- Physical objects
- Sequence
- Online activity

Question 2

(!) Describe the advantages & challenges of observations

Answer 2

Advantages:
- Flexible
- No recall bias
- High ecological validity: Poss. Shadowing
- Dont rely on willingness to provide info
- Actual > Reported behaviour
- Uncover complex, causal, interacting relationship
- Rich, thick, contextualized, detailed description
- Poss. Triangulation
- Detailed data on longitudinal process
- Learning by own experience
- Capture surprises

Challenges:
- Access
- Time consuming
- Going native: Adopt lifestyle of those observed
- Hawthorne effect: Aware of being observed
- Difficult control, standardization, focus & order
- Info-overload
- Require high involvement
- Risk misinterpretation
- Ethical concern

Question 3

What should be done regarding observations?

Answer 3

• Look & listen active
• Memorize careful: If not recordable
• Informal interview
• Write detailed field note
• Infer observation to meaning
• Carry pen & paper
• Focus on important: Else info-overload
• Take up a position: Eg. Task
• Video or audio record
• Shadowing
• Hang-out
• Directed by emerging focus or focused observations: From exploring to focus.

Question 4

Describe participant observation

Answer 4

Question 5

Describe different types of notes & what to write down

Answer 5

Types:
- “Head notes”: Mental notes to remember
- Jottings: Quick notes. Help remember
- Developed field notes: Worked through notes. Elaboration of jottings
- Memos: Reflexive notes. Beginning analysis & theoretical perspectives
- Diary: Emotion, thought, choice & development as analyst

What to write down:
- Descriptions: Accounts of actions/quotes
- Detail: No normative judgements. Neutral.
- Maps, pictures, diagrams & artifacts
- During or soon after: Prioritize time
- Note down surprises
- Separate descriptions & early interpretations
- Always game of selecting most important

Question 6

Describe the four different uses of text as data

Answer 6

Data on context:
- Eg. Historical development or company website

Questions to be asked:
- Eg. Focus RQ, interview question, working hypothesis

Supplement:
- Triangulation & verification

Longitudinal data

Question 7

(!) Describe archival design, when to use it & critique

Answer 7

General:
- Analyze secondary data
- Proxy measure
- Often combined w. other
- Eg. Documents

__________

Documents:
General:
- Textual form of communication
- Not simple reality representation
- Should be analyzed in context
- Biased: Prod. to specific purpose, audience & situation

Examples:
- Official reports
- News paper articles
- Company documents & records
- Social media postings or blogs
- Biographies

___________

When to use it:
- Need objective info
- Large scale
- Sensitive topic
- Historical process
- Subject from the past
- Lack access: Eg. Subject from the past or object not available
- Available data is better
- Limited time

Choices to be made:
- Data type
- Review type: Meta-analysis / Literature review

Critique:
- Primary more reliance: Exact purpose