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Observations

CSCI 4163/6610 WINTER 2015. Observations. Housekeeping. Group membership update. PSA: Toast Masters. Time Wednesdays - 6:30 pm (tomorrow!) Location Council Chambers, Student Union Building Cost Free (for 4 meetings) Additional Information http://daltm.toastmastersclubs.org/.

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Observations

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  1. CSCI 4163/6610 WINTER 2015 Observations

  2. Housekeeping • Group membership update

  3. PSA: Toast Masters • Time • Wednesdays - 6:30 pm (tomorrow!) • Location • Council Chambers, Student Union Building • Cost • Free (for 4 meetings) • Additional Information • http://daltm.toastmastersclubs.org/

  4. Q1: Interviews are: • Verbally asking participants questions • Hearing their point of view in their own words • Both A & B d) Neither A nor B

  5. Q2: Which type of interview allows you to probe participants’ responses? • Structured • Unstructured • Semi-Structured D) Unstructured and Semi-Structured

  6. Q3: Which type of interview allows you to quantitatively compare responses? • Structured • Unstructured • Semi-Structured D) Structured and Semi-Structured

  7. Q4: Active listening is… • Making a conscious effort to hear the words a person is saying • Making an effort to understand the complete message being sent • Paying attention to the other person very carefully D) All of the above

  8. Observation Exercise • Research topic: Rituals of on-line information seeking behaviour • Questions: What types of information sources are regularly checked? Is it a push or pull paradigm? What is the frequency? What prompts a session to begin? How long does a session usually last? What brings a session to an end (time? Information found? All sources seen?)? Is there multi-tasking?

  9. Observation • Watching people, programs, events, communities, etc. • Used to: • Provide information about real-life situations and circumstances • Assess what is happening • Valuable because you cannot rely on participants’ willingness and ability to furnish information

  10. When is observation useful? • When you want direct information • When you are trying to understand an ongoing behaviour or process • When there is physical evidence, products, or outcomes that can be readily seen • When other data collection methods seem inappropriate

  11. Observations Advantages Disadvantages • Most direct measure of behavior • Provides direct information • Easy to complete (?) • Saves time (?) • Can be used in natural or experimental settings • May require training • Observer’s presence may create artificial situation • Potential for bias • Potential to overlook meaningful aspects • Potential for misinterpretation • Difficult to analyze

  12. (If unobtrusive…) • Can see things in their natural context • Can see things that may escape conscious awareness, things that are not seen by others • Can discover things that may have been taken for granted • Can learn about things that people might not be willing to talk about • Low potential for generating observer effects

  13. Major limitations • Potential for bias • Observer bias • Cultural bias (during observation and interpretation) • Reliability • Ease of categorization • Often used in combination with other methods to provide a more thorough account

  14. Types of observation Observing what does not happen may be as important as observing what does happen

  15. Planning • Determine who/what to observe • Determine what aspects will be observed (characteristics, attributes, behaviours, etc.) • Determine when/where observations will be made • Develop the observation record sheet • Pilot test the observation record sheet • Train the observers, practice • Collect information, analyze and interpret

  16. Observations need to be credible • Observation guide • Recording sheet • Checklist • Field notes • Pictures • Video • Some combination of the above

  17. Ecological validity • Is what you are observing representative of usual behaviours? • Unobtrusive? • Task? • Setting? • Tools?

  18. If unobtrusive… • Can be hard to understand why….

  19. Contextual inquiry (Thursday’s topic) • Interviewees are interviewed in their context, when doing their tasks, with as little interference from the interviewer as possible. • Allows probing of “why?” • Can be real-time or record interesting actions for later discussion

  20. Other ways of providing context • If natural observation not possible, can ask them to demonstrate specific tasks of interest • Can provide task scenarios and ask them to perform • “Think aloud” aloud protocols

  21. Other ways of getting observational data • Logging • Screen recording (check out Camtasia) • Trace data

  22. Homework • Assigned reading w/ questions for Thurs • Get your ethics tutorials done and submit certificate before Friday’s lab • Friday’s groups: make plans to show protocol to Hasmeet or I BEFORE Friday! • Make sure you come prepared for Friday (print what needs printing, each group member should know their role) • How many sessions? How many participants will you need? Check in with Hasmeet so he can handle logistics on Friday

  23. Today’s reading • What was the motivation? • What were the research questions? • What was their approach? • Critique their study (what was good? What was bad?) • Recruitment, running the study, analysis • Do you think that their findings are valid? • What would you do differently if you wanted to replicate/extend this research?

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