1 / 8

Observation

Observation. Qualitative Data & Field Research. What Is It?. Direct observation of behavior (as opposed to self-reporting), in-depth interviewing, case studies, etc Less structured than surveys & experiments Common in anthropology

Renfred
Download Presentation

Observation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Observation Qualitative Data & Field Research

  2. What Is It? • Direct observation of behavior (as opposed to self-reporting), in-depth interviewing, case studies, etc • Less structured than surveys & experiments • Common in anthropology • Also used in sociology &, to a lesser extent, political science

  3. Some Political Science Applications • Organizational studies (political parties, Congress, interest groups) • Policy analysis (needs, impacts) • Studies of political thinking (e.g. R. Dahl)

  4. Types • Participant v. nonparticipant • Covert v. overt

  5. Tools • Frameworks (“observation schedules”) • lists of variables to be examined • lists of behaviors to be noted • Tape recorders • Field notes (recorded at periodic intervals)

  6. Some Concerns • Reliability (findings can be hard to reproduce) • Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa • 1920s • Sexual freedom (permissiveness?) • Few problems in transition to adulthood • Derek Freeman, another viewpoint on Samoa • 1980s • Sexual behavior very similar to Australian • Same problems in transition to adulthood as are found in Australia

  7. Some Concerns, cont. • Ethics • “spying” on subjects • adverse effects on subjects • observer being pressured into unethical behavior • etc.

More Related