THIS PAGE HAS BEEN MOVED
If you are not redirected to its new location in a few seconds, please click here
DON'T FORGET TO UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS!
UNOBTRUSIVE MEASURES
Observing without disturbing the observed
Training Handout
Unobtrusive measures are those that do not intrude on the subjects
If you study people from the telephone
book, for example, they will not know that
they are being studied.
If you sit on a bus and observe where
people tend to sit, they are unlikely to know that they are
being observed.
The problem with many unobtrusive
measures is that they, too, are unlikely to reveal much valid or meaningful
in-depth material.
Living with people, as in participant
observation, is a possibility of being unobtrusive, so long as you do not
tell your subjects that you are there as a scientist
to study them.
This raises an ethical question about observing
people without their knowledge.
As with taking a formal photograph,
if they know you are there to study them, they will pose for you.
At some point, however, you may want
to supplement your observations with some in-depth questions.
Again, this may be
done with or without telling them they are being studied.
If they trust you, they are less
likely to hide information from you, and perhaps less likely to give you
answers that they think you want to hear.
It is a bit like the
problem faced in nuclear chemistry or physics.
If you determine the location of
an electron, you modify its velocity, or if you determine its velocity,
you modify its location.
The very act of observation (if you
want great accuracy) itself results in the subject modifying
its behaviour.
––»«––
If you copy text from this site, please acknowledge the author(s)
and link it back to www.cec.vcn.bc.caThis site is hosted by the Vancouver Community Network
(VCN) © Copyright 1967, 1987, 2007 Phil Bartle
Web Design by Lourdes Sada
––»«––Last update:
2011.08.17
|