3.2.2 When to use observations?

Author(s)

To collect data on naturally occurring behaviors in their usual contexts⁵⁴. Observation also captures the whole social setting in which people function by recording the context in which they live⁸⁴.
Unstructured observation illustrates the whole picture, captures context/process and informs about the influence of the physical environment⁸⁴.
To check whether what people say they do is the same as what they actually do⁸⁴. Both what people perceive that they do and what they actually do are however valid in their own right and just represent different perspectives on the data⁸⁴.
Observation is also an ongoing dynamic activity that is more likely than interviews to provide evidence for processes, things that are continually moving and evolving⁸⁴.
To study the working of organisations and peoples’ roles and functioning within organisations²⁰.
To uncover behaviours or routines of which the observed themselves are not aware of²⁰. What the researcher considers an important finding may belong to the self-evident nature of daily life from the participants’ point of view.
To understand data collected through other methods (e.g. interviews) and also to design the right questions for those methods⁵⁴.