Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad
Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad
Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad
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Observation<br />
Anne Coleman—Five star motels<br />
Anne’s was a multi-method, five-phase study, each phase build<strong>in</strong>g on<br />
<strong>the</strong> one before. The phases were observation, followed by <strong>in</strong>formal<br />
<strong>in</strong>terviews with a range of people <strong>in</strong> public spaces, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>in</strong>-depth<br />
<strong>in</strong>terviews with homeless people, a search of documents that related<br />
to <strong>the</strong> local urban renewal process and, f<strong>in</strong>ally, a second phase of<br />
observation. Anne has published on ethical issues encountered<br />
dur<strong>in</strong>g observation (McAuliffe & Coleman, 1999) and social policy<br />
implications of <strong>the</strong> study (Coleman, 1997). She is talk<strong>in</strong>g here about<br />
her use of observation as a data collection method.<br />
Choos<strong>in</strong>g observation<br />
Yvonne:<br />
Anne:<br />
Yvonne:<br />
Why did you choose observation as an approach to<br />
data collection?<br />
Simply because I’d known people <strong>in</strong> this group long<br />
enough to know that <strong>in</strong> fact <strong>the</strong>y could be quite<br />
devilish . . . They could, just for <strong>the</strong> fun of it, tell you<br />
<strong>the</strong> biggest story and <strong>the</strong>n tell you someth<strong>in</strong>g else <strong>the</strong><br />
next day and <strong>the</strong>n you were caught <strong>in</strong> that terrible<br />
dilemma about, well, what am I go<strong>in</strong>g to believe? It’s<br />
also a very divided community so if you talk to one<br />
person <strong>the</strong>y will tell you this is a fact and <strong>the</strong>re’s no<br />
question about that and if you talk to somebody else<br />
<strong>the</strong>y’ll tell you someth<strong>in</strong>g else is a fact. And you f<strong>in</strong>d<br />
out that none of those th<strong>in</strong>gs are actually facts ...So<br />
I knew that observation was go<strong>in</strong>g to be a really useful<br />
way to check what was said to me aga<strong>in</strong>st what I’d<br />
actually seen myself . . .<br />
The o<strong>the</strong>r really important reason for do<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong><br />
observation first up was that because of [my] familiarity<br />
[with <strong>the</strong> area] I had a fair degree of knowledge<br />
but I knew that some of that knowledge would be<br />
outdated ...I wanted to go back and just have a look<br />
at <strong>the</strong> whole place and <strong>the</strong> range of th<strong>in</strong>gs that<br />
happened <strong>in</strong> those spaces before I actually started to<br />
focus myself <strong>in</strong> aga<strong>in</strong> . . .<br />
What were <strong>the</strong> benefits of that first stage of observation?<br />
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