![]() (b) Recording an observation involves two major considerations, viz: It may also be that the course of events is too fluid to permit consideration of all dimensions of a social situation or that a certain aspect of an occurrence may be so important as to need the entire attention of the observer. It should be noted that in a practical situation, it is often not possible to obtain enough clues to allow such a comprehensive description. For example, the observer should know what stimulus initiated the behaviour, what the goal is towards which the behaviour is directed, what are the qualities of the behaviour (duration, intensity, etc.) and what are it consequences? (4) The observer must also understand what the participants do, how, with whom and with what they do it. (3) The observer should also understand the purpose which has brought the subject-participants together, the nature of the purpose and how the goals of participants are related. (2) The observer should understand the ‘setting.’ He should know in addition to its overt appearance, the kinds of behaviour it encourages, discourages or prevents and its social characteristics. (1) The observer should see who the participants are, how many they are and how they are related to one another. ![]() ![]() While no stringent criteria or hard and fast rules can be laid down as to how the observer will go about observing a particular situation it would be helpful, however, to indicate some of the significant aspects that the observer can overlook only at his peril. The observer is always prepared to draw his clues from unanticipated events in an attitude of alert receptivity. That is, the unstructured observation is flexible, it allows for changes in focus from time to time if and when reasonable clues or doubts warrant such changes with a view to facilitate taking stock of the new observational items that appear to be pertinent or important at different points in time. Such shifts in focus according to the exigencies of the situation is a characteristic of unstructured observation. It should be noted that such changes called for in the foci of observation are often desirable. This, in turn, may call for changes in what he observes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |