Understanding and Applying Research Design

17

FIELD RESEARCH

Have you ever been in a public space, like a coffee shop, restaurant, doctor’s office, or department store, and found yourself listening to someone else’s conversation? Have you ever watched others try to navigate an awkward social situation? Have you ever waited in a line, surreptitiously surveying everyone else? If you are majoring in a social science, chances are you love observing other people. Many of us are natural observers, watching others and making suppositions as to why they act in certain ways. This is the lure of observational research, or field research. Field research is primarily a qualitative research design where researchers go into the field, or a natural setting, to observe people, collecting very detailed information about individuals, groups, or interactions.

For professional (and armchair) social scientists, we are constantly taking in data wherever we are. Most of us practice “studied nonobservance,” or pretending not to notice what others are doing, in public spaces. Natural observers use this to their advantage to notice others in their natural habitats. In fact, while reviewing classic field studies in preparation for writing this book, McKinney did a little informal field observation of her own when she pulled out Laud Humphreys’s classic study, Tearoom Trade, at the airport waiting for a flight.

As she read from Tearoom Trade, McKinney realized something was happening. It was clear that several other airport patrons were interested ...