Observing and Just Hanging Out

There were several things about observations techniques that I found interesting while reading through Adler and Adler’s article. Some of the areas that I took a particular interest in was the section dedicated to the researchers being involved in the community in which they are studying. This would seem very conducive to a lot of the studies that we’ve been discussing in class, especially in regards to the teachers who want to try different methods on their students and gage the various results these students have. In those cases, the teacher is directly influencing their observers.

However, what I found interesting was the concept of casual observers inside a specific community minimally involving themselves but achieving a sense of one-ness with the community itself. I wondered as to whether or not being part of the community in which you’re studying, even with as many scholarly blinders as one can put on, can effect your observations. I think the same could be said for most observation techniques where subjects are allowed to interact directly with their observers. On one hand, this can be a powerful way of gathering information and insight about particular subjects that can help to formulate conclusions, but I can’t help but think that there is a danger in the idea of being "too close."

In some ways, I wondered how much of this could be considered ‘observing’ and how much could be considered ‘hanging out.’ What immediately leapt to mind was my relationship with my co-workers. At my job, I’m jokingly referred to as "Switzerland;" nobody really dislikes me, I have a couple of people I’d consider a casual friend, but by and by, I’m completely neutral. With this said, I would feel comfortable observing these people but I have a relative connection to them even though I’m not actively involved with them. I have the ability to be critical and in some cases unbiased, but even with that being the case, I know that as part of this community I'm influencing it and I'm also unable to see things that happen when I'm not there.

Adler and Adler suggested having other observers and formal ways of gaging the information obtained, which is helpful in having objectivity, but I couldn't help but want to poke holes in the observations that were made when people were already part of a community. I might just think that objectivity is impossible when you actually are involved. If you do a study and people are brought to a specific room or sat down in front of a camera, it does change how they want to be percieved. I also know first hand that if you walk into a public area, look around and start taking notes, people do notice. Example:I loved writing a summer camp and I would often write about my camp-mates and it made my other campers as well as my counselors so uncomfortable that I was spoken to about it several times. I was 12 people, I was just free writing what I saw. I even showed the writings about kickball and arts n' crafts to them. (Actually, that made things worse. They took my notebook away.)

Adler and Adler do stress combining the observational research that one obtains with another method of gathering information. After practically running observational techniques through a cheese grater, I'd like to know about some ways to support my findings so someone can't do this to me.