Who is watching whom???

After reading through all the history of Observation, one has to wonder as Lofland did on page 388: just who is watching whom and for what purpose. Addressing public, private, personal and political spaces may now be ambiguous. Beyond the theory of conspiracies and manipulation,there must be a reason for the observations. The blurred lines of the spaces and the reasons for observation as groups try to justify their research existence. Perhaps the issues of Observation techniques MUST be related to real world issues. Looking at how people function in their worlds have a basis in connections, disconnects, manipulations, and ever-changing in behaviors that might be specific to group memberships and personal presentations within the groups.Will the information observed and recorded be used for positive change, negative manipulation or for understanding? The connections to other disciplines may offer only clues to how the observer knows the "real" outside the specific group participation.
In regards to my health care study I try to incorporate the theories from this class. Assuming I am looking at the rhetoric of disseminating information being a peripheral-research-member allows me to have basic knowledge of the subject, situation, and group. The setting is specific-hospital. The point of entry is specific-nurse. The how and what to observe comes from my issue of malcontent-limits in nurse/patient education literacy. There is a value in knowing a starting point of knowledge grounded in basic acceptable nursing processes, anatomy + physiology,disease processes, pharmacology,and specific individual background information. For specifics (my expertise is telemetry) say for orthopedic surgery requiring telemetry teaching for the ANALYSIS of my observation data I would have to investigate research-based information most likely through a literature search to make comparisons. For me, the value of observation theory comes with the use of role-playing and the use of scripted responses. They can be quantified through a pre and post survey that uses 1-5 levels for the individual use. Observation by the observer may offer suggestions for improvement of techniques as well as looking for gaps in knowledge and comfort. Hospital wide evaluation can be measured through the dreaded Press Gany scores of patient satisfaction.
Important for any investigation would be the section on page 388 regarding misrepresentation. The issues of integrity and trust with even the covert Observer becomes central in any observation techniques when evaluating and analyzing the results. The question to be investigated and the subjects selected for the investigation must be very specific. The scientific notion of replication of results is probable not a factor in this modern age of group dynamics and technology changes. I do believe that observation combined with other methods of research theory will probably have specific values in how people function in their worlds if not as predictors of behavior outside of the use of the results.