Observation

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Observation

• Veal
• Chapter 7

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The nature of observation

• Observation involves looking!
• Generally no involvement with the observed (who
  may not even be aware that they are being
  observed)
• Observation can also be structured observation
  methods

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Spatial or functional

• Outdore
• Entrances
• Parking areas
• People often locate themselves along edges
  such as walls, fences, banks, areas of trees
• The pattern of use of a site

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Spatial or functional

• Built up areas
• Shopping malls
• Buildings
• Museums
• Another example is space management in the
  supermarket

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Designing areas

• In reality people do not behave as the designers
  thougth they would do!
• Some spaces are under-used and some are over
  crowded
• Or spaces are used for other activities
• The patterne of movement in an exhibition can
  affect the information absorbed

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Observations Use of a Park
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Categories
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System of Coding
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Finding user profiles

• Often preliminary observations can be used to
  identify features of a user profile
• Makes it easier to pose the right questions in a
  questionaire or an interview

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Leisure on the margins

• Recreational drugs
• Grafitti and vandalism
• Various types of sexual activity
• Gambling
• Crowd behavior

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Main elements

• 10-step model for structured observation
• Site
• Observation point
• Time-periods
• Sampling
• Frequency
• Zones
• Etc.

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Step 1 and 2

• Make an inspection of the site at first to
• Choose the the site to observe
• Obervation points and
• Siutable conditions for the observation

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Step 3, 4 and 5

• Step 3 Important
• Variations in use of facilities
• Step 4 Continuos or sampling?
• Ressources available
• The nature of the site
• Overall design of the project
• Step 5 Count frequency
• Depending on the rate of change in the use of the
  site

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Step 6

• Step 6 What to observe?
• People and their positions
• Different types of activities
• Visitor characteristics
• Visitors movements
• Flows in general
• Routes of visitors

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Step 7

• Step 7 Division of site into zones
• Focus on each zone to decide activities etc.
• Zones should be determined by management concerns
• Ideally zones
• Can be observed from one spot and are
• Demarcared by natural (or other) features

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Step 8

• Step 8 Recording observational information
• Make a structured counting sheet
• Makes data ready for analysis, presentation and
  spread sheets
• Copies of maps
• Free form notes

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Step 9

• Conducting the observation
• Structured observations
• The main danger can be boredom
• Important to vary work
• Unstructured observations
• The observer is required to observe and describe
  what is going on and at the same time
• Determine what to observe

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Step 10

• Step 10 Analysing data
• Structured observations
• Visual presentations
• Usage patterns
• Spot count data
• Weighting
• Unstructured observations
• Readable notes
• Transcripts