Method: Observation

Published in

Ocean Industries Concept Lab

9 min readFeb 20, 2020

In this chapter we present basic observation techniques, and how to manage the data produced as a result.

Two designers from OICL engaged in a participatory observation session.

Observation is the engine of the field study. Through personal and team work, your observations will trigger reflections, which will become insights and design material. Different observation methods will help you produce different types of observations: what you can observe and experience on your own, and what your informants will tell you about their actions or their thoughts.

In the next paragraphs, we describe the main observation techniques we use:

Silent observation and shadowing
Participatory observation and participatory design
Design evaluation of existing solutions
Thinking aloud
Artefact walkthrough
Interviews
Mapping

It is important to decide beforehand which method you will use in what situation, so that you can prepare yourself and avoid thinking about what to observe, how to observe and how to document your observations in the middle of the action.

We have compiled a list of references for further reading at the end of the chapter.

Your best observation tools: your curiosity and your senses

Whatever the observation method you are using, remember to be explorative and to look at everything as something interesting. Use all your senses to enrich your visual observation with a full physical experience of the field: the sounds, the smells, the feeling in your hands, the movements of your body when navigating this new space.

Look out for details, repeating patterns, start making connections. Make note of what happens the way you thought it would, and make note of what does not. Whenever possible, try to put yourself in the shoes of your informant. If you get offered the opportunity to try to operate some of the systems your informant is working with, make sure that you have the clearance to do so.

Keep the mantra that “there is always something to observe”. You will experience moments when you have the impression that nothing is going on. What actually happens then? What are your informants doing when it seems that they are not engaged with a specific task? How do they know that they do not need to engage right now, and what will make them resume their work task?

Documenting your observations

Document what you are observing with the help of notes, sketches, photos and videos — if you are allowed to take photos and videos, and if the photos and videos serve a specific purpose in your study. Your notes will contain the most important part of your field data, so treat them very carefully. Do not rely on your memory or your photos and videos only.

We recommend that you develop a template for your observation sheets, that suits the needs of your study, and that is convenient for you to use. You will also need to develop a coding system to distinguish your observations from your reflections, for example the ideas and questions you get when you observe something. You will use this coding system while writing your notes, and when you review them after an observation session.

Complement your notes with additional information: your name, the time of the observation, the location of the observation, the observation method, some information about your informant(s). The timestamp and location will help you cross reference your notes with the timestamps and location of your photos and videos. Make sure to keep your informant anonymous whenever possible and needed. You can for example prepare a list of codes for each of your informants, and keep the code list in a secure place.

Think about a convenient way to take notes while moving, talking, taking pictures, grabbing things. You will write a lot, so you will need a good amount of paper. Watch out were you step, and train to write while looking at something else.

Capturing photos and videos

A photo or a video is not an observation: when you will look again at it later, there is no guarantee you will remember what specific information you were trying to capture. Rather, you should consider a photo or a video as a form of evidence that documents an observation you have written in your notes. From this point you can always ask yourself: what form of evidence is most convenient, given the conditions in which I am carrying out this study? A sketch might work just as well as a photo, especially if you do not have the authorisation to take photos.

Once you have all the required permissions and once you are sure that you need photos, you need to make sure to use proper equipment. Although phone cameras are becoming pretty decent, we strongly recommend to use a digital camera with a light tripod. You will need to zoom in your photos, extract specific informations, so it is important that your photos are not blurry. When you take video, a tripod is absolutely mandatory, because it will really help you produce video of high quality.

Example of workplace documentation: context (left) and detail (right).

When you start working with your camera, if possible try to capture the entire context first, and then capture details of your environment, in a systematic way. Try to capture scenarios and sequences. Use yourself or your colleagues as reference and model: to give an indication of the scale of objects and distance, pointing at specific objects, indicating how objects work. Try to avoid asking your informant to pose for you! In most cases you should be able to come back to a location later on to spend more time on the visual documentation.

Example of workplace documentation: details of an instrument panel (left), same instruments during use (right).

When you work with video, remember to write down the time stamps of important sequences, so that you can save a bit of time if you work with editing your videos later on. As a general rule, video post processing is very time demanding, so be sure about why you have decided to use video in the first place. If you are documenting a complex operation, it can be useful to use several cameras. For example we often use 2 or 3 GoPros to take time-lapses of long operations.

Silent observation and shadowing

In this type of observation, users are observed in their own environment, performing their work tasks, without any interruption from the observer. This is often referred to as “being a fly on the wall”, but we prefer the term “shadowing”, because you will most likely follow your informant at a close range. Because you are not supposed to interrupt and ask questions, focus on gathering non-verbal information: actions, detailed behaviour, environment.

It is challenging to stay in the background of an action without feeling the urge to ask what is happening. It takes time to understand a new context, and it is likely that you will not understand at first what is happening in front of you. This is however a good way to begin an observation session, in order to give your informant the time to get used to your presence. Once you have spent time observing in silence, you can check with your informant if she or he is available for questions and explanations.

Participatory observation and participatory design

When you start interacting with your informant, you fall in the category of participatory observation. This means that you and your informant become participants to the observation, by having a conversation about the work place and the work tasks your informant is engaging with. You need to make sure that your informant is available for a conversation, and that they feel comfortable with you asking questions while they are working. Be very careful with your personal conduct (← link to 1. ON-SITE Process: During the field study) and always show the utmost respect to your informant(s) and their work.

By “participatory design” we refer to a form of observation where you produce design ideas and concepts on the spot, with your informants. This is a very efficient way to get your informants to talk about a more speculative dimension: what could be different, better, more efficient, safe, etc. In our experience not everybody finds it easy to speculate on alternative designs; but most people like to comment on an idea that is presented to them.

We absolutely recommend to share your ideas orally, or with a sketch, or even with mockups and prototypes if you have the opportunity to do so. Receiving instant feedback on an idea will save you a lot of time and help you prioritise the best ideas. Independently from your interaction with the users, bringing your thinking to the real context might help your problem-solving. You can for example evaluate the design ideas developed prior to to the field study.

It may be difficult to conduct focused sessions with the users for longer periods of time, however, so take advantage of periods when your informants are less busy.

Design evaluation of existing solutions

This method puts you in the position of a professional designer who evaluates the workplace you are finding yourself in. Look for design problems and design solutions, and reflect upon how you would have dealt with these problems and solutions. Make sure to complement these observations and reflections with interview and/or participatory methods where you can interact with your informants to go deeper in your design evaluation.

A good start for your design evaluations is to look for the modifications that users might have brought into their workplace. When users take the time and liberty to modify their workplace, there is a good chance it is because they were experiencing an important problem. Try to identify these modifications, the problem they are addressing, and the roots of this problem. For example, when we do field studies on ships we often find selfmade coffee cup holders at certain work stations, which indicate that at users spend a lot of time at these work stations. What does that say about the workstation, and how it is used? Could it be designed differently? We also often find systems to hold additional visual information, such as post-its or larger paper formats, with important information. What does that say about the information need, information flow, availability, in this work station?

Modifications to the workplace are often a good evidence of existing problems for the users.

Thinking aloud

In this method, users are asked to explain orally what they are doing and what they are thinking when they use a tool, a system, or carry out a task. This method is used to uncover why they are doing what they are doing, and why they are doing it this way. This type of information is usually not accessible through silent or participatory observation alone.

This method also enable to uncover more than what the users might say when they think aloud. Experienced designers will be able to focus on the non-verbal information. For example: what skills are the users exhibiting, how they appear to make decisions and solve problems, what systems they seem to trust. Remember that this is a more advanced method that requires more concentration from the user and the designer.

Artefact walkthrough

In this method, users are asked for examples of artefacts they are using when performing a task: forms, reports, hand written manuals, notes. The idea is that such artefacts can help to understand how tasks are done, what is difficult for users to do or remember, what kind of information flows from user to user. Often this method will uncover information that can be used to analyse a system more in depth, for example through a task analysis.

Interviews and Mapping

See the dedicated chapters about Interview and Mapping.

Credits

This chapter was written with contributions by Sari Kujala, Sigrun Lurås, Kjetil Nordby and Etienne Gernez.