Systematic Observation of Natural Social Phenomena

Abstract

Much argument about the merits of various methods and techniques of social investigation is based on misconceptions of how data are gathered and analyzed. At the core of most of the argument is a faulty definition of observation. Observation is fundamental to all forms of data collection. The forms differ primarily in how techniques of investigation are organized, how observations are made and recorded, and in their own validity and reliability (Reiss, 1968a). The object of much observation in social science is to capture events for later measurement and analysis. Some data are gathered by having the subject make observations about himself or others. This is commonly the case with interviews and standardized tests. Most records of organizations are evidence of observations. Oral interviews quickly become records, and it is these records that are observed and analyzed by the investigator and his staff. Unfortunately, precise measurement by direct observation and recording of events as they occur is seldom done