Unobtrusive observation

A researcher may wish to be unobtrusive, fro example if undertaking covert observation (where this is ethically justified), but this may be challenging - as in the following study exploring public response to restrictions on smoking in public places:

“The difficulty of ‘fitting into’ a bar they had never previously visited and of discreetly observing smoking was probably the main concern for the researchers who collected these data. The ability to ‘blend in’ depended on both the type of bar and the time of day. Matching the observer by age and gender to the bar was important in some circumstances, so that they looked like a ‘typical customer’...

Inadvertent violations of bar norms were also possible; a researcher could accidentally sit in a seat belonging to a regular customer. However, the most obvious measure the researchers could take to ‘fit in’ was to have a drink in the bar. Sometimes a soft drink was possible; but in some bars at some times this, too, could attract attention. In one venue putting money in the jukebox was also found to constitute unusual behaviour.” (Petticrew, et al., 2007: 5).

Petticrew, M., Semple, S., Hilton, S., Creely, K. S., Eadie, D., Ritchie, D., . . . Hurley, F. (2007). Covert observation in practice: lessons from the evaluation of the prohibition of smoking in public places in Scotland. BMC Public Health, 7(1), 1-8. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-7-204

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