Passive and Participant/Shadowing Observation Mbuba, F.H.

Introduction
According to Infopolis (2007) observational techniques are a general class of techniques whose objectives are to obtain data by directly observing the activity or behaviour under study. It can be either passive observation or participant (shadowing) observation. These two observational techniques will be discussed in detail in Part A and Part B respectively within the essay. The essay consists of three parts: The first part describes passive observation carried out at a public Internet Caf, while the second part narrates shadowing observation that was done at the Computer Training Institute. All two observations were done in CapeTown, South Africa. The last part reflects on the two observations conducted.

PART A: PASSIVE OBSERVATION

According to Giacoppo (2001) passive observation is where the person conducting the observation quietly observes and records the user activity. Passive observation has the advantage that it minimizes the intrusion which the user experiences. One problem with passive observation is the practical difficulty in recording sufficient detail of the activity.

Passive observation with note taking was conducted for an hour at SOA Internet Caf in CapeTown at the railway station on Tuesday, 26th February 2008, from 16:52hrs to 18:00hrs. The site was so chosen because it is inline with the researchers anticipated research proposal to be conducted on the e-government systems.

The Internet caf is centrally positioned inside the Railway Station along the main middle walkway of the complex. Outside the caf, there is a walkway and its relatively busy as people are rushing to catch-up the train and others are doing their routine businesses within the complex. On the other side of the room, there is a bus

station for Intercape Buses. Inside the caf, it was relatively quiet with few papers flopping and the sound of photocopying and facsimile machines being heard from time to time when the machines were in use. The room of the Internet caf has one door facing the reception desk situated inside of the other side of the inner part of the room. Computers were installed at the middle of the room between the entrance door and the reception desk.

The caf has sixteen computers. They were all fitted with LCD flat screens, connected to the local area network (LAN), which connects them to the Internet and to the central network printer. The Computers are Pentium fours fitted with headphones, microphones and some with camcorder for multimedia purposes. One machine is fitted with a skype Internet pay phone system using voice over IP (VOIP) ready for use. Behind the reception desk, there was a shelf of various stationeries displayed for sale. On the sides of the reception desk were a photocopier and the facsimile machine. Opposite the computer desks, it was fitted with a wooden screen shielding users from facing each other. The wooden screen had notices, written No Downloading and No Pornography.

Services offered at the cafe included the selling of stationeries, and the use of the Internet, faxing, photocopying and Internet phones through VOIP services and the normal pay phones. The room had enough florescence tube lights around the walls and they were so bright by giving a relaxed ambient look inside the caf.

Two men in their mid thirties, black in complexion having Ghanaian accent managed the reception desk and the one other man in his mid forties black in complexion was walking around the room, later the observer noticed that actually is the owner of the centre, as he was monitoring the entire activities also having Ghanaian accent. A gentleman at the reception was responsible for selling various stationeries, CD, VCD, various units of cell-phone and made some photocopying and faxing services to customers. While the other gentleman was assisting users who needed help when they were using the Computers or browsing the Internet.

At the first glance in the Caf, the observer found six gentlemen, black in complexion were sited each on one machine browsing the Internet. Among them, two men (middle 2

thirties) were chatting while browsing the Internet, and other three people were using the phones inside the cubicles. One lady in her twenties (black in complexion) was surfing the Internet as well. The place was relatively quiet, except some noises were heard from people talking on phone and some movements of people passing through the corridors and the walkways.

After some few seconds, one man came in and went out immediately, while talking to his cellphone. This made some people who were browsing the Internet to look up in a disturbed manner when they were responding to the noise made by the man. Later, some music was heard outside the room and a sound of the bus parking outside.

The lady (20) black in complexion, who was browsing the Internet, stood up and went to collect her printed papers at the network printer in front of the reception desk. She then asked for some pages to be photocopied, while the man who was using the phone went to pay the bill and left the room. At around 17:05 hrs, the other man (40)-black in complexion came out of the cubicles where he was using a phone, and went to the reception to pay the bill and as he was going out, he was talking to himself, as a sign of reflecting what was discussed on the phone. The other coloured man (40) came in and went straight to the reception desk and asked for something and then went out immediately. One man who was browsing went out, followed by the lady who was seen printing, left her computer and went out as well.

By 17:20 hrs, the other lady (30) coloured in complexion came in. She bought the ticket for browsing the Internet and sat at one of unoccupied computer and started browsing. Then a young teenage boy (coloured) came in and started chatting with the lady who just came in. Their voices were a bit loud and disturbed other users. Users looked around while shaking their heads as a response to the noise made by the lady. The lady stopped talking, then went to the reception desk, bought units and came back. As they were chatting, the boy opened his school bag and started sharing his packet of crisps with the lady. Then the boy also went to one of unoccupied computer and started browsing the Internet. At around 17:00 hrs, two Indian men (40s) came in and went to the reception and asked for photocopying certain documents and then wrote something on a paper and 3

gave it back to the receptionist for faxing them. After the process, they paid the bill and went out at around 17:13 hrs.

Afterwards at around 17:09 hrs, two men left the computers and went out, a bit noisy. Then immediately the other two men came in, sat on chairs besides their computers and started discussing as they were browsing the machine and eating something while drinking their cans of coca cola. At around 17:11hrs one lady in her mid 20s came in and brought her reserved browsing units and started browsing the Internet. Other three men (30) black in complexion came in while wondering around, and one of them went to pay for the Internet access and started browsing while his friends watched him.

At 17:13 hrs, some noise intensified as the other man was raising his voice on a phone in one of the cubicles of the caf. Suddenly, some loud sound was heard of a bus arriving at the parking lot. Users were seen to be unrest when these noises were heard. At the same time, one receptionist went outside the room, while the other gentlemen went to take charge of the reception desk. The Internet Caf owner was still been sited at the other side of the desk, watching and browsing the computer. The other man left the computer and walked out quietly.

At 17:18 hrs a man (30) black in complexion came in, bought the units for browsing the Internet and sat at one of unoccupied Computer. The other man who was making phone calls went to the reception desk and paid his bill. The receptionist who went out was seen coming in, while stretching himself, followed by a man (40) black in complexion wearing eyeglasses came in looking and wondering around. And then he walked out immediately, as if he could not locate the computer to use, although, there was one machine that was not occupied.

At 17:20hrs, the Internet Caf owner walked towards a user who raised his hand asking for help. After a few seconds of conversations, the man left the room. Then, at around 17:21 a man (40) black in complexion walked in with his arms folded and went straight to the reception desk and asked for something and went out immediately. 4

At 17:22hrs a man (40) black in complexion wearing a black hat came in and sat at one of unoccupied Computer and another man (40) black in complexion as well, came in to use the other machine, and started browsing the Internet, with their previous account details.

At 17:24hrs another user signalled for help and the owner went to help him. Then at around 17:26 hrs a man (30) black in complexion jubilantly came in and bought the units for browsing, followed by another man (40) black in complexion came in and asked for photocopying services. After, he was helped, he went out immediately.

By 17:35 hrs a man (40) black in complexion in a security guard uniform walked in and asked to use the phone. As he picked the receiver and dialled, he was seen unrest because he could not go through and went out at around 17:36 hrs, after he failed to make a call.

At around 17:37 hrs another man (40) black in complexion left the computer and went out. Then, at around 17:40 hrs a man (40) coloured left the Computer as well after browsing and went out. At 17:42 hrs, a one of the receptionist went to one of the machine for using. He put the headphones and then continued using the computer.

At 17:43 hrs, three men who were browsing as a team left the caf. At 17:46 hrs, another man went out silently after using the computer. At 17: 48 hrs another man (30) black in complexion went out and a certain lady (20) black in complexion came in and went straight to the reception desk, bought some units for cell phone and walked out smiling as she was closing a zip of her hand bag.

At around 17:49 hrs, the teenager boy (18) coloured went out leaving the coloured lady he was chatting with taking over his computer.

Then, around 17:50 hrs one of the receptionist closed the main door, as a sign that the caf will been closing soon. He then opened another side door as an alternative exit door. He then installed the burglar doors on the main door as he fitted them together; they gave a disturbing noise to users. 5

By 17:58 hrs, most users started walking out of the Internet caf and by 18:05 hrs, only the three men who were managing the caf were left inside, as they were closing their financial accounting details.

Interpretations

According to Langefors (1993), the interpretation of data involves not only the identification of the object but also the identification of the property that the information attributes to the object. The term property is used in this context to signify attributes, relationships, or situations that involve the object. The Interpretation of the SOA Computers as an organization would be done in terms of ownership (social context) and economic views.

The caf seems to be owned by a Ghanaian family. The caf is managed well with good Internet caf ethics of not allowing pornographic websites to be viewed. Users who came for browsing could opt to use their Internet browsing units the next day, as seen to some who came directly to use their account details for browsing the Internet. Also, the Internet browsing tickets indicated to be valid for seven days. Users in the caf do not condone noise or any disturbances when they were surfing the Internet, as seen from the reactions they showed to users who were making some noise.

Middle-aged men mainly were seen using the Internet caf, with very few women participating. This shows that only few women are participating in the use of the Information Communication technology (ICT) compared to men. United Nations (2002) concurs that women are increasingly taking advantage of ICT in all sphere of life, thus confirming that ICT can be a tool to promote gender equality and enhance the economic, political and social empowerment of women. At the same time, a gender divide within the gender divide is apparent and reflected not only in the lower numbers of women users of ICT, compared to men, but also in the persistence of gender-specific structural inequalities that constitute barriers to access. ICT may also create new forms of inequality between women and men.

Basing on positivist, interpretative and critical approaches, one could construe the situation differently.

From positivist view, one may deduce that out of 10 clients who used an Internet service at SOA Computers within the observed period, only three females used the computers making 30% of all Internet users, and hence females are lagging behind in the usage of the Internet (Figure 2). Oates (2006) argues that reductionism may prevent a bigger picture from emerging. Few interesting things in real life are repeatable; therefore generalising may not always be desirable losing of individual perspective. In social world there are no actual natural laws. Females visiting SOA Computers may be few due to environmental and social conditions around the area, or even the time of observation was not conducive for women to be around the area due to security reasons and so forth. This is clearly indicated in figure 1 on the disparate of races who visited the caf. According to Stowel and Mingers (1997) despite attempts in several of the approaches to embrace the social aspects of an information system most seem to be based upon a positivists (functionalist) view of information.

According to Langefors (1993), interpretive approaches in the social sciences are associated with the action perspective of Max Weber and Alfred Schutz, who stress that in studying peoples actions one must consider their motives and the meaning they attach to the actions. Thus the observation made at SOA Computers would need other data collecting techniques to get the meaning and motive behind their actions, such as interviews, archives, questionnaires (Eisenhardt K.M 1989). Katz and Kahnn (1966) add that: The first problem in understanding an organization or a social system is its location and identification. How do we know that we are dealing with an organization? What are its boundaries? What behavior belongs to the organization and what behavior lies outside it? Who are the individuals whose actions are to be studied and what segments of their behavior are to be included? The second key characteristic of an organization is to regard it simply as the epitome of the purposes of its designer, its leaders, or its key members/clients.

According to Howcroft and Trauth (2004) critical research questions and deconstructs the taken for granted assumptions inherent in the status quo and interprets organisational activities by recourse to a wider social, political, historical, economic and ideological context. One may not know the wider picture of SOA Computers until deeper social, political, historical, economic and ideological context is searched on, to give the wider interpretations of activities observed.

Table 1: Flow of Clients at SOA Internet Caf During The Observation Period Services Total I=Internet P=Phone O=Others 3 1 0 4 7 4 6 17 10 5 6 21 8 3 3 14 0 1 1 2 2 1 0 3 0 0 2 2 Age Group B C D 1 2 0 1 8 8 2 10 8 2 9 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 Race Y Z 0 1 2 2 2 3

Gender Total

F M

X Y Race Z V

A 0 1 1 0 0 1 0

E 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

X 3 11 14

V 0 2 2

Key: 1. Approx Age Group (Yrs): Less 18 A 2. Services: I = Internet browsing, typing, P= Phoning & VOIP services O= Secretarial Services, Printing, Photocopying, Faxing, Purchase of stationary etc 3. Race: X= Black Y=White Z= Coloured V= Others 18-28 B 29-39 C 40-46 D Above 46 E

12 10 8
Black

6 4 2 0 Female Internet Other Services

White Coloured Others

Figure 1: Number of Clients Visited SOA Caf Per Gender, Services By Race

Table 2: Number of Clients Visited SOA Computers During the Observation Period Services Female Internet 3 Phone 1 Other 0 Total 4 Male 7 4 6 17 Total 10 5 6 21

8 7 6 No of Clients 5 4 3 2 1 0 Internet Phone Service Other

Female Male

Figure 2: No of Clients Per Services by Gender

PART B: SHADOWING OBSERVATION

Introduction

An hour of shadowing observation was done at 2KO International training centre in CapeTown. The centre was chosen because a friend was undergoing professional computer training at the centre. 2KO International trains mainly computer professionals from all over the world, in Microsoft and Cisco certified courses. The site was chosen because the environment aligns well with the envisaged research proposal on e-government. The centre is situated at 124 Water Kant street corner of De Smidt Street, near the Heart FM radio in CapeTown city centre.

2KO International has five male Instructors training in Project Management, Computer Security, and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Programming and Networking courses. There are three ladies employees in their late thirties, one is secretary (white in complexion), another a receptionist (coloured in complexion) and a cook/cleaner (black in complexion). There was a Centre Manage (male-white in complexion) in his late forties, managing the centre. Trainees come from different nations aiming to finish their courses and complete the professional exams. Chris was chosen as a target person whom I was doing shadowing observation on. Chris (black in complexion) is a trainee who came from Botswana for MCSE training at the centre.

Shadowing Observation The shadowing observation was done on 28th February 2008 from 08:15 hrs to 09:30 hrs at the centre. Giacoppo (2001) describes that participant or shadowing observation is when the investigator takes part in the tasks alongside the users or walking alongside a shadowing person. It may be a useful data collection approach if skilled performance is such that actions are "semi-automatic" in which case users may find it difficult to verbalize how they are achieving the task goals. This type of observation can also be useful if aspects of team performance are being investigated to understand how the team members are organized and perform their tasks.

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Participant observation as a set of research strategies which aim to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious, occupational, or subcultural group, or a particular community) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their natural environment, often though not always over an extended period of time.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participant_observation)

At around 08:15 hrs, It was a normal training day, as Chris entered a building, the reception room was quite with soft music on the background was heard from a CD Player System besides the lounge. He found other trainees from other nations in the region, who came earlier having their breakfast. As he greeted them, he started chatting with two of the men (both black in complexion) who identified themselves as coming from Zambia. Suddenly another trainee joined their conversation and introduced himself to be coming from Botswana and that he has been in CapeTown for a month. Chris, being new to CapeTown, was thrilled to meet a countryman and started talking in their local language and chatted with frequent laughter. Later at around 08:30 hrs five more men aged around early thirties, (two Indians, one white and two coloured) with one Indian lady (20) came in. As a norm, Chris greeted them all as well by introducing his name with a low profile smile and walked around as he studied the environment and nodding his head as a response to the background music.

Finally, trainees gathered around the table as they prepared their breakfast before starting the lessons. Chris went directly to prepare a bowl of cereals. He took a bowl, poured the cereals and milk and then sprinkled with a bit of sugar on top. He took a spoon and sat down besides a coffee table and started enjoying his meals. His Botswana friend came closer to him and started chatting again in their local language which the observer did not understand the details of their conversations. Chris finished his breakfast quickly and placed a dirt bowl at its required position. Then, Chris concluded his conversation with his colleague at around 08:44 hrs, and went to the ablutions before getting into a lecture room.

By 08:45 hrs Chris rushed to his class and found the course instructor already in class. He greeted him and sat down besides his computer. The lecture room was quiet, with enough florescence lights. The Instructor uses the whiteboard makers with a 11

multimedia projector to present the lessons. Then the instructor handed Chris four MCSE books with compact disc in them. The instructor told the trainees that each module would be covered basing on one of the books, as an official MCSE training guide.

The instructor started the Chapter one of one of the books, entitled MCSE: 70-290, by giving a brief lesson objective before going into detailed material. The instructor then said that he prefers conducting an interactive type of lecturing. Trainees are therefore free to interrupt him and ask any question or clarifications needed. Chris nodded his head as a sign of agreeing to what the Instructor has just said.

At first white trainees felt unease as they listened from a black instructor in his mid thirties, but as the lessons became tough to understand, they softened their visual muscles as they started to appreciate the knowledge being delivered and became relaxed. The Instructor continued delivering his materials while answering various questions from the trainees.

At around 09:20hrs, the instructor then stopped lecturing, at a certain stage of the first chapter and asked all participants to do practical exercises using their computers by following instructions from the textbook they have. During the lesson, Chris was relatively quiet. But when he was doing the exercises, he raised his hand as he signalled to the instructor to give him some clarifications of doing a certain stage in the exercise. The instructor described the issue and Chris continued doing his exercises. Chris was seen discussing a point with a nearby colleague and continued with the exercise, as he clicked on the computer screen following the instructions.

By 09:30 hrs a lady (2KO Secretary) knocked a door and gave the instructor Course Evaluation Forms to be distributed to all trainees. By 09:45hrs the Instructor told the trainees to complete the Evaluations Forms (as he was distributing) before breaking for tea at 10:00 hrs. Chris did his evaluation and gave the completed Form to the Instructor and left the room for tea break.

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Interpretations Chris felt comfortable talking to his fellow black colleagues. He was delighted to see his countryman among the trainees. On the either hand white trainees were feeling at ease talking to their fellow whites. White trainees did not expect to be taught by the instructor in black complexion, thats why they were at first under tension in class. They then softened their visual muscles as they appreciated the type of information that was delivered by the Instructor. The trainees were given four MCSE Text Books, meaning that they were required to cover four MCSE modules.

PART C: REFLECTION

Doing passive observation with note taking captures in detail the actions, visual perceptions/impressions and body language of the objects being observed, as they are being translated in the observers mind. According to Heidelberg and Stadler (2002) impressions are perceptions, which enter with most force and violence in our mind. Impressions are constantly accompanied by a second kind of perceptions called ideas, which are the mental copies of former impressions. According to Hume quoted in Heidelberg and Stadler (2002), ideas are the faint images of impressions in thinking and reasoning. Its quite clear then that while note taking these perceptions and impressions can be captured instantly otherwise they could fly away after a certain period of time if not written down immediately, as it was done when doing the observation without note taking exercise.

Advantages/Limitations

According to Giacoppo (2001) during passive observation is where the person conducting the observation quietly observes and records the user activity. Passive observation has the advantage that it minimizes the intrusion which the user experiences. Other advantages of observational techniques produce information, which cannot be collected in any other way. Indeed, detailed physical task performance, social interactions, surrounding influences can be recorded. Observation methods allow the 13

observer to become more familiar with the task. So they are very appropriate for exploratory studies because they allow the investigator to decide what to look for. Obserrvation studies can be used to identify and develop explanations of individual differences in task performance. Observational techniques provide data which can be compared and contrasted with information collected by another investigator, or by another method. ((http://www.ul.ie/~infopolis/methods/observat.html)

Giacoppo (2001) add that one problem with passive observation is the practical difficulty in recording sufficient detail of the activity. This can be overcome through the video recording of user activity, which, after transcription into textual form, can provide a highly detailed analysis. Other Disadvantages includes Real time observation requires trained ergonomists. Observational data is the widest possible form of information, for this reason the effort which must be expended on classification and analysis is considerable. Direct observation can be an intrusive technique. The user behaviour might be influenced by the presence of the observer,. Therefore the investigator must estimate whether the type of observation selected will significantly alter the task under study. Observational situations which produce rich context data are rarely the ones which produce precise and controlled data. So data will be incomplete, inconsistent and sometimes unusable. Observational techniques cannot provide information about underlying thought-processes, and so they will be of very little use for highly cognitive activities. The equipment needed for producing high quality observational data can be expensive and difficult to install, and video recording followed by later analysis is time-consuming. ( http://www.ul.ie/~infopolis/methods/observat.html)

While shadowing (participant) observation, according to Giacoppo (2001) the investigator takes part through shadowing someone in his or her routine tasks alongside the users. It may be a useful data collection approach if skilled performance is such that actions are "semi-automatic" in which case users may find it difficult to verbalize how they are achieving the task goals. This type of observation can also be useful if aspects of team performance are being investigated to understand how the team members are organized and perform their tasks.

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Participatory action research is a recognized form of experimental research that focuses on the effects of the researcher's direct actions of practice within a participatory community with the goal of improving the performance quality of the community or an area of concern. Action research involves utilizing a systematic cyclical method of planning, taking action, observing, evaluating (including selfevaluation) and critical reflecting prior to planning the next . The actions have a set goal of addressing an identified problem in the workplace, for example, reducing the illiteracy of students through use of new strategies.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participant_observation).

According to Walsham ( 2006)

some potential disadvantages of participatory

observation are:. First is that an ethnographic or action research study is very timeconsuming, and opportunity costs are incurred in this. A second disadvantage of shadow/participatory observations is that field subjects may be less open and honest with the researcher in cases where he or she is perceived to have a vested interest. There is a further danger that the closely involved field researcher becomes socialized to the views of the people in the field and loses the benefit of a fresh outlook on the situation. There is a risk that researchers may lose critical distance on the value of their own contribution, and perhaps represent it in too positive a light.

However, Orlikowski and Baroudi (1991) add that doing particpant/shadowing observation has an advantage that intentions and impressions can be weighed against actual behaviors.

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REFERENCES EISENHARDT, K.M 1989. Building Theories From Case Study Research. Academy of Management Review, Vol.14. (October 1989), pp.532-550

GIACOPPO, S.A. 2001. Development Methods: User Needs Assessment & Task Analyses: Department of Psychology, Catholic University, Washington, DC 20064 USA.

INFOPOLIS. 2007. Observations Methods. [Online]. Available: http://www.ul.ie/~infopolis/methods/observat.html [Cited 29 February 2008]

KATZ, D. & KAHN, R.L. 1966. Organizations And The System Concept. The Social Psychology of Organizations. New York: John Wiley

LANGEFORS, B. 1993. Information Systems Theory And Infology. In. Dahlbom, B. (Ed.) 1993. Essays on Infology. Dept of Information Systems, University of Gteborg, Sweden

OATES, B 2006. Researching Information Systems and Computing. Sage.

ORLIKOWSKI, W. J AND BAROUDI, J.J. 1991. Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions. Information Systems Research, 2, 1-28.

STOWELL, F. & MINGERS, J. 1997. Information System an Emerging Discipline? (Eds.) Berkshire: MacGraw-Hill

UNITED NATIONS. 2002. Information And Communication Technologies And Their Impact On And Use As An Instrument For Advancement And Empowerment Of Women. Report of expert group meeting Seoul, Republic of Korea, 11-14 November 2002. [Online]. Available at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw. [Cited 29 February 2008]

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WALSHAM, G. 2006. Doing Interpretive Research. European Journal of Information Systems, 320-330

WEKIPEDIA ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA. Observation. [Online]. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participant_observation". [Cited 29 February 2008]

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