Tactical Observations

Tactical observation is part of the online and face to face observation method, which is based
within the context of ethnography. So observation is a method or approach that can be used in an
ethnographic studies. So ethnography, as mentioned, focuses on understanding what people
believe and think and how they live their daily lives. And it can be used in a face to face
environments observing real world environments that's around us, or it can be used in online
contexts.

So why are we discussing tactical observation as part of ethnography is because this will be our
guiding principles to analyze online community understand the context surrounding it, regardless
whether we are fully participating as investigators or researchers, or we are just mere observers,
and we don't know much about the community. So it will help give us access to norms, beliefs,
and values that set up the community or brand that we want to analyze.

So technical observation is a coping mechanism, in some ways, because qualitative research

poses certain challenges. There are too many things to observe. So to account for this, we are
using this approach of tactical observation as such. So the challenges of qualitative research are
the deciding the focus of observations, learning how to document without overly impacting
group dynamics, separating observations versus interpretations, and avoid preconceived notions.
So specifically, we will address the challenges that I just mentioned by looking at how tactical
observation could be used in this context.

So principles of tactical observation are basically techniques that they're kind of guiding
principles for you to decide the focus and decide to ask certain questions that allow you to make
sense of the environment you observe, and guide you through the process. So once we enter this
scene, quote, unquote, "of the observation," of the first principle of tactical observation would be
asking a question, what are the actors that are surrounding us. What are their responsibilities. So
by asking these questions, we situate that environment by specifically looking at people-- that
means agents or "actors" in a quote, unquote sense.

How is this scene set up. And scene also was used in a very broad sense. In other words, in the
setting that we observe, how things are displayed. What are the objects that are placed in that
setup.

How they facilitate or impede interactions and how people navigate in that environment. How its
participants select and display various artifacts. In other words, what are the things that people
carry or show themselves. Like type of clothing, what type of logos they're using. What kind of
things they have with them to signify what they find important, and how they wish to be viewed
by others.

So in the simplest way, we do this in a daily day to day basis when we observe when we wear
clothing. We select certain clothing that display, sometimes voluntarily or involuntarily, our
values. If we were certain clothes versus the others, that signifies to other people something
about us. When we carry a logo brands, we also signify that we like them in some ways. And
sometimes, we're forced to carry certain brands. When we buy a coffee firm a special coffee
place, it has a logo on the coffee name. We don't have an intention to promote it or signify
anything, but people might perceive it that way.

The other question we can ask how those interactions take place between various participants.
How people claim attention, right? And the word actors, meaning that it can be a different type
of actors. Not only humans, but also non-human actors-- pets. When and where do actors
interact. And which events are significant.

These are some of the things that we can ask ourselves when we enter the observation scene, so
that it would be easier for us to determine what's meaningful to train ourselves, to be acute
observers. The same principles we can use not only in face to face environments, but also, when
we go to online spaces. Not only that reading the text that we're used to, but also, observing these
environments that are surrounding the text.

So how do we do that. So step one in a technical observation context. Step one, we write down
these observational notes. In other words, observation means we observe what is happening. So
all of these things that I've described before, they are all seeing what's happening, what do we
see. And then step two is engaging these interpretational notes. In other words, any of these
things that are happening, what do they mean. What does it mean to the participants, and how we
can make sense of them.

So step one, we start with these start observations by writing down chronological notes. So
chronologically record everything you observe in the scene. So all of the things that we've
described, there are many things that are happening. Our ways to organize those events is by
listing in chronological sequence, just to gain an overview of what is happening.

And the step two is creating those interpretive notes. That interpretive notes are rich and thick
specific details about communication or interaction that you observe. And the way we do these
interpretive notes, we imagine that we are teaching somebody or explaining to somebody what is
happening. Not only what is happening, but how to take place. So teaching about the scene that
you're observing.

So how do we engage in this tactical observational observation, these two steps. We have to
remember that we use this principle of empathetic intersubjectivity. These two words, if we
unpack these words, we see empathetic, the word itself, shows there is an empathy. So we want
to look at the scene or the environment that we're in from the perspective of the user, of the other
person. Of basically not judging, but trying to view it from their perspective. That's the empathy
element of it.

And intersubjectivity, we are trying to not only view the things that we observe from our
perspective, but trying to engage and understand how the community members or the actors
would interpret the scene. So empathetic understanding of participant's experience, that would be
a way to describe an empathetic center subjectivity element.
And this guiding principle gives those inside of a successful representation of understanding
called the other. Not only from our perspective, but more in a broader perspective how people
would make sense of themselves. So if we think about these tactical observations from the mall
perspective, if I want to walk you through, you can pause here, and try to engage in this example.
And go through all of these questions and see how you would make sense. What would be your
observational notes and what would be your interpretation of these observations.

You can do it right now. We can pause the video right now, and resume once you went through
it, and compare with my interpretation.

So in the mall context, we can say, who are the actors, and what are the responsibility of actors.
So at the mall, there are different shops, and there are different people, right? So different people,
people who buy things, people who sell things, people who do service, janitors. People who
supply goods. General passers by. So these are different actors-- children, adults. There are
different ages. There are different purposes why they are there.

And have different responsibilities, right? The vendor versus a client they have different
responsibilities the way they interact. How the scene is set up. So different malls are set up
differently. But there is a basic principle of you have a whole hallway that allows for the flux of
people to pass through. And then the rest of the space is defined through these quadrants of
shops, and restaurants, and restrooms, and resting areas.

There are benches in some places, and in some places, there are no benches. And that can be an
important variable. In some places, it's very light and bright. Other spaces are darker. So color
scheme-- music. Some places, there is music that is very, very loud. And other places, it's very
soft. And in some places, the smells are very prominent because of the restaurant that is close by,
or the store that has perfume that is really speaking to the clients passing by.

And how participants select and display various artifacts. So many times, in the shopping malls,
people have a lot of bags. Bags have brand names on them. People carry snacks. Others just walk
without carrying anything. Others engage in using their phones and waiting for somebody. Other
people carry headphones, and they don't interact with anybody. And others dress very impressive
clothes. Or other people are just homeless people passing by. So there are different ways to
describe that.

How do initial interactions occur. So initial interactions, depending on whether we're doing a
home. We can make a decision whether we were going to look at the interaction between
strangers. Or between vendors and customers. So then we can see who initiates the interaction.
And probably in some stores, we will observe that the vendors, and shop assistants, and
managers jump right at the client, and ask whether they can help. In other cases, the customer has
to approach the manager if they really need some help. So this could be an example of initial
interactions.

How do you actors claim attention. We can observe verbal versus nonverbal communication.
Whether people look very closely into the eyes of the other person. Or they approach closer
physically the other person. Or they start nodding their head and looking around, so there are
different ways of handling that.

In that, we observe interaction between strangers or families. We can do the same. Where and
when do actors interact. Again, we can observe different roles of actors if we look at customers
versus shop managers. We can see that actors, that they interact only within the shop. But outside
of shop, no such interaction takes place.

Also, which events are significant. Could be another example of observing special events versus
mundane events. Identifying the difference between the two can gain us inside of this maximum
variation, as we talked about. Are certain interactions typical. Or are certain interactions conflict
based, for example. So that shows us the range of experience that people can have.

So how do we observe. We create this observational protocol or take notes. We decide on our
observation stance before entering. Our role, whether we are going to be full complete
participant, or a complete observer, or participant as observer. We enter and decide slowly. In
other words, we try to understand the context before we make interpretations. And we conduct
multiple observations to make sure that what we see, we see certain patterns. And we summarize
at the end of each observation.

So your textbook has a few examples of observation analysis. Please make sure to look at them,
as well as I've included an example from [INAUDIBLE] reading to show you an example of how
observation is reported. And specifically, her example is from a culture of women led newspaper
and ethnographic study of Sarasota Herald Tribune. So please look at it as an example of how
this is taking place in a practical sense.

So the goal of this section was to provide you an overview of principles guiding principles of
tactical observation, and how it could be used in qualitative research.