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ABSTRACT
As an ethnographic research method, observation has a long history. The value of observation is that it permits researchers to study people in their native environment in order to understand "things" from their perspective. Observation requires the researcher to spend considerable time in the field with the possibility of adopting various roles in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the people being studied. A variety of techniques are used to collect data. Gaining access to the group and leaving the field are two important factors that need consideration. Other areas of concern involve ethical problems, as well as validity and reliability issues. Until recently, few library and information science (LIS) studies have included this method; however, observation is gaining favor as LIS researchers seek to understand better the role of information in people's everyday lives.
INTRODUCTION
As an ethnographic research method, observation seems to have no specific beginning. While some researchers found indications of its use in ancient times, others have pointed to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when anthropologists starting "collecting data firsthand" (Atkinson & Hammersley, 1994, p. 249). Describing it as the "bedrock source of human knowledge" about the "social and natural world," Adler and Adler (1994) stated that Aristotle used observational techniques in his botanical studies on the island of Lesbos and that Auguste Comte, the father of sociology, listed observation as one of the "four core research methods" (p. 377).
In the current research environment, its status seems to have changed, leading Adler and Adler to question whether observation is a research method "in its own right" or "a stepchild to its more widely recognized offshoot: participant observation" (1994, p. 378). Further confusing the picture is the variety of labels (for example, observation, participant observation, or ethnography) that seem to be used interchangeably by researchers to describe what was once called simply "observation." Finally, in some research methods textbooks and articles, observation has been described as a research method as well as a data collection method (Powell & Connaway, 2004; Williamson, 2000; Pearsall, 1970). Williamson prefers to categorize observation as a data collection technique because it can be used in a variety of research methods.
Observation is a complex research method because it often requires...