Complexity: Medium
Time required: Each observation is likely to require at least one researcher and a minimum of two hours of time
Material required: Field note template/ notebook and pen

References: Spradley, J. P. (1980)

What is it for?

A tool to help understand context and to show what people do. It is about getting a perspective or opinion on what is happening, what’s going on, who you’d like to spend more time with.

How to use it?

This is a guide for an individual researcher or a group of researchers to use within their chosen setting (e.g. a town, organisation or group). It is likely to take more than one observation to get a complete picture and observations may change as more is learned about the group/ place being observed.