Lecture in the graduate course Userinnovation at Karlstad University about observational methods with a focus on the why and hows.

1. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
Observations
Why and how
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

2. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
Why?
Different perspectives
Different answers

3. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
But in the end, for something this complicated,
it's really hard to design products by focus groups.
A lot of times, people don't know what they want
until you show it to them.
BUSINESS WEEK ONLINE
May 12, 1998
STEVE JOBS ON APPLE'S RESURGENCE:
"NOT A ONE-MAN SHOW"
“Tio Steve” by Marco Paköeningrat, used under CC BY-SA 2.0

4. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
The exsitu / desk / company
perspective

5. Jörg Pareigis – jorg.pareigis@kau.se – 054-700 23 39 – @joergelp
Students evalutating a course
0
1
2
3
4
5
AT12
ST13
AT13
Very good
Bad
n=69
n=27
*n=76

6. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
“Puzzle” by Ella Phillips, used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

7. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
How?

8. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
One example of
what you could
do and how

9. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
How do customers integrate different
resources?
Which activities do they undertake?
How do they experience the system?
???

10. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
Observation/Video/Think aloud

11. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
Data analyses
• Choose a single participant or instance of
particular interest
• Transcribe as detailed as possible
• Code the transcript and write memos
• Compare with other cases

12. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
Advantages
• Capture naturally occuring data
• Appropriate for investigating interactive
processes
• Detailed analysis possible
• Strong media for convincing decision-makers

13. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
Disadvantages
• Analysis can be time consuming
• Video camera can influence behaviour

14. Jörg Pareigis
jorg.pareigis@kau.se
054-700 23 39
@joergelp
Referenses
”Must reads”
Creswell, J.W. (1998), Qualitative inquiry and research design : choosing among five traditions, Sage, London.
Chapter 7 (handout).
Lee, N. and Broderick, A.J. (2007), "The past, present and future of observational research in marketing",
Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 121-129.
Latvala, E., Vuokila-Oikkonen, P. and Janhonen, S. (2000), "Videotaped recording as a method of participant
observation in psychiatric nursing research", Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 1252-1257.
Additional reading options
Dodd, C.A., Clarke, I. and Kirkup, M.H. (1998), "Camera observations of customer behaviour in fashion retailing:
methodological propositions", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp.
311-317.
Echeverri, P. (2005), "Video-based methodology: capturing real-time perceptions of customer processes",
International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 199-209.
Pareigis, J., Echeverri, P. and Edvardsson, B. (2012), "Exploring internal mechanisms forming customer
servicescape experiences", Journal of Service Management, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 677-695.
Snell, J. (2011), "Interrogating video data: systematic quantitative analysis versus micro‐ethnographic analysis",
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 253-258.