Observation is one of the most powerful tools in the public health practitioner’

Observation is one of the most powerful tools in the public health practitioner’

Observation is one of the most powerful tools in the public health practitioner’s arsenal. In this module, we discussed two types of logic: deductive and inductive. Using an observational approach, you are going to use an inductive logic process to identify and interpret a person’s behavior.
NOTE: Read the instructions in their entirety before completing any steps in the assignment.
This activity is an observational exercise that will help you to understand the inductive process. Your task is to train yourself to see as many concrete behaviors as you can without filtering them through any interpretive process. You will discover that this is very difficult to do, and an important part of the exercise is to learn, firsthand, what some of the challenges are in trying to formally document the things that people do in their everyday lives.
Select a place where you can observe people for about 20-30 minutes. If, as you observe, it becomes clear that people move through this place too quickly or too slowly, look around for another place.
Your task is to force yourself to see the concrete details of people’s actual behavior, not your interpretations of them. Watch what people do; suppress the natural instinct to evaluate people or to infer what people are doing based on assumed motives. Look at behavioral details like patterns of movement through space, hand gestures, posture, positions of legs or arms, ways of eating or drinking, eye or head movements, amount or volume of talking. “Friendly smile,” “in a hurry,” “flirting,” and “nervous” are interpretations, not actions.
As you observe, take brief notes of specific behaviors worth observing. Also take notes of any observable demographic characteristics of the person performing the behavior (gender, approximate age, race/ethnicity, physical characteristics, etc.).
When the time is up, stop and write down what you can recall of the behaviors you saw. Your jotted notes may remind you of things, and there may be others that did not make it into your notes.
For your written submission, address the following points:
Describe the location. Be sure to state how it supports your plan for observing people.
How many different behaviors did you observe? List and describe them.
How easy or difficult was it to document the behaviors and the characteristics of the people performing them? What made it easy or difficult?
Think back on one person in particular whose behavior was especially intriguing to you. What did they do? Was there something that happened that prompted them to engage in that behavior? Also describe the demographic characteristics of the person.
Based on what you observed, do you have any preliminary ideas about why your person of interest engaged in the behavior you saw?
If so, what are they?
If not, what other kinds of information do you feel you might need in order to start developing some ideas for why they engaged in the behavior?
Reflect on the experience of observing people’s behavior.
How did you feel as the observer?
Was the experience easy or difficult, and in what ways?
Did you identify any potential internal biases as you observed people’s behaviors? How so?
CITY PARK