Tool details
Participating Observation
Participate in the activities and processes you are studying.
Tool category:
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When to use
You want to get a close familiarity with a given group of individuals.
Why you should
To get a first hand experience, a feeling of how it is to use it, and a close familiarity of the service and users you are researching.
What you get
A list of findings according to your observations and input to whether your hypothesis are correct or not.
Steps to take
Start by defining some hypothesises. Find out what you want to research.
Go through with the process/service journey you are researching.
Document your observations as you participate. You can take notes, pictures or record. Remember to inform and ask for consent if you record. Make sure your way of documentation don't limit your ability to participate in the service. You can also have someone to document for you.
Summarise and analyse the findings.
Further reading
You are one kind of user, so remember that different user groups might have another experience than you of the service.