FIELD STUDIES

MASTER OF PSYCHOLOGY

ASSIGNMENT

2020

Submitted to : Submitted by :

DR. SANGEETA TRAMA MANDEEP KAUR

ROLL NO. 18361015

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
PUNJABI UNIVERSITY
PATIALA
 A field study is general method for collecting data about users, user
needs and product requirements that involves observation and
interviewing. Data are collected about task flows, inefficiencies and the
organizational and physical environments of users.
• What are field studies?
Research projects that are conducted outdoors (“in the field”); this may be
in the school yard or at a remote location such as a park or beach. Field
studies may be DESCRIPTIVE (e.g. preparing a list of all of the different
types of plants found on campus or comparing the types of birds observed
at two different locations) or MANIPULATIVE (where some
environmental variable is altered and the outcomes are measured.)
• Why conduct field studies ?
Students learn best by hands-on opportunities; they are more likely to
retain information and understand its relevance when they actually apply
the information. Field studies can incorporate many different subject areas.
For example, a project to map plant life on campus will include biology,
math, geography (i addition to the mapping process, students may research
the plants and determine their native countries) and may also incorporate
English and art. Field studies require students to work cooperatively and
provide first-hand evidence of the need for proper experimental design
(repetition, hypothesis testing, data analysis etc).
❖ DEFINATION :
Acc. To “Kerlinger” (1946) field studies are expost facto scientific
inquiries aimed at discoursing legal and educational variable in their social
structures. It further states that “Any scientific studies large or small that
systematically pursue relations and test hypothesis that are expost facto and

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 that are done in life communities, schools, factories, organisations and
institution will be considered field studies.”
Field study is hybrid, as it is a combination of experimental studies and
naturalistic observation, due to following reasons:-
▪ Independent variable- in case of experimentation we are manipulating the
independent variable at several levels whereas in observation we cannot
manipulate the independent variable but in a field study the manipulation
of IV depends upon the nature of the study.
▪ Dependent variable- in a naturalistic observation the total concentration is
on the dependent variable whereas in lab experiments there is very little
concentration on DV. Since the experimenter is dealing with other issues
like manipulation of IV and applying control over conditions, so in a field
study the concentration or emphasis on dependent variable is lesser as
compared to naturalistic observation but it is more in comparison to
experimental method.
▪ Control over variables-there is no control over variables in naturalistic
observation whereas there is maximum control over variables in
experiments. So in a field study the control is neither absolute nor missing.
❖ Katzhas classified field studies into two categories:-
i. Exploratory
ii. Hypothesis testing
Exploratory :
This type of study tries to find out “what is” rather than predicting
relations. When there is no clear cut study or there is no clear cut direction
in the study and we go about studying the variables, it is exploratory in
nature. For example, researcher have to use patients with pre-existing brain
damage or their medical records, an exploratory study can then make

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 inferences from that small sample to general population, helping
neuroscientists to understand any new instances of that kind of brain
damage.
Such studies have three primary purposes:-
1. To discover the significant variable in field study.
2. To discover relations among variables.
3. To lay groundwork for more rigorous hypothesis testing.

Hypothesis testing :
In this study we frame hypothesis and have some direction. In this
rigorous statistical technique like f-ratio, ANOVA, factor analysis are used.
For example, to measure the effectiveness of different teaching methods on
educational performance in a school, all needed to be done is to get
teachers to administer a short test to measure the current performance
levels and then get them to change one aspect of their teaching for one
class, or for a sample of some pupils but not for others for a period of time
(one term) and then measure and compare the results of all pupils at the
end.

Steps in Field Study:-

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 actually goes to the field and gathers the required information from the
participant.
iii. Selection of research design-in this the researcher decides which type of
field study is to be conducted, whether it is exploratory or hypothesis
testing and for the latter he decides the hypothesis and also decides which
kind of analysis is to be applied.
iv. Pre testing of the research instrument-in this the investigator decides
which type of instrument or equipment has to be used such as video
camera, tape recorder. He also decides other kind of instruments which can
be used for observation. It is pre-decided how the responses of the subject
would be taken and noted down.
v. Full scale field operations-in this there is actual carrying out of the field
observation and noting down the responses. In scouting expedition the
researcher goes to the field analysing the situation and decides beforehand
that how the information is to be obtained but in full scale field operation
he actually goes to the field and observes the participant and collects the
information.
vi. Analysis-in this, various statistical technique which could be descriptive
and inferential all are applied to analyse the data. This would include
descriptive stats like mean, percentile, standard deviation etc. and
inferential stats like t-ratio, f-ratio etc.

Field research is usually done with one of the following Goals in mind :
1. Gather task information
2. Understand people’s needs
3. Obtain data for journey maps, personas, use cases and user stories
4. Test systems under realistic conditions.

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 5. Lab research might bias your results
6. You need to work with systems you can’t access in the lab
7. Observing people in their natural environment allows you to learn the
unexpected and to understand how well systems work
8. You need to understand how groups of people behave
9. Your participants can’t travel to your location
10. Lab research might bias your results

➢ ADVANTAGES :-
i. This method is conducted in the real life situations with some control, so it
is quasi-experimental in nature and it is strong in realism.
ii. Field study can be applied to wide variety of problems such as morale,
prejudice, values, conflicts, parental style and delinquency.
iii. They are heuristic in nature. They have a lot of research value. For
example, a person may hypothesise any two variables occurring in the field
and he may try to judge it or examine it and therefore they have a lot of
potential value.
iv. They are close to realism.

➢ DISADVANTAGES :-
i. The control over variable is not absolute as in the case of lab experiment.
ii. It is lengthy and time consuming.
iii. It is ex-post facto in nature.
iv. It is not possible to tap all the independent variables which could have led
to the occurrence of dependent variables in case of field studies.
v. Weakness is the slack of precision in the measurement of field variables.

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➢ CONCLUSION :-
When you encounter problems or behaviour that you don’t
understand around existing products or services, field studies can help you
take a step back and find a new perspective, in order to correct you own
mental models.
Doing research where people are can be crucial to understanding
whether new products and services will help, hinder, or fall flat for the
people you aim to assist. Set aside assumptions and allow insights to
reframe what you are creating and how that will affect the experience of
the people you are designing for.

➢ REFERENCES :-
• MacLeod, Jay. (1995). Ain’t No Makin’It: Aspirations & Atttainment in a
Low-Income Neighborhood. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
• Burgess, Robert G., In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research (Hemel
Hepstead, U.K.: George Allen & Unwin, 1984) at 1.