Potential Reasons for Not Conducting Unstructured Observations in Primary Care Research, With Clinical Examples
| Potential Reasons | |
|---|---|
| Not to Observe | Clinical Examples |
| Research participants will not tolerate an observer | Research on illicit behaviors, such as drug abuse, or sexual practices relative to use of barrier devices or contraceptives |
| Participants will change | Possible change in adolescent bullying behaviors in presence |
| behavior if observer is present (Hawthorne effect39) | of observer; altered communication behaviors of couples dealing with interpersonal violence; compromising of therapeutic rapport with the added presence of a stranger |
| Research will compromise participant decency, privacy | Research on physician-patient-family interactions that involves clinical examination of private areas; for example, breast, pelvic, male genital, rectal examinations may not be tolerable |
| Reporting observations would be stigmatizing or unethical | Risks of stigmatization, which are present for any socially marginalized population |