它可以在任何类型的社会或组织环境中进行,包括办公室,学校,酒吧,监狱,宿舍,在线留言板,或几乎任何其他可以观察到人的地方。 例如,心理学家西尔维亚·斯克里布纳(Sylvia Scribner)使用自然主义的观察方法来研究人们在各种职业中如何做出决定。 为此,她陪同人员(从挤奶员到收银员再到机器操作员)进行例行工作。 当研究人员想了解特定社会或文化背景下的人们的更多信息,而又无法以其他任何方式收集信息时,自然主义观察是非常有价值的。 有时,在实验室研究人员可能会影响他们的行为,成本过高或两者兼而有之。
It can be done in any type of social or organizational environment, including offices, schools, bars, prisons, dormitories, online message boards, or almost any other place where people can be observed. For example, psychologist Sylvia Scribner uses naturalistic observations to study how people make decisions in various occupations. To this end, she accompanies people (from milkmen to cashiers to machine operators) for routine work. When researchers want to know more about people in a particular social or cultural context, but can’t gather information in any other way, naturalistic observation is very valuable. Sometimes, researchers in the laboratory can influence their behavior, cost too much, or both.