Observing High Technology Firms and Creative Audiences

Abstract The use of observation in qualitative research is explored in this chapter in a three-year international research project titled “Organisational culture of public service media in the digital mediascapes: people, values and processes” (2015–2018). Observational walkabouts and observation of a creative workshop with young people has provided rich or ‘thick’ data to illustrate, amplify, and internally validate two other data sets: 150 semi-structured interviews and the examination of grey literature. Observation is therefore proposed as a means of gathering rich data in mixed-methods projects. The use of observation has assisted the researchers to gain an understanding of the internal cultural and organisational elements that together constitute clusters of small to medium-sized firms working in the digital realm. These firms are part of the digital economy of cities and also often connected to the regeneration of neighbourhoods previously concerned with industrial production. A short review of the history of observation and its adoption by media and communication scholars provides context. We then consider the different ways observational research can be embedded into a project and the variety of forms it can take. The advantages and disadvantages of conducting, capturing and analysing data generated through observation follows. The chapter concludes with a critical review of the method when used at part of a mixed methodology and an analysis of how observation might support the policy generation.