In marketing and the social sciences, observational research (or field research) is a social research technique that involves the direct observation of phenomena in their natural setting.
This differentiates it from experimental research in which a quasi-artificial environment is created to control for spurious factors, and where at least one of the variables is manipulated as part of the experilovement.
The main advantage of observational research is flexibility.
The main disadvantage is it is limited to behavioral variables.
Generally, there are three methods used to collect data in observational research:[2] In marketing research, the most frequently used types of observational techniques are: