ABSTRACT
In many respects, observation is something which we all constantly experience as part and parcel of our daily lives. In all of our everyday interactions with people at home, in work, at university or college, in social settings and in formal situations, we observe and make judgements which inform our opinions and our actions, both in relation to and beyond those interactions. We may be part of what we observe, actively contributing to the social action as it is created and evolves around us, or we may be more distanced from it, looking in from the margins or from a greater distance on events upon which we can have no influence.
