Chapter from "Handbook of Cognitive Task Design," E. Hollnagel (ed.), Erlbaum, 2003. CTD Handbook Chapter pdf
Given the starting point that field settings also function as natural laboratories, the chapter shows how different classes of methods represent different ways to shape the conditions of observation. The chapter discusses the relationship of in situ obervation (or natural history techniques), staged or scaled world simulations, and experimenter created artificial tasks. The chapter provides guidance, especially on how to carry out process tracing methods.