Observation involves orderly observation and precise recording. Here the researcher observes what happens in the circumstances which are related to the chosen subject. This may look an easy method. But practically it is not so. The researcher should be able to decide among the things he observes, without prejudice, what is relevant to the research and what is irrelevant.
Sometimes it is possible that things that did not happen might be more interesting and important than the things actually observed. Imagine your research topic is “How are people belonging to different classes making use of certain public places.” The poor or middle-class people may have never come to these public places: For example how many people might have stayed in “The Gateway Hotel at Marine Drive, Kochi? Imagine how important is the thing that has not happened!