Qualitative field research has strengths in understanding people in natural settings but weaknesses in reliability and validity. It raises ethical issues around informed consent and privacy. Focus groups can be relevant by providing qualitative data from interactions in field settings. Three unobtrusive research designs are content analysis of texts, analysis of existing statistics, and historical comparisons, each with their own strengths and weaknesses for reliability and validity without direct human involvement.

1. Part 1: Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative
field research, highlighting the ethical issues involved in using
these methods. Describe how reliability and validity relate to
qualitative field research. Are focus groups relevant in field
research? If yes, how?
Part 2: Describe and compare the 3 unobtrusive research
designs: content analysis, analysis of existing statistics, and
historical/comparative analysis. Outline the strengths and
weaknesses of each and describe how reliability and validity
relate to each.