title: Covert observation in practice: lessons from the evaluation of the prohibition of smoking in public places in Scotland.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A ban on smoking in wholly or substantially enclosed public places has been in place in Scotland since 26th March 2006. The impact of this legislation is currently being evaluated in seven studies, three of which involve direct observation of smoking in bars and other enclosed public places. While the ethical issues around covert observation have been widely discussed there is little practical guidance on the conduct of such research. A workshop was therefore convened to identify practical lessons learned so far from the Scottish evaluation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We convened a workshop involving researchers from the three studies which used direct observation. In addition, one of the fieldwork managers collected written feedback on the fieldwork, identifying problems that arose in the field and some solutions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were four main themes identified: (i) the difficulty of achieving and maintaining concealment; (ii) the experience of being an observer; (iii) the risk of bias in the observations and (iv) issues around training and recruitment. These are discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Collecting covert observational data poses unique practical challenges, in particular in relation to the health and safety of the researcher. The findings and solutions presented in this paper will be of value to researchers designing similar studies.
authors: MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, UK. mark@msoc.mrc.gla.ac.uk
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Petticrew
authors: Sean
authors: S
authors: Semple
authors: Shona
authors: S
authors: Hilton
authors: Kaen S
authors: KS
authors: Creely
authors: Douglas
authors: D
authors: Eadie
authors: Deborah
authors: D
authors: Ritchie
authors: Catherine
authors: C
authors: Ferrell
authors: Yvette
authors: Y
authors: Christopher
authors: Fintan
authors: F
authors: Hurley
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015982:Bias; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D019370:Observation / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011633:Public Facilities / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011634:Public Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention
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