The paper presents an evaluation technique born in the 1930s, which has now a large application in several private and public fields: shops, restaurants, transportations, bank, hospital and so on. It consists in a mystery visit of an organization or service and an evaluation of it through observation and subsequent making out a checklist or questionnaire. This method is particularly interesting because is one of the few tools which combine quantitative and qualitative approaches in the same and unique tool. On the contrary conventional approaches, pushing for an integration of qualitative and quantitative as ‘triangulation’ (Webb et al., 1966; Denzin, 1970; Jick, 1979; Miles and Huberman, 1984), ‘methodological pluralism’ (Bell and Newby, 1977) or ‘mixed methods’ (Brannen, 1992), usually pursue this aim using different techniques and methods. Mystery shopper could overcome the weaknesses of these conventional approaches (as pointed out by Hammersley and Atkinson 1983: 199), Silverman 1993: 156-8; 2000: 99, Mason 1996: 27).

Mystery shopper and its siblings : a technique of applied ethnography / G. Gobo. ((Intervento presentato al convegno Conflict, Citizenship and Civil Society tenutosi a Glasgow (UK) nel 2007.

Mystery shopper and its siblings : a technique of applied ethnography

G. Gobo
Primo
2007

Abstract

The paper presents an evaluation technique born in the 1930s, which has now a large application in several private and public fields: shops, restaurants, transportations, bank, hospital and so on. It consists in a mystery visit of an organization or service and an evaluation of it through observation and subsequent making out a checklist or questionnaire. This method is particularly interesting because is one of the few tools which combine quantitative and qualitative approaches in the same and unique tool. On the contrary conventional approaches, pushing for an integration of qualitative and quantitative as ‘triangulation’ (Webb et al., 1966; Denzin, 1970; Jick, 1979; Miles and Huberman, 1984), ‘methodological pluralism’ (Bell and Newby, 1977) or ‘mixed methods’ (Brannen, 1992), usually pursue this aim using different techniques and methods. Mystery shopper could overcome the weaknesses of these conventional approaches (as pointed out by Hammersley and Atkinson 1983: 199), Silverman 1993: 156-8; 2000: 99, Mason 1996: 27).
5-set-2007
mystery shopper ; applied ethnography ; evaluation
Settore SPS/07 - Sociologia Generale
European Sociological Association
Mystery shopper and its siblings : a technique of applied ethnography / G. Gobo. ((Intervento presentato al convegno Conflict, Citizenship and Civil Society tenutosi a Glasgow (UK) nel 2007.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/36060
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