diff --git a/backend/pom.xml b/backend/pom.xml
index ae6bb4f..8246cb7 100644
--- a/backend/pom.xml
+++ b/backend/pom.xml
@@ -46,6 +46,17 @@
             <version>${dropwizard.version}</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
+            <artifactId>mockito-core</artifactId>
+            <version>2.22.0</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
+            <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
+            <version>3.8</version>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
             <artifactId>h2</artifactId>
diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/api/ObservationEntry.java b/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/api/ObservationEntry.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..060c1fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/api/ObservationEntry.java
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+package uk.co.neviyn.Observations.api;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
+import lombok.AllArgsConstructor;
+import lombok.Data;
+import lombok.NoArgsConstructor;
+import lombok.NonNull;
+
+@Data
+@AllArgsConstructor
+@NoArgsConstructor
+public class ObservationEntry {
+
+  @NonNull
+  @JsonProperty
+  private String type;
+
+  @NonNull
+  @JsonProperty
+  private int rating;
+
+  @NonNull
+  @JsonProperty
+  private String strengths;
+
+  @NonNull
+  @JsonProperty
+  private String improvements;
+}
diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/core/Observation.java b/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/core/Observation.java
index aaf3b30..4fffc4a 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/core/Observation.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/core/Observation.java
@@ -1,17 +1,22 @@
 package uk.co.neviyn.Observations.core;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
+
+import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.sql.ResultSet;
 import java.sql.SQLException;
-import lombok.Data;
-import lombok.NoArgsConstructor;
-import lombok.NonNull;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import lombok.*;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.SerializationUtils;
 import org.jdbi.v3.core.mapper.RowMapper;
 import org.jdbi.v3.core.statement.StatementContext;
 import org.joda.time.DateTime;
+import uk.co.neviyn.Observations.api.ObservationEntry;
 
 @Data
 @NoArgsConstructor
+@AllArgsConstructor
 public class Observation {
 
   @NonNull
@@ -36,14 +41,14 @@ public class Observation {
 
   @NonNull
   @JsonProperty
-  private String rawData;
+  private List<ObservationEntry> rawData;
 
   @NonNull
   @JsonProperty
   private DateTime date;
 
   public Observation(int siteId, String observed, int monitoring, int control, int conservatism, int teamwork,
-      int knowledge, String rawData) {
+      int knowledge, List<ObservationEntry> rawData) {
     this.siteId = siteId;
     this.observed = observed;
     this.monitoring = monitoring;
@@ -55,7 +60,7 @@ public class Observation {
   }
 
   private Observation(int id, int siteId, String observed, String type, int monitoring, int control, int conservatism,
-      int teamwork, int knowledge, String rawData, DateTime date) {
+      int teamwork, int knowledge, byte[] rawData, DateTime date) {
     this.id = id;
     this.siteId = siteId;
     this.observed = observed;
@@ -65,16 +70,20 @@ public class Observation {
     this.conservatism = conservatism;
     this.teamwork = teamwork;
     this.knowledge = knowledge;
-    this.rawData = rawData;
+    this.rawData = SerializationUtils.deserialize(rawData);
     this.date = date;
   }
 
+  public byte[] serializeRawData(){
+    return SerializationUtils.serialize((Serializable) rawData);
+  }
+
   public static class Mapper implements RowMapper<Observation> {
 
     public Observation map(ResultSet rs, StatementContext ctx) throws SQLException {
       return new Observation(rs.getInt("id"), rs.getInt("siteId"), rs.getString("observed"), rs.getString("type"),
           rs.getInt("monitoring"), rs.getInt("control"), rs.getInt("conservatism"), rs.getInt("teamwork"),
-          rs.getInt("knowledge"), rs.getString("rawData"), new DateTime(rs.getDate("date")));
+          rs.getInt("knowledge"), rs.getBytes("rawData"), new DateTime(rs.getDate("date")));
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/dao/ObservationDao.java b/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/dao/ObservationDao.java
index 9901aab..d22feee 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/dao/ObservationDao.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/dao/ObservationDao.java
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ public interface ObservationDao {
 
   @SqlUpdate("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS observations (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, siteId INTEGER, " +
       "observed TEXT, type TEXT, monitoring INTEGER, control INTEGER, conservatism INTEGER, teamwork INTEGER, " +
-      "knowledge INTEGER, rawData TEXT, date DATE)")
+      "knowledge INTEGER, rawData BLOB, date DATE)")
   void createObservationTable();
 
   @SqlUpdate("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS observation_tutor (tutorId INT NOT NULL, observationId INT NOT NULL, " +
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ public interface ObservationDao {
 
   @SqlUpdate("INSERT INTO observations (siteId, observed, type, monitoring, control, conservatism, teamwork, knowledge, " +
       "rawData, date) VALUES (:siteId, :observed, :type, :monitoring, :control, :conservatism, :teamwork, :knowledge, " +
-      ":rawData, :date)")
+      ":serializeRawData, :date)")
   @GetGeneratedKeys
   int addObservation(@BindBean NewObservation observation, @Bind("date") DateTime date);
 
diff --git a/backend/src/test/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/core/ObservationTest.java b/backend/src/test/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/core/ObservationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5490a5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/test/java/uk/co/neviyn/Observations/core/ObservationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package uk.co.neviyn.Observations.core;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import io.dropwizard.jackson.Jackson;
+import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
+import org.joda.time.DateTime;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import uk.co.neviyn.Observations.api.ObservationEntry;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+
+import static io.dropwizard.testing.FixtureHelpers.fixture;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+@Slf4j
+public class ObservationTest {
+  private static final ObjectMapper mapper = Jackson.newObjectMapper();
+
+  private final Observation observation = new Observation(1, 1, "Just a test observation", TrainingType.INITIAL, 1, 2, 3,
+      4, 5, Collections.singletonList(new ObservationEntry("MONITORING", 5, "some", "another sum")), DateTime.parse("2018-09-18T00:00:00.000Z")
+  );
+
+  @Test
+  public void serializesToJson() throws Exception {
+    final String expected = mapper.writeValueAsString(mapper.readValue(fixture("fixtures/Observation.json"), Observation.class));
+    assertEquals(expected, mapper.writeValueAsString(observation));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void deserializesFromJson() throws Exception {
+    assertEquals(observation, mapper.readValue(fixture("fixtures/Observation.json"), Observation.class));
+  }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/src/test/resources/fixtures/Observation.json b/backend/src/test/resources/fixtures/Observation.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0594395
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/test/resources/fixtures/Observation.json
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{
+  "id":1,
+  "siteId":1,
+  "observed":"Just a test observation",
+  "type":"INITIAL",
+  "monitoring":1,
+  "control":2,
+  "conservatism":3,
+  "teamwork":4,
+  "knowledge":5,
+  "rawData":[{
+    "type": "MONITORING",
+    "rating":5,
+    "strengths":"some",
+    "improvements":"another sum"
+  }],
+  "date":"2018-09-18T00:00:00.000Z"
+}
\ No newline at end of file