This is a collection-type quest that involves “scannning” the activities of the Homestead Settlers in order to Record an Encyclopedia of their skills. You do this by using Eagle Vision to spot when they are performing a notable task that is worth scanning, as they will be gold when doing it, and then you leave Eagle Vision and target them using the Left Trigger.
There are three unique tasks that you need to scan for each type:
Some tips to help you with this include the fact that pretty much all of the activities above take place most often in the daytime, so trying to find them doing these things when they are asleep in their beds at home is pretty silly if you think about it. As a general rule each of the activities happens throughout the day and at different times, so you will find that you get the best results by moving from one, two, or three locations back and forth until you nail all three scans, then pick a few other locations and so on, rinse and repeat until finished!
The most annoying target is probably Norris the Miner since he spends a lot more time standing around smoking his pipe – which alas is not a targeted action – than he does doing pretty much anything else. Still even if you have to follow him around for a day you will eventually nail it!
This is not as hard as it may seem, and you will get the hang of it and get a better sense of what to look for and when as you go along. The Encyclopedia of the Common Man does not count against the Progress Tracker Grid, but there is an Achievement “An Extraordinary Man” (10G) Complete the Encyclopedia of the Common Man – that you will unlock when you get it done!
Assuming you got it done, well then well done you! Good on ya!