For superposition to remain uncollapsed, the actual state of the quantum particle in discussion must remain unknown. Refined experiments pushing past the original double-slit experiment have established that it is not the act of observing that collapses a waveform, it is the act of knowing what that observation was.
The Schrodinger Paradox actually involved a cat in a box, and with it a sample of a radioactive isotope that might, or might not decay while the cat was confined in the box. If it did decay, the released radiation would trigger a vial of poison to spill, filling the box with a deadly gas. Since the cat knows whether it is alive or not, it’s only a mystery to us outside the box. We can’t know till we open the box, but the superposition of the radioactive isotope is gone the moment the isotope decays and the cat observes that this has happened.
Here is what we know know about the difference between a mechanical recorder logging an observation and looking at the observation. Watch then in order unless you are already fully familiar with the double-slit experiment, in which case you can skip the first video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0v-cvvyc-M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfeoE1arF0I&feature=related