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- 2. Strategies for Data Collectionand Researching: Observation JAN VIVIENEL I. BELENO MS General Science Education
- 3. OBSERVATION • Structured observation •Critical incidents • Naturalistic and participant observation • Natural and artificial settings for observation • Ethical considerations • Some cautionary comments
- 4. What is Observation? •involves observing behavior and systematically recording the results of those observations • Data are analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods. • observation offers an investigator the opportunity to gather “live” data from naturally occurring social situation. • Immediate awareness or direct cognition has a potential to yield more valid and authentic data than inferential methods. • Observation could be: Facts, Events, and Behaviors or qualities.
- 5. What are ObservationalData? • sensitive to contexts and demonstrate strong ecological validity (Moyles 2002). • enables researchers to understand the context of programs, to be open-ended and inductive, to see things that might otherwise be unconsciously missed, to discover things that participants might not freely talk about in interview situations, to move beyond perception-based data and to access personal knowledge. • These could be very useful for recording non-verbal behavior, behavior in natural or contrived settings, and longitudinal analysis (Bailey 1994:244).
- 6. Kinds of Observations •Highly Structure observation – will know in advance what it is looking for (i.e. pre-ordinate observation) and will have its observation categories worked out in advance. • Semi-Structured observation – will have an agenda of issues but will gather data to illuminate these issues in a far less predetermined or systematic manner. • Unstructured observation – will be far less clear on what it is looking for and will therefore have to go into situation and observe what is taking place before deciding on its significance for the research.
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- 8. Structured Observation • isvery systematic and enables the researcher to generate numerical data from the observations. • Numerical data facilitate the making of comparisons between settings and situations, and frequencies, patterns and trends to be noted or calculated. • The observer adopts a passive, non-intrusive role, merely noting down the incidence of the factors being studied. Observational schedule is where observations are entered.
- 9. Key Principles thatshould be addressed in Structure Observation (Dyer 1995) • The choice of the environment where in there will be opportunities for the behavior to be observed to be actually occurring. • The need for clear and unambiguous measures, particularly if a latent characteristic or construct is being operationalized. • A manageable number of variables: a sufficient number for validity to be demonstrated, yet not so many as to render data entry unreliable.
- 10. Key Principles thatshould be addressed in Structure Observation (Dyer 1995) Con’t… • Overt or covert observation. • Continuous, time-series or random observation. • The different categories or behavior to be observed. • The number of people to be observed. • The number of variables on which data must be gathered. • The kind of observation schedule to be used.
- 11. Five Principal Waysof Entering data onto a structured observation schedule •Event Sampling •Instantaneous Sampling •Interval Recording Whole interval recording Partial interval recording •Rating Scales •Duration Recording
- 12. Critical Incidents Critical incidentsand critical events – are particular events or occurrences that might typify or illuminate very starkly a particular feature of a teacher’s behavior or teaching style for example.
- 13. Naturalistic and ParticipantObservation Degrees of participation in observation •Complete Participant •Participant-as-observer •Observer-as-participant •Complete observer
- 14. Natural and ArtificialSettings for Observation Observational setting could be from structured to unstructured or natural to artificial. Structured settings may be useful in testing hypotheses while unstructured settings may be useful for generating hypotheses. Note: “whatever setting the researcher wish to have still depends on the purpose of his/her research”
- 15. Natural and ArtificialSettings for Observation Natural setting Artificial setting Structured Unstructured Structured field studies Completely unstructured field study Completely structured laboratory Unstructured laboratory
- 16. Ethical Considerations The researcherhas inescapable moral obligations to consider and, while codes of ethical conduct abound, each case might have to be judged on its own merits. Moreover, researchers truly inhabit the world that they are searching and their influence may not be neutral.
- 17. Some Cautionary Comments Selectiveattention of the observer. Reactivity Attention deficit Validity of constructs Selective data entry Selective memory Interpersonal matters and counter-transference Expectancy effects Decisions on how to record Number of observers The problem of inference
- 18. • Validity ofthe observations – researchers have to ensure that the indicators of the construct under investigation are fair and operationalized. Expectancy effects can be overcome by ensuring that the observers do not know the purpose of the research, the double-blind approach. • Reliability of the observations – the indicators have to be applied fully, consistently and securely, with no variation interpretation. Not only is this a matter for one observer – consistency in his or her observation and recording – but also it is a matter if there are several observers.
- 19. “To acquire knowledge,one must study; but to acquire wisdom one must observe.”
Editor's Notes
- #12 Event Sampling – also known as sign system. Requires a tally mark to be entered against each statement each time it is observed. It is very useful for finding out the frequencies or incidence of observed situations or behaviors so that comparisons will be made. However, they are unable to determine the chronological order in which they occurred. Instantaneous Sampling – sometimes called time sampling. It is used when the researcher wanted to know the chronology of events. With the set interval the researcher will record what is happening at that precise moment and enters it into the appropriate category on the schedule. (ex: every minute) Interval Recording – charts the chronology of events to some extent and, like instantaneous sampling, requires the data to be entered in the appropriate category at fixed intervals. However, instead of charting what is happening on the instant, it charts what has happened during the preceding interval. Whole interval recording – behavior is recorded only if it lasts for the whole of the interval Partial interval recording – behavior is recorded if it occupies only a part of the interval in question. The researcher will need to specify how to record this. Rating Scales – the researcher is asked to make some judgment about the events being observed, and to enter responses into a rating scale. Duration Recording – the observation is driven by the event, not the frequency of the observation. This means that the observer needs to structure the recording schedule to indicate the total duration of a single continuous behavior.
- #14 Degrees of participation in observation Complete Participant – researcher who takes on an insider role in the group being studied, and maybe who does not even declare that he or she is a researcher Participant-as-observer – part of the social life of participants and documents and records what is happening for research purposes Observer-as-participant – known as a researcher to the group, and maybe has less extensive contact with the group Complete observer – participants do not realize that they are being observed thus this is another form or covert research
- #15 Degrees of participation in observation Complete Participant – researcher who takes on an insider role in the group being studied, and maybe who does not even declare that he or she is a researcher Participant-as-observer – part of the social life of participants and documents and records what is happening for research purposes Observer-as-participant – known as a researcher to the group, and maybe has less extensive contact with the group Complete observer – participants do not realize that they are being observed thus this is another form or covert research
- #16 Degrees of participation in observation Complete Participant – researcher who takes on an insider role in the group being studied, and maybe who does not even declare that he or she is a researcher Participant-as-observer – part of the social life of participants and documents and records what is happening for research purposes Observer-as-participant – known as a researcher to the group, and maybe has less extensive contact with the group Complete observer – participants do not realize that they are being observed thus this is another form or covert research