Using observation to investigate education

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  • Created by: Ali682
  • Created on: 26-03-19 09:32
Structured observation
There are several types of observation.At one extreme are highly structured methods using pre-categorised observational schedules. Positivists prefer these methods because they enable them to identify and make quantitative measurements of behaviour
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Structured observation (2)
patterns. These methods are usually non-participant.
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Practical issues
One example of the structured observational schedules favoured by positivists is the Flanders system of interaction analysis categories. This is used to measure pupil-pupil and pupil-teacher interaction quantitatively.
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Practical issues (2)
The observer uses a standard chart to record interactions at three-second intervals, placing each observation in one of ten pre-defined behaviour categories. Observations can thus easily be converted into quantitative data simply by counting the
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Practical issues (3)
number of times each type of behaviour occurs. Thus for example Flanders (1970) found that in typical American classrooms 68% of the time is taken up on the teacher talk, 20% by pupil talk and 12% lost in silence or confusion.
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Practical issues (4)
The relative simplicity of structured observational methods such as FIAC means that they are quicker, cheaper and require less training than less structured methods.
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Reliability
Structured observational techniques such as FIAC are likely to be easily replicated. This is because FIAC uses only 10 categories of classroom interaction, which makes it relatively easy for other researchers to apply in a standardised way.
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Validity
Interpretivist sociologists criticise structured observation of classroom interaction for its lack of validity. For example Sara Delamont argues that simply counting classroom behaviour and classifying it into a limited number of
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Validity
pre-defined categories ignores the meanings that pupils and teachers attach to it.
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Unstructured observation
Interpretivists favour the use of less structured, more flexible qualitative observational methods. These allow them to gain access to the meanings that teachers and pupils give to situations by immersing themselves in those situations.
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Unstructured observation (2)
Unlike structured methods with their observation schedules this approach does not make assumptions in advance about what they key research issues will be. Sociologists use these observational methods more often than structured ones.
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Practical issues
Schools are complex places and more time-consuming to observe than many other settings. It took Lacey two months to familiarise herself with the school, while Eggleston (1976) needed over three months just to set up his cover role for his observation
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Practical issues (2)
However it may be easier to gain permission to observe lessons that to interview pupils and teachers. The head of the London school studied by Fuller decided not only that it would be good for the pupils to have a non-teaching adult around but that
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Practical issues (3)
permission from parents was not required for her to observe normal school behaviour-whereas it would have been if she wanted to conduct interviews.
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Practical issues (4)
Personal characteristics such as age, gender and ethnicity affect the process of observation. At the time Wright (1992) was carrying out her research, there were few black teachers and she found that her African Caribbean ethnicity produced
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Practical issues (5)
antagonistic reactions from some white teachers. On the other hand she found that many black pupils held her in high esteem and would ask her for support. Observation of interactions in school settings is limited by the restrictions of the school
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Practical issues (6)
timetable, holidays, control over access, health and safety legislation. Schools are busy public places, so the observer may find it difficult to find the privacy needed to record observations. Hammersley found that noting down the staffroom
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Practical issues (7)
conversations he overheard had to be done covertly and hurriedly. Hammersley acknowledges that he may well have made mistakes or relied on his own interpretation of the general sense of what was said.
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Ethical issues
The additional ethical issues relating to the observation of young people usually mean that a covert approach to studying pupils is not appropriate. Their greater vulnerability and limited ability to give informed consent means that observation
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Ethical issues (2)
normally has to be overt. Delamont points out that very observer in a school sees and hears things that could get pupils into trouble. In some cases this may even involve the law when such as when pupils steal from school.
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Ethical issues (3)
What to do with this guilty knowledge is both an ethical and a practical problem, ethically it could be argued that the researcher is obliged to report the wrongdoing. However doing so may breach the trust that pupils have placed in the researcher
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Ethical issues (4)
and may mean pupils will no longer confide in them or cooperate with their research. Delamont also notes that given the harm that can be done to pupils, teachers and schools, additional care should be taken to protect their identity.
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Validity
For interpretivists the main strength of observation and participant observation is its validity- it gives us an authentic understanding of the world- views of social actors. This understanding is important when researching issues such as classroom
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Validity (2)
interaction or labelling in schools. However the power difference between young people and adults is a major barrier to uncovering the real attitudes and behaviour of pupils. They may present a false image when being observed by an adult researcher.
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Validity (3)
Nevertheless observation is more likely than most methods to overcome this problem because it gives the researcher the opportunity to gain acceptance of pupils. A further factor limiting validity is that teachers may be quite skilled at disguising
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Validity (4)
their feelings and altering their behaviour when being observed. There is also the problem that the language of the pupil may be very different from that of researchers.
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The Hawthorne effect
It is very difficult to carry out covert observations of educational settings. This is because there are few cover roles the researcher can adopt and because he or she stands out as being much older than the pupils.
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The Hawthorne effect (2)
This means that most classroom observation has to be overt. However this makes it very difficult to avoid the Hawthorne effect where the presence of the researcher influences the behaviour of those being observed.
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The Hawthorne effect (3)
Ronald King (1984) tried to blend into the background in an infant school by initially spending short periods of time in the classroom to allow the children to become familiar with his presence.
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The Hawthorne effect (4)
So as not to be seen as a teacher he avoided eye contact and politely refused their requests for help. In an attempt to be unobtrusive he even used the classroom's Wendy house as a hide.
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The Hawthorne effect (5)
This example shows how difficult it is for an adult observer to reduce the effect of their presence on pupil's behaviour. As Ball (1993) asks, what did the children actually make of the tall man hiding in the Wendy house?
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Representativeness
The scale of the education system is vast. There are around 4,000 secondary and over 3,000 primary schools in England and Wales. The average secondary school has around 70 classes taking place at any one time.
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Representativeness (2)
By contrast most observational studies focus on a small number of pupils in just a single school. For example Willis (1977) studied a core group of only 12 boys. The small scale of such studies results from the fact that it takes time to become
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Representativeness (3)
familiar with the setting, gain the trust of teachers and pupils and carry out the actual observations. The limited scale of the typical observational study combined with the sheer size of the education system means that observing school interaction
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Representativeness (4)
is unlikely to produce representative data. Hammersley considered that the data collected in the school staffroom was more open to sample bias than his classroom bias. This was because he sought a wide range of contacts among the teachers he found
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Representativeness (4)
that many treated him with suspicion. As a result he tended to associate largely with one group of teachers with whom he had more in common. This made his sample less representative.
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Reliability
Participant observation studies of education tend to lack reliability. This is because data recording is often unsystematic and hard to replicate. The personal characteristics of different observers may evoke differing responses.
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patterns. These methods are usually non-participant.

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dina200345

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is it possible you can expand a little but on the Wendy house hide observation please?

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