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RM 5

This document discusses observation as a tool for data collection in research. It notes that observation allows researchers to gather live data from natural social situations. Observation can be used to collect facts, events, behaviors, and qualities. The data has strong ecological validity and allows researchers to understand contexts in an open-ended way. Data can be collected on physical settings, human settings, interactional settings, and program settings. Observation can vary in terms of structure, participation level, covertness, and setting. Common observation methods include event sampling, instantaneous sampling, rating scales, and critical incidents. Participant observation involves taking an insider role in the group being studied.

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Hasnain Ramooz Jilani
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31 views

RM 5

This document discusses observation as a tool for data collection in research. It notes that observation allows researchers to gather live data from natural social situations. Observation can be used to collect facts, events, behaviors, and qualities. The data has strong ecological validity and allows researchers to understand contexts in an open-ended way. Data can be collected on physical settings, human settings, interactional settings, and program settings. Observation can vary in terms of structure, participation level, covertness, and setting. Common observation methods include event sampling, instantaneous sampling, rating scales, and critical incidents. Participant observation involves taking an insider role in the group being studied.

Uploaded by

Hasnain Ramooz Jilani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 15

OBSERVATION

Tool of Data Collection


Purpose
The distinctive feature of observation as a research
process is that it offers an investigator the opportunity
to gather ‘live’ data from naturally occurring social
situations.
Observation can be of
Facts
such as the number of books in a classroom, the
number of students in a class, the number of students
who visit the school library in a given period
Observation can be of
Events
as they happen in a classroom, for example, the
amount of teacher and student talk, the amount of off-
task conversation and the amount of group
collaborative work
Observation can be of
Behaviours
or qualities, such as the friendliness of the teacher,
the degree of aggressive behaviour or the extent of
unsociable behaviour among students
Properties
Observational data are sensitive to contexts and demonstrate
strong ecological validity (Moyles, 2002). This enables
researchers to understand the context of programmes, 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 (e.g. opinions in interviews)
and to access personal knowledge. Because observed
incidents are less predictable there is a certain freshness to
this form of data collection that is often denied in other forms,
e.g. a questionnaire or a test.
Data Types
Data may be gathered on
 The physical setting (e.g. the physical environment and its

organization)
 The human setting (e.g. the organization of people, the

characteristics and make up of the groups or individuals being


observed, for instance, gender, class)
 The interactional setting (e.g. the interactions that are taking

place, formal, informal, planned, unplanned, verbal, non-verbal


etc.)
 The programme setting (e.g. the resources and their

organization, pedagogic styles, curricula and their organization).


Dimensions
Flick (1998: 137) suggests that observation has to be
considered along five dimensions:
 structured, systematic and quantitative observation versus

unstructured and unsystematic and qualitative observation


 participant observation versus non-participant observation

 overt versus covert observation

 observation in natural settings versus observation in

unnatural, artificial settings (e.g. a ‘laboratory’ or


contrived situation)
 self-observation versus observation of others.
Structured Observation
Event Sampling
Event sampling, also known as a sign system,
requires a tally mark to be entered against each
statement each time it is observed.

Example
teacher shouts at child /////
child shouts at teacher ///
parent shouts at teacher //
teacher shouts at parent //
Instantaneous Sampling
If it is important to know the chronology of events, then it
is necessary to use instantaneous sampling, sometimes
called time sampling. Here researchers enter what they
observe at standard intervals of time, for example every
twenty seconds, every minute, etc.
Example
1234567
teacher smiles at child / ///
child smiles at teacher // //
teacher smiles at parent // / /
parent smiles at teacher / // /
Rating Scales
Critical Incidents
There will be times when reliability as consistency in
observations is not always necessary.

Example
A student might demonstrate a particular behaviour only
once, but it is so important as not to be ruled out simply
because it occurred once. One has to commit only a
single murder to be branded a murderer!
Naturalistic and Participant Observation

The ‘complete participant’ is a 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.
Conclusion

Observation methods are powerful tools for gaining


insight into situations. As with other data collection
techniques, they are beset by issues of validity and
reliability. It may take a long time to catch the
required behaviour or phenomenon, it can be costly
in time and effort, and it is prone to difficulties of
interpreting or inferring what the data mean.

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