participant observation

what is a research population?

the amount of people in a study

what is a sample frame?

the list of all the members in a research population

and what is a sample?

people who will actually take part in the study

what are the four different types of observation?

• structured

• unstructured

• participant

• non-participant

in terms of structured observations, what is a practical effect?

they are quicker, cheaper and require loss training

how about reliability?

it’s likely to be easily replicated as it only uses a few categories, and makes quantitative data, which can be easily compared to other studies

validity?

interpretivists criticise its validity. Delamont argues that simply counting classroom behaviour into categories ignores meaning

now in terms of unstructured observations, what is a practical issue? (with example)

schools are complex places and it’s more time-consuming to observe than any other setting (took Eggleston over 3 months, just to set up his cover role for his observations)

ethical issue?

greater vulnerability and limited ability to give informed consent means it’s not appropriate in schools

validity?

for interpretivists, this is observations main strength. It gives an authentic understanding of the world-views of social actors

give a study that uses the Hawthorne Effect?

Ronald King (1984): tried to blend into background of an infant school by initially spending short periods of time in the classroom to allow the children to become familiar with his presence. So as not to be seen as a teacher, he avoided eye contact and politely refused their request for help. In attempts to be unobtrusive, he used the classrooms Wendy House as a ‘hide’.

representativeness?

the education system is vast - 4,000 secondary schools and 30,000 primary schools in England and Wales. By contrast, most observational studies focus on a small number of pupils in just a single school

reliability?

participant observation studies tend to lack reliability. This is because data recording is often unsystematic and hard