Methods in Context - Observations

Where are observations used in the study of education?

• Investigate classroom interaction - behaviour, attitudes & values of teachers and pupils

  • Gender & classroom behaviour

  • Teacher expectations & labelling

  • Speech codes in classroom

  • Pupil subcultures

  • Teacher & Pupil Racism

  • Hidden Curriculum

Who prefers this method?

• Structured: Positivists - enable them to identify & make quantitative measurements of behaviour patterns

• Methods are usually non-participant

• Unstructured: Interpretivists - allow them to gain access to meanings that teachers & pupils give to situations, more flexible

Practical Issues - Strengths:

ACCESS:

• Easier to gain permission to observe lessons than to interview pupils & teachers

  • FULLER: head of London school she studied said it was good for pupils to have a non-teaching adult around & permission from parents not required for observation (would’ve needed this for interviews)

Practical Issues - Weaknesses:

ACCESS:

• Teachers may be reluctant to allow access - might link sociologists to management & fear criticism, may worry about disruption to exam groups or dislike idea of being observed

• Observations limited by restrictions of school timetable or holidays, health & safety legislation etc - hard to gain access

• May be difficult to find privacy needed to record observations

  • HAMMERSLEY: had trouble noting down staffroom conversations he overheard as had to be done covertly & quickly, acknowledges he could’ve made mistakes or relied on own interpretation

TIME:

• Schools are a complex environment & more time-consuming to observe than other settings

  • LACEY: took 2 months to familiarise herself with the school

• Restricted by school timings - holidays

CHARACTERISITICS:

• Researcher’s characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity) affect process

  • WRIGHT: few black teachers when doing research, found her African Caribbean ethnicity produced hostile reactions from some white teachers but positive reaction from black pupils who held her in high esteem

Ethical Issues - Weaknesses:

INFORMED CONSENT:

• Pupils have limited ability to give this due to greater vulnerability - covert approach not appropriate, has to be overt

CONFIDENTIALITY:

• Problem of ‘Guilty Knowledge’

  • DELAMONT: every observer in a school sees and hears things that could get pupils into trouble, sometimes involve the law

  • Researcher should report wrongdoing ethically, but may breach the trust pupils placed in researcher and so will no longer confide in them or cooperate

PROTECTION FROM HARM:

• DELAMONT: additional care needed to protect identity of pupils, teachers & schools given the harm that can be done - particularly in a marketised education system where a good public image important to success of a school

Theoretical Issues - Strengths:

VALIDITY:

• High validity - particularly for participant, gives a true understanding of people’s views, important when researching classroom interaction & labelling

• Can overcome ‘teacher in disguise’ - gives researcher opportunity to gain acceptance by pupils

REPRESENTATIVENESS:

• Huge amount of educational activity - secondary school has around 70 classes taking place at one time

Theoretical Issues - Weaknesses:

VALIDITY:

• Teacher in disguise - students may present a false image as see sociologist as like a teacher as both are adults in school, prevents uncovering real behaviour of pupils

• Impression management - teachers change behaviour when being observed to give off a good impression

• Hawthorne Effect - presence of the researcher may influence the behaviour of those being observed

  • difficult to carry out covert in classrooms as there’s few ‘cover’ roles researcher can adopt

REPRESENTATIVENESS:

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