RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

402 OBSERVATION
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teacher smiles at child / / / /
child smiles at teacher / / / /
teacher smiles at parent / / / /
parent smiles at teacher / / / /
In this scene the researcher notes down what is
happening on the thirty-second point and notices
from these precise moments that the teacher
initiates the smiling but that all parties seem to
be doing quite a lot of smiling, with the parent
and the child doing the same amount of smiling
each (see http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/
9780415368780 – Chapter 18, file 18.6.ppt).
Instantaneous sampling involves recording what
is happening on the instant and entering it on the
appropriate category. The chronology of events is
preserved.
Interval recording
This method 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. So, for example, if recording were to take
place every thirty seconds, then the researcher
would note down in the appropriate category what
had happened during the preceding thirty seconds.
While this enables frequencies to be calculated,
simple patterns to be observed and an approximate
sequence of events to be noted, because it charts
what has taken place in the preceding interval of
time, some elements of the chronology might be
lost. For example, if three events took place in the
preceding thirty seconds of the example, then the
order of the three events would be lost; we would
know simply that they had occurred.
Wilkinson (2000: 236) distinguishes between
whole interval recording and partial interval
recording. In the former, behaviour is recorded
only if it lasts for the whole of the interval; in the
latter, behaviour is recorded if it occupies only a
part of the interval in question. In the case of the
partial interval recording, the researcher will need
to specify how to record this.
Rating scales
In this method the researcher is asked to
make some judgement about the events being
observed, and to enter responses into a rating
scale (see http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/
9780415368780 – Chapter 18, file 18.7.ppt). For
example, Wragg (1994) suggests that observed
teaching behaviour might be entered onto
rating scales by placing the observed behaviour
onto a continuum:
Warm
Stimulating
Businesslike
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Aloof
Dull
Slipshod
An observer might wish to enter a rating according
to a 5-point scale of observed behaviour, for
example:
1 = not at all 2 = very little 3 = alittle4= alot
5 = averygreatdeal
Child seeks teacher’s
attention
Teacher praises the child
Teacher intervenes to stop
misbehaviour
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What is required here is for the researcher to
move from low inference (simply reporting observations)
to a higher degree of inference (making
judgements about events observed). This might
introduce a degree of unreliability into the observation,
for example through the halo effect, the
central tendency wherein observers will avoid extreme
categories, or recency – where observers are
influenced by more recent events than less recent
events. That said, this might be a helpful summary
way of gathering observational data.
Duration recording
So far we have concerned ourselves with single
events and their recording. This is very suitable
for single and usually short-lived behaviours.
However, sometimes certain behaviours last a long
time and would over-run the interval categories