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Universityof DurhamD
Dr Robert CoeUniversity of Durham School of Education
Tel: (+44 / 0) 191 33 44 184Fax: (+44 / 0) 191 33 44 180
E-mail: [email protected]://www.dur.ac.uk/r.j.coe
Educational Research MethodsBA Education Studies
BA (Ed) Education
(Classroom) Observation
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 2
Why observe?
How much group work goes on in classrooms? Are children more ‘on-task’ than they were? Do teachers interact differently with boys and
girls? How can a teacher ask questions most
effectively? What is it like to be in the bottom stream of a
secondary modern school?
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 3
Groupwork in primary schools
Galton and Patrick, 1990
Findings from PRISMS
56
5
16
4
7.5
81
20.5
10
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Seating arrangement
Activity
Group
Pair
Individual
Class
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 4
Changes in t ime ‘on task’1976
Actively engaged
Distracted
1996
Actively engaged
Distracted
Galton et al., 1999
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 5
Teacher attention received by girls and boys
1976
0
5
10
15
20
25
Task related Non task related
Inte
rac
tio
ns
as
a p
erc
en
tag
e o
f o
bs
erv
ati
on
s
Boys
Girls
1996
0
5
10
15
20
25
Task related Non task related
Inte
rac
tio
ns
as
a p
erc
en
tag
e o
f o
bs
erv
ati
on
s
Boys
Girls
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 6
Wait t imes
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 7
Disaffected youth
“the higher the stream of a boy, the greater the tendency for him to be committed to the school’s values. His attendance at school is more regular and his participation in school activities is deeper. He likes school and the teachers, to whose expectation he conforms, whose valuse he supports and whose approval he seeks.” (p159)
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 8
Teaching problems are most concentrated in the low streams. The academically oriented boys in these groups are regarded by the teachers as conformists, whereas on the peer group level they are the deviants; and the ‘difficult’ boys whom the teacher regards as non-conformists are in fact the high status conformists on the peer group level. This tendency of the teacher to evaluate pupils in terms of his own rather than peer group values has important repercussions. He has little chance of eliciting the desired response from these high informal status but anti-academic boys, because the kinds of rewards he offers are considerably inferior to those offered by the deliquescent peer group from which such boys derive their security and status. The result is that when the teacher publicly praises the low status boy for his good work, he is in fact stressing rhe deviance of such boys from the group norm, and is thus reinforcing the anti-academic norms he seeks to disrupt.
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 9
Observation by OfstedObservation for teacher training
How fair? How representative? How helpful?
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 10
Observation
Gives direct access to behaviour High validity
Observer can experience events Very time-consuming We do not observe all that we see
Observation involves Expectation Selective perception Interpretation Recall
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 11
Types of observation
Open Ethnography
Qualitative Naturalistic Unstructured Interpretive Problems of
representativeness, generalisability
Focused
Structured Systematic
Hopkins, 1995
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 12
General issues for observation
Reliability Would you get the same results …
On another day With another observer
This may not matter if the results are not claimed to be representative or generalisable
Validity Does it actually tell you what it seems to? Are your interpretations right?
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 13
Threats to validity
Did not observe what was important Chose untypical / inappropriate cases Those observed reacted to the observation
(procedural reactivity) Those observed reacted to the observer (personal
reactivity) Observer misinterpreted events Events not recorded accurately Inappropriate categories used Too much data to analyse Researcher biased
Foster, 1996
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 14
Ensuring validity Be unobtrusive Examine meaning of observations and
interpretations carefully Reflexivity
Triangulation Agreement with other sources of data
Respondent validation Ask those involved to comment on interpretations
Don’t let interpretations slip E.g. don’t say ‘learning’ when you mean ‘engaged
with the task’Foster, 1996
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 15
Ethnography
Qualitative Naturalistic Unstructured Interpretive Problems of
Representativeness Generalisability Bias
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 16
Systematic observation Behaviour coded (duration, frequency, interval) Reliability
Criterion-related Intra-observer Inter-observer
Problems: Observer effects Personal bias Leniency Central tendency Halo effect Contamination / blinding Drift Reliability decay
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 17
Groupwork in primary schools
Galton and Patrick, 1990
Findings from PRISMS
56
5
16
4
7.5
81
20.5
10
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Seating arrangement
Activity
Group
Pair
Individual
Class
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 18
Changes in t ime ‘on task’1976
Actively engaged
Distracted
1996
Actively engaged
Distracted
Galton et al., 1999
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 19
Teacher attention received by girls and boys
1976
0
5
10
15
20
25
Task related Non task related
Inte
rac
tio
ns
as
a p
erc
en
tag
e o
f o
bs
erv
ati
on
s
Boys
Girls
1996
0
5
10
15
20
25
Task related Non task related
Inte
rac
tio
ns
as
a p
erc
en
tag
e o
f o
bs
erv
ati
on
s
Boys
Girls
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 20
Wait t imes
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 21
Disaffected youth
“the higher the stream of a boy, the greater the tendency for him to be committed to the school’s values. His attendance at school is more regular and his participation in school activities is deeper. He likes school and the teachers, to whose expectation he conforms, whose values he supports and whose approval he seeks.”
(Hargreaves, 1967)
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 22
“… the ‘difficult’ boys whom the teacher regards as non-conformists are in fact the high status conformists on the peer group level. … [The teacher] has little chance of eliciting the desired response from these high informal-status but anti-academic boys, because the kinds of rewards he offers are considerably inferior to those offered by the deliquescent peer group from which such boys derive their security and status. The result is that when the teacher publicly praises the low status boy for his good work, he is in fact stressing the deviance of such boys from the group norm, and is thus reinforcing the anti-academic norms he seeks to disrupt.”
© 2004 Robert Coe, University of Durham 23
For the seminar …
Reading: Hopkins Foster May
Find a piece of research that uses observation May be one of the ones used here
Describe how observation was used What claims are made? How valid are they? Why?
