observation

Question 1

what is the example study of observations

Answer 1

Devine
-observed playgrounds and classrooms in 3 primary skls
-made sure she sat at desks with kids and never reported bad behaviour
-stayed in playground at break and avoided seeing the teachers so she could understand skl from childs POV

Question 2

strengths of observations

Answer 2

+ interpretivists favour, allows verstehen
+ validity, minimal observer bias as divine didn’t interact w teachers
+validity, detached method if non participant
+non participant- reliable can do in multiple classrooms/skls
+useful for studying subconcious actions ie, labelling
+practical, children used to being observed s reduces Hawthorne effect
+ethical if overt, good as kids are a vulnerable group

Question 3

limitations of observations

Answer 3

-ethical issues, could gain guilty knowledge when associating with children/ not reporting bad behaiviour ( divine)
-practical issue, time consuming gate keepers may deny entry
-ethical issue , if covert req deception kids vunerable
-validity issues, if covert cant openly note take may forget reducing accuracy
-hawthorne effect if aware observed
-representative issues, only handle a small sample size (3 - divine)
- validity issues, teaches used to being observed so will use impression management to pls sociologist