In one line: In an observation the researcher records behaviour as it happens and changes nothing.
A Spanish teacher asks her class: "Who spoke Spanish in group work today?" Every hand goes up.
Then she plays back a recording of the lesson. Most groups had switched to English within a minute.
Nobody was lying. People simply do not notice their own behaviour very well, so the most direct evidence comes from watching it.
What makes it a research method
- Planned: the behaviour to look for is chosen in advance.
- Systematic: the same rules are used for every person and every minute.
- Recorded: the record is made during the behaviour, not from memory.
An observation gives a direct record of behaviour. Unlike an experiment, it has no independent variable that the researcher sets.
Follow one question through this page: how much of a language lesson do pupils spend speaking the new language?
Remember: Observe, record, leave the situation as it is.
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Key idea: Three decisions define an observation: the setting, the participants' awareness, and the observer's role.
The three decisions
Naturalistic or controlled
Naturalistic: behaviour is recorded where it normally occurs, with no interference.
Controlled: the researcher arranges the situation, for example a speaking task in a quiet room.
An ordinary Spanish lesson: naturalistic.
Overt or covert
Overt: participants are aware that they are being observed.
Covert: they are not aware.
A visitor introduced to the class as a researcher: overt.
Participant or non-participant
Participant: the researcher becomes a member of the group.
Non-participant: the researcher remains outside it.
A researcher who enrols in the class as a learner: participant.
Setting · Awareness · Role
The three decisions combine. A researcher sitting at the back of the lesson, introduced to the pupils, is carrying out a naturalistic, overt, non-participant observation.
Role decides the point of view. Taking part gives an insider's view: what speaking Spanish in front of classmates feels like. Staying out gives an outsider's view: less understanding, more objectivity.
Two different questions: Overt or covert asks what the participants know.
Participant or non-participant asks what the observer does.
All four combinations exist, including joining a group without saying why.
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Key idea: An observer cannot note everything. The rules for what to record and when are fixed before the observation begins.
Making it systematic
Behavioural categories
Each behaviour of interest is defined as something visible or audible. This is operationalising it.
Here: "speaking Spanish" is any sentence or phrase in Spanish said to another pupil. A single word does not count.
A checklist
The categories are set out on a behavioural checklist, so that every observer records in the same way.
Here: speaking Spanish, speaking another language, silent.
Sampling the behaviour
Event sampling: a tally for each occurrence, such as each switch into English.
Time sampling: a note of the current behaviour at fixed intervals, such as every 20 seconds.
Point sampling: one pupil is observed and recorded, then the next.
Two observers
Two observers record the same group independently.
The closer their records, the higher the inter-rater reliability, and the more the data can be trusted.
Define · List · Sample · Compare
Tallies on a checklist are quantitative data. Written field notes are qualitative data: they keep more of what happened, but two observers' notes are harder to compare.
Try it first: A short pilot observation tests the checklist.
Where the two observers' tallies differ, the category needs a tighter definition.
Key idea: Observation gives the most direct record of behaviour, and the least information about its causes and reasons.
Strengths
- Behaviour captured in its normal setting
- Independent of memory and of how people wish to appear
Limits
- No control of variables, so no claim about cause
- Motives, thoughts and feelings stay out of sight
Each type has a price
Overt
Gain: consent has been given, and follow-up questions are possible.
Cost: awareness of the observer changes the behaviour.
Covert
Gain: participants behave as they normally would.
Cost: no informed consent, and a form of deception.
Participant
Gain: understanding from inside the group.
Cost: involvement can cost the researcher her objectivity.
Non-participant
Gain: distance keeps the record objective.
Cost: behaviour may be misinterpreted from outside.
Overt · Covert · Participant · Non-participant
Two limits are named.
Reactivity: pupils speak more Spanish than usual because a visitor is sitting at the back.
Observer bias: an observer who believes the class is weak hears more English than there was. Precise categories and a second observer keep it in check.
When is it fair to watch without asking?: Asking first would alert people to the study and alter what they do.
Observation without consent is therefore generally limited to public places, where people expect strangers to see them, with nobody identified. A classroom is not a public place: the teacher's written consent is needed, and parents' consent for younger children.
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Your four class practicals
- Your class runs four small studies of its own, called class practicals: an experiment, an interview, an observation and a survey.
- Paper 2 asks about the ones your class ran.
- Keep a short note of each: aim, what you did, who took part, what you found, and the ethics.
How this is asked: Questions on this method begin from your class practical. The most direct one asks you to describe how you used an observation, with its aim and procedure, for 4 marks.
Four moves, four short paragraphs
- The type of observation (all three decisions) and its aim.
- The behavioural categories on your checklist.
- The sampling: what was recorded, how often and for how long.
- How the record was checked, and the ethics.
The trap: what you saw, not what you did: "We saw that pupils mostly spoke English" is a finding.
The question asks for the method: the type, the categories and the way you recorded.
Your class practical was an observation. Three students sat at the back of a Spanish lesson for younger pupils for 20 minutes. The pupils had been told that visitors would watch the lesson. On a tally sheet the observers marked every time a pupil in one group of five spoke in Spanish and every time they spoke in English. Describe how you used an observation in your class practical and its aim and procedure.
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