This Guide is intended as a starting point for your research and lists a selection of material. You will need to look beyond the resources listed here to identify further reading. Additional material (including more ebooks) can be found in the Education Ebooks Collection, or Sage Research Methods and in scholarly ejournal articles sourced using bibliographic databases.
See the Observation section of the Education Ebooks Collection for additional reading
The following sections of the Library will contain material on this subject:
301/01 – Social science research methodology
370/78 – Educational research
Listen to Linda Hargreaves discuss classroom observation
Baer, D. M., Harrison, R., Fradenburg, L., Petersen, D., & Milla, S. (2005). Some pragmatics in the valid and reliable recording of directly observed behavior. Research on Social Work Practice, 15(6), 440-451.
Baker, A. A., & Lee, J. J. (2011). Mind the gap: Unexpected pitfalls in doing classroom research. Qualitative Report, 16(5), 1435-1447.
Cotton, D. R., Stokes, A., & Cotton, P. A. (2010). Using observational methods to research the student experience. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 34(3), 463-473.
Hardman, F., Smith, F. and Wall, K. (2003) Interactive whole class teaching in the national literacy strategy, Cambridge Journal of Education, 33(2), 197-216.
This study used video observation
Plowman, L. (1999). Using Video for Observing Interaction in the Classroom. Edinburgh: Scottish Council for Research in Education.
A short, very accessibly written, practical guide.
Ulewicz, M., & Beatty, A. (Eds.). (2001). The power of video technology in international comparative research in education. Washington DC: National Academies Press.
Beginning Teaching, Beginning Learning (3rd edition) (Chapter 18: Observing closely to see more clearly. Written by Linda Hargreaves and Sylvia Wolfe) by 
Child Observation for Learning and Research by
Child Observation for Learning and Research is an exciting new text, providing a thorough grounding in the methodology, practice and interpretation of observing children. The authors draw on their experience and expertise in childcare, education, social work and research to introduce the fundamental principles and process of observation, preparing you for your first observation and building knowledge and confidence through a wide range of scenarios and activities. The book takes the unique approach of demonstrating how acquiring observational skills can serve as a key learning tool, not only helping you to understand children, but also to recognise, analyse and question theory, helping you make sense of your own learning.
Handbook of Participatory Video by
Participatory video is a growing area of research and an increasingly popular tool among practitioners, researchers, and NGOs working with communities around the world. The Handbook of Participatory Video advances the field, engaging critically with it as a research methodology and method and interrogating assumptions about itsemancipatory nature and potential for social change. In twenty-eight chapters, contributors examine historical, ethical, methodological, andtechnicalaspects of participatory video and discuss power, ownership, and knowledge production. The Handbook is organized into six parts: Locating Participatory Video, Participatory Video as a Critical Research Methodology, Working with Visual Data, Power and Ethics in Participatory Video, Dissemination and Reaching New Audiences, and Communities and Technologies. This benchmark work takes aninterdisciplinary and global approach and will be invaluable to researchers, practitioners, and students."
Observing Children and Young People by
Observation is an essential skill for all who work as carers and educators of children. It is the key way to assess a child's stage of development, to assess their progress, to alert you to their needs, to plan for their teaching and to enjoy each child's unique qualities. This book has been written to guide you through the process and to become a skilled practitioner. Observing Children and Young People: - is based on real observations - describes aims and objectives - illustrates methods of recording observations - provides guidance on observing children with SEN - suggests activities for promoting progress - offers a detailed breakdown of developmental milestones. Now in its 4th edition, this is a well-established, user-friendly and invaluable guide to observation techniques for everyone working with children and young people, with new material on observation of an extended age range, from 0--16 years. It is essential reading for all CACHE, Edexcel, Open University and City & Guilds validated courses for a vast range of childcare practitioners who work in a variety of settings, including schools, nurseries, hospitals and homes. Contents will also appeal to teaching assistants, trainee and practising teachers, and those studying for foundation and undergraduate degrees in Childhood Studies.
Participatory Action Research by
This book addresses a key issue in higher learning, university education and scientific research: the widespread difficulty researchers, experts and students from all disciplines face when trying to contribute to change in complex social settings characterized by uncertainty and the unknown. More than ever, researchers need flexible means and grounded theory to combine people-based and evidence-based inquiry into challenging situations that keep evolving and do not lend themselves to straightforward technical explanations and solutions.nbsp; In this book, the authors propose innovative strategies for engaged inquiry building on insights from many disciplines and lessons from the history of Participatory Action Research (PAR), including French psychosociology. The ongoing evolution of PAR has had a lasting legacy in fields ranging from community development to education, public engagement, natural resource management and problem solving in the workplace. All formulations have in common the idea that research must be done 'with' people and not 'on' or 'for' people. Inquiry of this kind makes sense of the world through efforts to transform it, as opposed to simply observing and studying human behaviour and people's views about reality, in the hope that meaningful change will happen somewhere down the road.nbsp; The book contributes many new tools and conceptual foundations to this longstanding tradition, grounded in real-life examples of collective fact-finding, analysis and decision-making from around the world. It provides a modular textbook on participatory action research and related methods, theory and practice, suitable for a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as working professionals.
Using observations in small-scale research: a beginner's guide (re. ed.) by 
"Sage Research Methods provides access to more than 1000 books, reference works, journal articles, and instructional videos by world-leading academics from across the social sciences and includes the largest collection of qualitative methods books available online from any scholarly publisher."