Educational objectives Techniques and tools for observing behavior
Obiettivi formativi (EN)
General aims. The course aims at providing the students with principles and methods of observational research and at developing students’ skills in designing relevant observational research projects..
The course provides the basic knowledge needed to measure behaviour and a review of observational methodology as a valuable alternative approach to experimental research, often yielding highly informative results in situations where more invasive experimental techniques would be undesirable, unethical or just impossible. To justify its place alongside experimentation as a rigorous scientific method, observation needs to be systematic and have attention paid to project design in the way that observations are made and recorded.
The course is organized in two parts, a theoretical and an applied section. The first part includes an introduction to observation and contexts to use observation of behavior, and a review of the main theoretical approaches that use quantitative behavioral observation. The second, larger part includes the presentation of the observational method and the presentation and exemplifying application of the main observational techniques. They range from traditional time diary techniques and direct observation to newer Internet mediated recordings and storage.
Students will be provided with theoretical and methodological tools valuable for recording, measuring, coding and interpreting behaviour in educational contexts, and also usable in teachers’ education. As for the applied section, the course aims at deepening students’ observational and interpretative skills in analysing behaviour and at fostering students’ skills in applying methodological research tools in order to be able to implement all the stages of a project design: from the initial observations, to the formulation of hypotheses, and their subsequent testing with further systematic observations.
The expected learning outcome would be: to know the main theoretical perspectives, and main research interdisciplinary areas, using observational methods; to know some of the methodological research tools used in ethological, ecological, Piagetian, psychoanalytic and ethnographic approaches to observation; to know how to record behaviour, measure reliability and validity and assess between-observer reliability; to know how to plan a research design and how to interpret and present findings; to be aware of the ethical issues in relation to the assessment and testing of children and in relation to privacy in online studies.
Specific aims. For the students, passing the exam would imply being capable of: 1) Having a basic knowledge and understanding of the theoretical foundations of the different behavioural observation techniques; having a basic knowledge and understanding of characteristics, use conditions, advantages and limits of the different qualitative and quantitative techniques based on the observation of child behavior in different contexts; having a basic knowledge and understanding of the opportunities to use specific tools for observing and evaluating the child’s abilities in different developmental domains (Descriptor 1 : Knowledge and understanding); 2) Being able to use the different observational techniques learned during the course, and apply the most appropriate in educational practice; being able to design a simple data collection based on the observation of child behavior in an educational context; being able to assess the reliability and validity of data collected through observation, and to carry out a descriptive analysis of collected data (II Descriptor: Applying knowledge and understanding); 3) to develop critical judgment and interpretive skills to analyse observational data in different contexts, by means of: research (individual and group) activities that will include the collection and the analysis of research data, and the writing of research reports and their collective discussion in the classroom; to develop reflexive skills with regards to the ethical implications of observational research (III Descriptor: Making judgments); 4) to develop skills to interpret, present and communicate the empirical results of observation, to both expert and non expert audiences, by means of: public presentations of data and observations in the classroom, collective classroom discussions of data and analyses, and the writing of analytical reports regarding collected data, which will be assessed at the end of the course (IV Descriptor: Communication skills); 5) to develop skills in autonomous learning and the detailed study of theoretical methodological and applied knowledge usable to the study and the design of effective observational research projects in different educational contexts (V Descriptor: Lifelong learning skills)
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