How much should ethnographers involve themselves with the people, places, and processes they study? One answer has become increasingly popular: invert the standard method of participant observation into observant participation. This article draws on an ethnography of ambulance work to consider the trade-offs between these approaches. My fieldwork…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic meta-review with the goal of documenting the landscape of measures of classroom management in the school-based literature. Our systematic search for systematic reviews and extraction of primary studies in the classroom management research yielded 73 studies for inclusion that captured 76…

Background: Many education systems internationally expect schools to participate in continuous instructional improvement programmes. One tool used within these processes is the structured, rubric-based classroom observation, focused on the evaluation of teaching. Such observations are a common feature of formative evaluation systems, teacher…

This paper describes the development of the "Flourishing Classroom System Observation Framework and Rubric," which provides a framework and practical approach to defining and describing multiple interconnected observable characteristics of a classroom system that individually and together can be targeted to cultivate collective…

Classroom observations are an integral part of qualitative educational research. Traditionally, classroom observations have been done in-person, with one or more researchers being physically present in a classroom to observe and take field notes. With the proliferation of video technology, researchers are now able to conduct classroom observations…

This article focuses on the psychometric properties and characteristics of the Assessing School Settings: Interactions of Students and Teachers (ASSIST), an observational assessment administered by trained external observers of teacher practices, classroom context, and student behaviors at the classroom level. Study 1 examines variability,…

In educational research, teaching quality is extensively studied because of its role of a mediator between teacher characteristics and student learning. However, empirical evidence on differences between video and live scoring of teaching quality is rare. In the present study, thirty lessons from 15 secondary mathematics classrooms in a German…

In this article, we describe the process of revising our writing program's teaching observation forms and processes over the last several years, drawing from descriptions of best practices in conducting teaching observations in writing programs (Comer; Jackson). We analyze the teaching observation form as it functions in a structurational nexus to…

The linear dependence of age, period, and birth cohort is a challenge for the analysis of social change. With either repeated cross-sectional data or conventional panel data, raw change cannot be decomposed into over-time differences that are attributable to the effects of common experiences of alternative birth cohorts, features of the periods…

Capturing and measuring instructional patterns by using standardized observation manuals has become increasingly popular in classroom research. While researchers argue that a common vocabulary of teaching is necessary for the field of classroom research to move forward, instructional features vary across classrooms and contexts, which poses…

Teachers grow from sharing their practice and receiving feedback, yet it can be difficult for teachers to welcome others into their classrooms without feeling judged. Observers need to enter teachers' classrooms projecting respect and value for the challenging work of teaching. In this article, we share an approach to visiting classrooms, called…

Background/purpose: This study presents a systematic review of teaching observation instruments in the current literature based on PRISMA standards. Materials/methods: Three researchers performed searches on two databases, SCOPUS and Web of Science, focusing on two criteria: A) peer observation of teaching and B) higher education, with search…

In this article, the authors address some of the scientific challenges associated with using observation as a research method. The authors ask how researchers contextualise and understand observation in terms of its theoretical underpinnings and how it is conducted. Using a vignette in the kindergarten context, the authors explore how observation…

In a clustered observational study, a treatment is assigned to groups and all units within the group are exposed to the treatment. We develop a new method for statistical adjustment in clustered observational studies using approximate balancing weights, a generalization of inverse propensity score weights that solve a convex optimization problem…

Observation is widely regarded as a fundamental way of studying nature. However, due to its complexity, proposing a comprehensive characterization is challenging. Observation is a method of studying nature that can be divided into several dimensions. Each of these dimensions can be presented as a pair of terms, which are elaborated in this paper…