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ERIC Number: EJ1436588
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1364-5579
EISSN: EISSN-1464-5300
On Investigating Phenomena without Losing Sight of Them: The Dialectics of Observation and the Phenomenological Gaze in a Kindergarten Setting
Jorunn Spord Borgen; Gunn Engelsrud
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, v27 n5 p491-500 2024
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 as a research method requires theoretical reflection in and on observational work. They discuss the role of the observing researcher in a dialectical position and process. The researchers discuss both the dependency on -- and the critical suspension of preunderstanding that is necessary for -- conducting observations. In addition to being grounded in the researcher's own embodied position, observation is directed towards something/somebody and by somebody. The researchers are simultaneously also observed by those they are observing. The conclusion assumes that reciprocity in the understanding of observation contributes to knowledge and discussions about credibility and validity in qualitative research based on observation.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education; Kindergarten; Primary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A