There are different ways of conceptualizing how behaviour should be recorded.
• We can record in terms of incidents. This means waiting for something to happen and then recording what follows from it. Essentially, this is what LaPiere (1934) did (see Thinking deeply 12.2), in that he waited for the Chinese couple to negotiate entry to each hotel or restaurant and then recorded whether they were allowed entry or not. I remember reading many years ago in a newspaper that someone placed a ladder over a pavement and then observed whether people preferred to go under the ladder or to risk life and limb in the face of oncoming traffic. A considerable number preferred the latter option, confirming the persistence of superstitious beliefs in an apparently secular society. Once again, an incident (someone approaching the ladder) triggered the observation. Research in focus 12.3 contains a more recent example of such ‘research’. Observation of this kind is what Webb et al. (1966) would regard as an example of contrived observation, because the researchers fabricated the situation. The discussion later in this chapter of field stimulations provides further illustrations of this kind of research.
• We can observe and record in terms of short periods of time. This was the case with the research reported in Research in focus 12.1, where ‘5-minute observation sheets’ were used. A slight variation on this theme can be found in the research reported in Research in focus 3.6 Children in St Helena were videotaped over a two-week period during their morning, lunchtime, and afternoon breaks. The tapes were then coded using
the Playgound Behaviour Observation Schedule which is an instrument for recording the occurrence of 23 behaviours (e.g. games; fantasy play; character imitation; anti-social and pro-social behaviour) and their behaviour groupings (i.e. whether the behaviour was undertaken by an individual, a pair, or with 3-5 or 6 or more children). . . A separate Playgound Behaviour observation schedule was completed for each 30-second segment. (Charlton et al. 1998: 7)
• We can observe and record observations for quite long periods of time. The observer watches and records more or less continuously. The FIAC scheme adopts this strategy. Another example is the study of job characteristics by Jenkins et al. (1975), which entailed the observation of each worker on two occasions but for an hour on each occasion (see Research in focus 12.2): ‘The observation hour was structured so that the observer spent 10 min becoming oriented to the job, 30 min observing specific job actions, and 20 min rating the job in situ. The observers then typically spent an additional 15 min away from the job completing the observation instrument’ (Jenkins et al. 1975: 174). This last study is an example of what Martin and Bateson (1986) refer to as continuous recording, whereby the observer observes for extended periods, thus allowing the frequency and duration of forms of behaviour to be measured. They contrast this approach with time sampling.
• Time sampling is a further approach to the observation of behaviour. An example here would be a study of school known as the ORACLE (Observational Research and Classroom Learning Evaluation) project (Galton et al. 1980). In this research, eight children (four of each gender) in each class in which observation took place were observed for around four minutes but on ten separate occasions. A mechanical device made a noise every twenty-five seconds, and, on each occasion this occurred, the observer made a note of what the teacher or pupils were doing in terms of the observation schedule. The sampling of time periods was random.
Research in focus 12.3
Is chivalry disappearing?
This is hardly research, but ‘roadside tests’ set up by the tyre firm Continental found that British male drivers were unwilling to help a ‘woman described as blonde, in her mid-twenties and attractive’ who was struggling to change a tyre (McVeigh 2006). These tests, which were a form of contrived observation, were set up in five British cities. Across the cities, 97 per cent of men zoomed past her, while she ‘stood at the roadside clutching a spare wheel’. Chivalry was somewhat greater in Newcastle and among drivers of red cars! The Times columnist who reported this ‘research’ writes that a survey, for which no details are given, found that over half of British men claimed they would stop to help a woman struggling to change a tyre in such circumstances. This apparent gulf between actual and stated behaviour recalls the LaPiere (1934) study referred to in Thinking deeply 12.2