Field Observation

  • Objective: To understand power dynamics within public and private spaces, and in group activities.
  • Materials/Preparation: Research staff should be given the space and training for effective observation and note-taking.
  • Participants:

Steps

For the SII, researchers in Ethiopia and Ecuador observed public events, association meetings and decision-making processes, as well as data collection sessions. At these events, researchers noted:
  • Who speaks, when, and what is said?
  • What is done with contributions and how women influence decisions and the flow of resources?

Further, researchers took note of other environmental aspects of events, like:

  • Location and timing of events,
  • Participant behaviors, reactions and moods,
  • Seating and who is present in such events (in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, clan, age), etc.

To keep track of observations, teams draw maps to illustrate the physical spaces taken by men and women, boys and girls, as well as tally what types of interactions take place and where. Using simple matrices, researchers may also tally specific interactions (between different types of men and women,  among women, among men, between teacher and student boys vs. girls, among students within the same or across different genders, etc,) that take place over a short period of time (typically 10-15 minutes).

Example

In CARE Bangladesh’s SII and CARE Uganda’s analysis of underlying causes of poverty, teams also visited local markets to observe:

  • Its general layout,
  • Types of vendors (formal vs. informal stalls) and the gender ratios occupying each, and
  • The number of women in the market and their interactions with others.

To supplement observations, teams also inquired about:

  • The committees that control access to and manages the marketplace and its stalls as well as their practices,
  • People’s perceptions of and attitudes toward women in markets (as both shopkeepers or consumers), and
  • Factors driving people’s attitudes toward women in markets
The GirlsPLACE Manual (VanBelle-Prutey and Sey, 1998) and Equity in the Classroom Toolkit (Rimer, 2002) offer a number of helpful guidelines in classroom observations, which make use of a classroom map to indicate:
  • Instructional Materials: Availability and use of textbooks, availability and use of other learning materials,
  • Teaching Style: Levels of participatory teaching, levels of wait time a teacher grants students (by gender) to respond to a question, who does the teacher engage with (in speaking, eye contact, physical presence)?
    • Organization of time: The amount of time dedicated to a lesson, the division of time between lecture and interactive exercises / teacher talking vs. students talking, the amount of time students spend in their seats working,  the number of concepts introduced in a lesson?
    • LanguageLanguage of instruction and languages used within the classroom, and what types of writing, reading and oral expression is engaged during a lesson?
  • Questioning Patterns: Levels of questioning between boys and girls (in terms of literal questions, application questions and opinion/evaluation questions), how the teacher responds to incorrect questions, how different types of students engage in asking and responding to questions?
  • Motivation and Evaluation: How is feedback given, does it reinforce stereotypes, does it focus on the correctness of the answer or other aspects of the answer? Does the teacher give different types of comments to boys vs. girls? Who receives more positive or more negative comments? What types of comments do teachers make?
  • Management Procedures: Which students are granted more responsibilities and leadership roles?
  • Physical Environment: Who sits where, where do teachers tend to pay more attention in terms of physical location and interactions, students are more active, instructional materials are available, etc? How do students work in mixed gender vs. single gender groups? How safe is the environment, what are the sexual harassment policy and procedures? How is the learning environment of the classroom in terms of ventilation, temperature, infrastructure and hygiene?
  • Student Behavior: Who exhibits passive, active or resistant behavior - how does the teacher engage students behaving in these ways and is it different between boys and girls? How do boys and girls interact with each other? Is there hazing or harassment and how do students react to such treatment? How does the teacher respond? And are there differences across different types of students?
Teacher/Learner Classroom Interaction Tool
Source: Rimer, 2007

 

Resources

  • CARE Ecuador (2007). Experiential Methodologies: a proposal for developing qualitative research. Women’s Empowerment Strategic Impact Inquiry, CARE.
  • N Kanji, B Bode and A Haq (2006). Nijeder Janyia Nijera Strategic Impact Inquiry. CARE Bangladesh.
  • CARE Ethiopia (2006). Strategic Impact Inquiry on Women’s Empowerment in Relation to FGC Elimination Project in Awash.
  • W Rimer (2002). Toolkit for Assessing and Promoting Equity in the Classroom. Equity in the Classroom Project. Washington DC: Creative Associates International.
  • D VanBelle-Prouty and H Sey (1998). Girls' Participatory Learning Activities in the Classroom Environment (GirlsPLACE) A View to the Experiences of Girls. Institute for International Research.