Participant Observation of Children in Kindergarten Environment

Maria Cristina Popa
2016 unpublished
Patterns of ethics must be applied in participant observation of children. This article presents an ethical approach applied in one investigation regarding some aspects of children's behavior in kindergarten environment. Drafting informed consents and describing the procedure for obtaining agreements are detailed. Conducting participant observation, in order to eliminate subjectivity, requires compliance with rigorous practical steps and customized grids following the research objectives. The
more » ... eps for participant observation implementation are presented, respectively: the researcher's relationship with the environment before observation, entry into the observed environment, setting in the observed environment (accommodation, relationship development, data collection, actual audio-video recording), leaving the observed environment, making notes, interpretation, and coding and results presentation. The theoretical steps follow a concrete research regarding the process of cultural identity building of Romanian ethnic children enrolled in German kindergartens teaching classes in Sibiu. Finally, following the example, this article presents concrete limits and recommendations for conducting participant observation of children.
doi:10.15405/epsbs.2016.12.63 fatcat:fbvvvqm72ngetnazhvxjcey26e