An observation methods teaching module that serves to explicate the differences between detached and participant modes of inquiry is presented. The experience of applying this module to teaching 140 graduate students in a competency-based Counseling program is described. The rationale, teaching goals, learning content, and mechanisms of teaching and evaluation are detailed. The effects of the module and areas in need of development are discussed. The present approach, with its particular philosophical framework and its emphasis on the implications of different method choices in the field, is recommended for the teaching of psychological inquiry.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarkerR. G. (Ed.). (1963). The stream of behavior.Norwalk, CT: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
2.
BernsteinB.LeCompteC. (1976). An integrative competency-based counselor education model. Counselor Education and Supervision, 16, 26–36.
3.
BijouS.PetersonR. F.AultM. H. (1968). A method to integrate descriptive and experimental field studies at the level of data and empirical concepts. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 175–191.
4.
BijouS.PetersonR. F.HarrisF. R.AllenK. E.JohnsonM. S. (1969). Methodology for experimental studies of children in natural settings. The Psychological Record, 17, 177–210.
5.
BoltonN. (Ed.). (1979). Philosophical problems in psychology.New York: Methuen.
6.
ColaizziP. F. (1978). Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it. In ValleR. S.KingM. (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp. 48–71). New York: Oxford University Press.
7.
CookT. D.ReichardtC. S. (Eds.). (1979). Qualitative and quantitative methods in evaluation research.Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
8.
DallmayrF. R.McCarthyT. A. (Eds.). (1977). Understanding and social inquiry.Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
9.
EverhartR. B. (1977). Between stranger and friend: Some consequences of ‘long term’ fieldwork in schools. American Educational Research Journal, 14, 1–15.
10.
FranckF. (1973). The Zen of seeing.New York: Knopf.
11.
FranckF. (1979). The awakened eye.New York: Vintage.
12.
HandelW. (1982). Ethnomethodology: How people make sense.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
13.
HoshmandL. T. (1984, June). A graduate curriculum in research and philosophy of science. Resources in Education, No. ED 239156.
IrwinD. M.BushnellM. M. (1980). Observational strategies for child study.New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
16.
KaplanA. (1964). The conduct of inquiry.San Francisco: Chandler.
17.
KeenE. (1975). A primer in phenomenological psychology.New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
18.
KochS. (1978). Psychology and the future. American Psychologist, 33, 631–647.
19.
LarsonP. C. (1982). Counseling special populations. Professional Psychology, 13, 843–858.
20.
LeCompteM. D.GoetzJ. P. (1982). Problems of reliability and validity in ethnographic research. Review of Educational Research, 52, 31–60.
21.
LemkauJ. P.MerkelW. T.McNamaraK. M.PurdyR. (1984). Infiltrating the house of God: Teaching psychology to family practice physicians. Teaching of Psychology, 11, 19–25.
22.
LepinskyD.NelsonR. (1974). Problems in the use of naturalistic observation as a means of behavioral assessment. Behavior Therapy, 5, 341–351.
23.
LevineH. G.GallimoreR.WeisnerT. S.TurnerJ. L. (1979/1980). Teaching participant observation research methods: A skills-building approach. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 11, 38–54.
24.
LoflandJ. (1971). Analyzing social settings.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
25.
ParmenterR. (1968). The awakened eye.Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
26.
RomanyshynR. D. (1978). Psychology and the attitude of science. In ValleR. S.KingM. (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp. 18–47). New York: Oxford University Press.
27.
RosenthalR. (1966). Experimenter effects in behavioral research.Norwalk, CT: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
28.
RosnowR. C. (1981). Paradigms in transition: The methodology of social inquiry.New York: Oxford University Press.
29.
RychlakF. (1977). The psychology of rigorous humanism.New York: Wiley.
30.
SarasonS. B. (1981). An asocial psychology and a misdirected clinical psychology. American Psychologist, 36, 827–836.
31.
ShaffirW.StebbinsR.TurowetzA. (1980). Fieldwork experience: Qualitative approaches to social research.New York: St. Martin's Press.
32.
ShostakA. (Ed.). (1977). Our sociological eye: Personal essays on society and culture.Port Washington, NY: Alfred.
33.
SpradleyJ. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview.New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
34.
SpradleyJ. P. (1980). Participant observation.New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston.
35.
WannT. W. (Ed.). (1964). Behaviorism and phenomenology.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
36.
WestlandG. (1978). Current crises of psychology.London: Heinemann.
37.
WilsonS. (1977). The use of ethnographic techniques in educational research. Review of Educational Research, 47, 245–265.
