ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses methodological and ethical issues which arise when carrying out observations in educational research. It outlines the purposes of using this method and examines different forms, including participant and non-participant observation and structured, non-structured and semi-structured approaches. The chapter illustrates ways of recording observational data and addresses issues of validity and ethics, such as triangulation and informed consent. These are then revisited in a more practical way in the second part of the chapter, which shares critically the rationale and processes which applied in the author’s study about the developmental needs of young children with cerebral palsy. Readers are encouraged to apply ideas in the chapter to their own observational research.
