ABSTRACT
In this chapter we outline general procedures that can be used to observe children’s behavior and the behavior of those with whom they interact. These observational procedures are similar to the traditional procedures used in educational, psychological, ethological, and some anthropological research. With this methodology we gather information about children by systematically watching them. Here we discuss only a portion of the procedures needed to conduct observational research: category formation and measurement, sampling and recording rules, reliability and validity, entering the field, and recording media; these are the bare-bones skills necessary, we feel. The reader interested in more detail is referred to a more thorough treatment in A.D.Pellegrini (1996).
