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- The Problem of Learning
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Problemistics - Problémistique - Problemistica
The Art & Craft of Problem Dealing
Observation
Definition (Clude Bernard)
Definition (Deobold B. Van Dalen)
Definition (W. I. B. Beveridge)
Definition and function (John Dewey)
Definition and function (Abraham Kaplan)
Definition and function (Vincent E. Barry and Douglas J. Soccio)
Definition and function (Peter Caws)
Classification (Deobold B. Van Dalen)Working hypothesis (F. Roethlisberger and W. Dickson)
Frame of reference and observation (John Madge)
Theory and observation (Abraham Kaplan)
Participant observation (John Madge)
The observer (John Stuart Mill)
Observer and observed (J. Bronowski)Observation : pitfalls (John Madge)
Observation : pitfalls (Ernest H. Hutten)
Observation : pitfalls (Russell L. Ackoff and Fred E. Emery)
Observation : pitfalls (Deobold B. Van Dalen)Observation : requirements (Abraham Kaplan)
Observation : requirements (Peter Caws)
Observation : requirements (Neil McK. Agnew and Sandra W. Pyke)Observation : skill (Christopher Alexander)
Observation : evaluation (Vincent E. Barry and Douglas J. Soccio)
Observation : tools (Abraham Kaplan)
Observation : instrumented observation (Mickey A. Palmer)
Observation : attention (W. W. Spradlin and P. B. Porterfield)
Observation : interests and selection (W. I. B. Beveridge)
Observation : direct observation (Galileo Galilei)
Observation : observation and values (Abraham Kaplan)
Unscientific procedures in observation (Stephen Jay Gould)
[1966, First Published 1865] Claude Bernard, Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale
“Le mot observation, au singulier, dans son acception générale et abstraite, signifie la constatation exacte d'un fait á l'aide de moyens d'investigation et d'études appropriés à cette constatation.
Par extension et dans un sens concret, on a donné aussi le nom d'observations aux faits constatés."
"L'observation est donc ce qui montre les faits." (Chapter I, p. 40)
[1979, First edition 1962] Deobold B. Van Dalen, Understanding Educational Research. An Introduction, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York
"Observation is sensation plus perception". (Chapter 3, p. 42)
"In observational studies researchers collect data on the current status of entities by watching them and listening to them rather than asking questions about them". (Chapter 6, p. 162)
[1957 Third Edition] W. I. B. Beveridge, The Art of Scientific Investigation, Random House, New York
"In all observations there are two elements: (a) the sense-perceptual element (usually visual) and (b) the mental which, as we have seen, may be partly conscious and partly unconscious". (p. 135)
"... observation is not passively watching but is an active mental process". (p. 139)
[1991, First Published 1910] John Dewey, How We Think, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York
"Observation exists at the beginning and again at the end of the process [of problem finding]: at the beginning to determine more definitely and precisely the nature of the difficulty to be dealt with; at the end, to test the value of some hypothetically entertained conclusion. Between those two termini of observation, we find the more distinctively mental aspects of the entire thought-cycle: (i) inference, the suggestion of an explanation or solution; and (ii) reasoning, the development of the bearings and implications of the suggestion." (p. 77)
"... observation is an active process. Observation is exploration, inquiry for the sake of discovering something previously hidden and unknown, this something being needed in order to reach some end, practical or theoretical." (p. 193)
[1964] Abraham Kaplan, The Conduct of Inquiry. Methodology for Behavioural Science, Chandler Publishing Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania
"Scientific observation is deliberate search, carried out with care and forethought, as contrasted with the casual and largely passive perceptions of everyday life". (Chapter 4, p.126)
"Above all, ‘observation’ means that special care is being taken: the root meaning of the word is not just ‘to see’, but "to watch over". (Chapter 4, p. 127)
"Observation is purposive behaviour, directed towards ends that lie beyond the act of observation itself: the aim is to secure materials that will play a part in other phases of inquiry, like the formation and validation of hypotheses." (Chapter 4, p. 127)
"An observation is made; it is the product of an active choice, not of a passive exposure. Observing is a goal-directed behaviour". (Chapter 4. p. 133)
[1988, Third Edition] Vincent E. Barry and Douglas J. Soccio, Practical Logic, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York
"Whenever scientists weigh something, measure it, take its temperature, and record their findings, they are making observations". (Chapter 6, p. 128)
[1965] Peter Caws, The Philosophy of Science, D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, New Jersey.
"Observation is just a special form of perception, concentrating on particular phenomena with a view to describing them by means of carefully defined class terms so that they can form the starting points of theoretical work." (p. 47)
[1957, Third edition] W. I. B. Beveridge, The Art of Scientific Investigation, Random House, New York
"Claude Bernard distinguished two types of observation: (a) spontaneous or passive observations which are unexpected; and (b) induced or active observations which are deliberately sought, usually on account of a hypothesis". (p. 136)
[1979, First edition 1962] Deobold B. Van Dalen, Understanding Educational Research. An Introduction, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York
- controlled (laboratory conditions) - uncontrolled (real life)
- scheduled - unscheduled
- visible - concealed
- participant - nonparticipant
- structured - unstructured.
"The unstructured methods are employed in the initial stages of research when one is searching for relevant variables, refining the definition of the problem, and generating hypotheses and theories". (p. 163). Structured observation: recording data in a systematic way using checklists, schedules, scorecards, rating scales and all sort of hardware (videotape recorder, sound recorder, etc.).
[1891, First edition 1843] John Stuart Mill, Logic
"The observer is not he who merely sees the thing which is before his eyes, but he who sees what parts that thing is composed of. To do this well is rare talent. One person, from inattention, or attending only in the wrong place, overlooks half of what he sees; another sets down much more than he sees, confounding it with what he imagines, or with what he infers; another takes note of the kind of all the circumstances, but being inexpert in estimating their degree, leaves the quantity of each vague and uncertain; another sees indeed the whole, but makes such an awkward division of it into parts, throwing things into one mass which requires to be separated, and separating others which might more conveniently be considered as one, that the result is much the same, sometimes even worse, than if no analysis had been attempted at all." (Book III, chapter VII, § 1)
[1968] J. Bronowski, The Common Sense of Science, Penguin, Harmondsworth, First published 1951.
"...the philosophic analysis ... insists that there is not a fact and an observer but a joining of the two in an observation". (p. 83)
[1964, First Published 1939] F. J. Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson, Management and the Worker
"The point is that observation, if it is to be at all scientific, must be guided by a working hypothesis which enables the observer to make active discriminations in the complex interplay of factors before him. Without such guidance he is likely to miss much of significance and become lost in a welter of irrelevancies". (p. 389)
[1971] Einstein in Werner Heisenberg, Physics and beyond: Encounters and Conversations, Harper & Row, New York.
"It is the theory which decides what we can observe." (p. 63)
[1951] J. Z. Young, Doubt and Certainty in Science, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
“Instead of directing attention to the separation of matter into distinct parts we now deal in the study of relations between observations and of the organization that they reveal." (p. 126)
[1964] Abraham Kaplan, The Conduct of Inquiry. Methodology for Behavioural Science, Chandler Publishing Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania
"All observation involves theorizing, and - for science, at any rate - perception is impossible without conceptual processes." (p. 131)
"We do not make proper observation by stripping ourselves of theories - which is impossible, in any case - but rather by making use of the theories appropriate to the observational context." (p. 133)
"Theories are also at work even in the simplest and most direct observations." (p. 133)
[1968] John Ziman, Public Knowledge. The social dimension of science, Cambridge University Press.
"The strongest argument, surely, is that a theory provides a logical ordering, a pattern, for observations." (p. 38)
[1927] Bertrand Russel, An Outline of Philosophy
"One may say broadly that all the animals that have been carefully observed have behaved so as to confirm the philosophy in which the observer believed before his observations began. Nay, more, they have all displayed the national characteristics of the observer. Animals studied by Americans rush about frantically, with an incredible display of hustle and pep, and at last achieve the desired result by chance. Animals observed by Germans sit still and think, and at last evolve the solution out of their inner consciousness." (Chapter 3)
[1965] John Madge, The Tools of Social Science, Longmans, London, First published 1953
"... three main causes of distorted observation. These are:
- those due to the inadequacies of our sense-organs;
- those due to the interdependence of observation and inference;
- and those, constituting an especially acute problem in the social sciences, due to the impossibility of observing human beings without influencing their actions and being influenced by them". (p. 120)
"His [the researcher’s] past experience has given him an outlook, a frame of reference, into which there is no place for other things which, appearing meaningless, are ignored". (p. 124)
"The research worker with no frame of reference sees much but identifies little. The researcher worker with too rigid frame of reference sees only those things that confirm his preconceptions". (p. 124)
[1962] Ernest H. Hutten, The Origins of Science. An inquiry into the foundations of western thought, Allen & Unwin, London.
"We must always accept not only that human abilities of observation as well as the power of measuring instruments are limited: there always is interaction between the instrument and the phenomenon in question which, in consequence, is disturbed as it is in quantum physics." (p. 102)
[1972] Russell L. Ackoff and Fred E. Emery, On Purposeful Systems, Tavistock Publications, London.
"There are four possible sources of error in observation: (1) the observer himself, (2) the observed, (3) the instruments used in making observations, and (4) the environment in which the observations are made. Furthermore, three possible types of error can be produced by these sources: (a) observing inaccurately (as miscounting or mismeasuring), (b) not seeing something that is there, and (c) seeing something that is not there."
"Kirk and Talbot ("The Distortion of Information" in Communication and Culture, ed. by A. G. Smith, 1966) have named these three types of observational error as (a) systematic or stretch distortion, (b) fog distortion, and (c) mirage." (p. 265)
[1979, First edition 1962] Deobold B. Van Dalen, Understanding Educational Research. An Introduction, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York
"People may make errors when observing or reporting what they have seen or done. They may
- (1) omit evidence that does not agree with their opinion;
- (2) use measuring instruments that require many subjective estimates;
- (3) establish a belief on insufficient evidence;
- (4) fail to observe significant factors relating to a specific situation;
- (5) draw improper conclusions or inferences owing to personal prejudices". (Chapter 1, p. 5)
[1964] Abraham Kaplan, The conduct of inquiry, Chandler Publishing Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania
“Intersubjectivity. The methodological importance of what is called repeatability is I think, made more plain by its restatement as intersubjectivity. A scientific observation could have been made by any other observer so situated." "The intersubjective becomes the mark of objectivity, for it testifies that the observation is uncontaminated by any factors save those common to all observers." (p. 128)
[1969] Neil McK. Agnew & Sandra W. Pyke, The Science Game. An Introduction to Research in the Behavioural Science, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Reducing error: "Making several observations and having several observers make repeated observations of the same event increases the probability of producing durable packages of information". (p. 58)
[1988, Third Edition] Vincent E. Barry and Douglas J. Soccio, Practical Logic, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York
"There are five key things to think about in evaluating observation:
1) the physical conditions under which the observations were made. [Care and thoroughness of the observer].
2) the sensory acuity of the observer. Observation always must be evaluated in the light of the observer’s ability to have made the observations.
3) the background knowledge of the observer. Necessary background knowledge refers to what an observer must already know to make a reliable observation.
4) the objectivity of the observer. Objectivity refers to the quality of viewing ourselves and the world without distortion.
5) the supporting testimony of other observers. Supporting testimony refers to the observations of other observers that tend to support the evidence presented". (Chapter 6, p. 128)
[1975] Nigel Cross and Robin Roy, Design Methods Manual, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
User Trips
"
A method for finding problems, insights, and ideas, based on the careful and deliberate use of an existing product or system." (p. 21)
"Procedure:
(1) decide which user (or user’s) point(s) of view you will adopt (e.g. consumer, operator, administrator, etc.)
(2) decide the limits and variations to the user trip or trips that you are going to take (i.e., include activities immediately before and after the essential core of the trip, make trips under varying circumstances, and try trips in which you are inexperienced)
(3) carry out the user trip or trips, recording your actions, impressions, thoughts and ideas (during the trip or else as soon as possible afterwards." (pp. 21 - 24)
User Research
"A problem-finding method based on consulting and observing experienced and/or inexperienced users of a product or system, and aimed at generating modifications to, or a redesign of the product or system." (p. 29)
"Procedure:
(A) Experienced users
(1) identify types of users who will be able to provide relevant information
(2) obtain the cooperation of those who control access to the situation being investigated.
(3) conduct unstructured interview with the users, recording their comments, thoughts and ideas (get them to comment on what seems important to them, as well as what seems important to you)
(4) observe the users actually using the product or system, and record critical, difficult or unusual aspects (look also for modifications that users may have made for themselves). (p. 29)
(B) Inexperienced users
(1) obtain a volunteer who is inexperienced in the use of the product or system (reassure your volunteer that you are looking for shortcomings in the design, not in him)
(2) give the inexperienced user an objective to be achieved
(3) record your observations of the inexperienced user attempting to use the product or system (ask your volunteer to describe difficulties during the task). (p. 29)
You should also record relevant circumstantial information, such as the user’s age, sex, level of experience, physical conditions, the time of day, light, weather, etc." (p. 31)
[1982, First published 1970] J. Christopher Jones, Design Methods. Seeds of human future, John Wiley & Sons, New York
Investigating user behaviour
- Aim: "To explore the behaviour patterns, and to predict the performance limits, of potential users of a new design." (p. 235)
- Procedure
1. Consult and observe experienced and inexperienced users of similar equipment before designing the new.
2. Carry out a man-machine systems analysis to define tasks, user abilities, and the design requirements for interfaces (the part of the design that affect users).
3. Observe or simulate critical aspects of the behaviour of both learners and skilled users of the proposed design. (There are three ways in which doubts about user performance with new designs can be reduced before critical decisions are made: (a) by controlled experiments; (b) by the use of abstract models of human behaviour; (c) by ‘systemic’ experiments. p. 238)
4. Record limiting values which must not be exceeded if users are to carry out the actions required without error, injury or discomfort. (p. 235)
[1981] Mickey A. Palmer, The Architect’s Guide to Facility Programming, The American Institute of Architects, Washington D.C.
Tracking
The tracking observer is like an archaeologist of contemporary social activity, trying to reconstruct the pattern of use of the environmental settings from the marks and ‘artifacts’ left there." (p. 72)
"Tracking provides clues to behaviour patterns, particularly to how people use the physical aspects of a setting."(p. 72)
Behaviour mapping
"... this technique is a method of recording and displaying data in relation to physical settings." (p. 73)
"The data produced by mapping includes:
- location of activities
- frequency of activities in locations
- movement of people
- relation of people to the setting
- influence of setting on behaviour
- recurrent patterns of behaviour
- intensity of activities
- difference in behaviour among categories of people (male/female; adult/child; etc.)." (p. 75)
"The first thing is to determine what activities are to be observed."
"Behaviour researchers recommend that the activities to be recorded be overt and easily identifiable by an observer. Nothing should be left to inference." (p. 75)
[1964] Abraham Kaplan, The conduct of inquiry, Chandler Publishing Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania
"... the scientist has values, and for the behavioural scientist the subject-matter gives his values an unavoidable relevance. The distortions of observation which may result are eliminated or cancelled only with great difficulty. Discounting them by making them explicit and by incorporating the scientist’s values in the scope of his study is rather more promising." (p. 139)
[1965, First published 1953] John Madge, The Tools of Social Science, Longmans, London
"By living in the village, Malinowski was able to see the customs, ceremonies and transactions of native life over and over again, and so achieve a grasp of what he called the imponderabilia of actual life which cannot possibly be recorded by questioning or consulting documents". (p. 132)
[1968] Ithiel de Sola Pool in Eric Jantsch ed., Perspectives of Planning, OECD.
"The self-fulfilling and self-defeating prophecy are merely special cases of a general scientific problem that observation may change the phenomenon observed." (p. 310)
[1957 Third Edition] W. I. B. Beveridge, The Art of Scientific Investigation, Random House, New York
"It is common knowledge that different people viewing the same scene will notice different things according to where their interests lie. In a country scene a botanist will notice the different species of plants, a zoologist the animals, a geologist the geological structure, a farmer the crops, farm animals, etc. A city dweller with none of these interests may see only a pleasant scene". (p. 134)
"Most of the knowledge and much of the genius of the research worker lie behind his selection of what is worth observing". (Alan Gregg in Beveridge p. 137)
"One cannot observe everything closely, therefore one must discriminate and try to select the significant. When practising a branch of science, the ‘trained’ observer deliberately looks for specific things which his training has taught him are significant, but in research he often has to rely on his own discrimination, guided only by his general scientific knowledge, judgement and perhaps a hypothesis which he entertains." (p. 137)
[1975] Gerald M. Weinberg, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking, Wiley & Sons, New York
"An observation may be characterized as the act of choosing an element from a set, the set of all possible observations of that type for that observer." "The notation of sets helps us to recognize that there are two aspects to an observer - the kind of observations he can make and the range of choices he can make within each kind." (p. 69)
"A complete observation by an observer would consist of one selection from each set in his scope." (p. 70)
[1986] Stephen Jay Gould in Britannica Science Yearbook
- Fraud: outright and conscious fabrication of data;
- Finagling: unconscious fiddling with genuine data to push them towards preconceived conclusions;
- Disabling Bias: interpretation of genuine data in peculiar and illogical ways that preserve prior expectations.