...5 Practical Methods Direct Observations and Windshield Surveys 50 Practical Methods D irect observations allow one to better understand the environment in which people interact and to see the things some residents may not be aware of, or to better understand a phenomenon. Direct observation may help distill useful information that may not be apparent from your other data collection methods. This type of data collection allows you, the observer, to choose a location, event, or phenomenon and then to directly observe human activities over a period of time. Getting Started Begin by vividly describing the location you are observing. Include details, but try not to get bogged down with clutter. These details may seem superfluous at the time, but future analysis may prove otherwise. You should also describe the people you see and what they are doing. Things to Consider Continually return to the main focus of the observation. Developing an observation form may help. A sample observation form can be found on pages 53–55. The form will help guide your observation and help you focus on specific items. You will need to determine the most appropriate sites and gear the timing of your observation toward the phenomena in question. For example, if you observe a site too early in the morning, you may miss social interactions later in the evening that shed light on your community. You may want to observe different sites at various times to make the best...
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...Rosio Cortez Cdec 113 Tue 12:30-3:30 Toddler observation September 26, 2012 Observation #3 The approximate age of the child I was observing today was about 2 year old male. The location where I had observed him was at the park about noon time. The 2 year old boy was playing at the park with other children of different ages maybe between the ages of 2-5 years old. The 2 year old boy started to throw sand at the other kids while they were all playing in the playground; he was doing it just for fun. His mother ordered him to stop and he seemed not to listen to his mother when she has asked him to please stop. After two to three minutes that she had ordered him to stop she when over to the playground and picked him up and left the park letting him know the reason why they were leaving. The whole way back to her car the little boy was kicking and screaming because she had picked him up and took him away from the other kids playing in the playground. His mother got him to stop crying after a while and took him right back to the playground to play with the kids again but this time without throwing sand at the them. This toddler try’s to exert power over the parent by crying and kicking in order for his mother to let him go back and play at the park. The child dose succeed by doing so because he ended up going back to the park but this time with a whole different attitude. The signs that this child showed in developing autonomy was just being negative throwing sand at other...
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...Observation Samantha Evans EC310 June 21, 2015 Barbara Sheats Observation Tuesday, June 16, 2015 Tricia’s Sunflowers, Perry, UT (In-Home Daycare) 9:30 – 11am In this observation, I will refer to the child with a hearing impairment as B. When I first stepped into the room where the child with the hearing impairment was, I immediately noticed a few things around the room that were put there specifically for her. There were flashing lights right next to a clock and there were pictures of ASL signs next to written signs in the room. Right away, I could tell the teacher in this room really took the time to see what she could do to assist in communication. This room has six children, all between the ages of 3-5, and B is the only child who has a hearing deficiency. B wears a hearing device, a cochlear implant, to help her hear better and understand the other children. Although she is encouraged to keep the device on at all times during school, aside from nap time, B will take off her device if she is upset, needs quiet time, or is not feeling well. I arrived just as the children are beginning their morning group session. The teacher in this classroom, Ms. Tricia, knows ASL because she taught her children ASL when they were babies and toddlers to assist in communication. During morning group, as the teacher is talking, she is also signing to B who is sitting in the front and center of the group. It is interesting and heartwarming to see the other five children...
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...Group Observation On Wednesday, September 25, I did an observation at Mastery Charter Smedley Elementary School. During my time there I would be observe a group of four students name Mike, Chris, Leslie and Tiffany. What I would be looking for throughout my observation is appearance, verbal behavior and interaction, physical behavior and gestures and who stand out the most. Mike – Observation Mike is an African-American, boy around the age of nine or ten dark brown skin with curly hair and black eyes short a little overweight. Mike blue tank top had yellow stains on it as for his pants they were fine. I noticed as I was observing Mike he wasn't really interacting with his group he wasn't participating in his group. His also yells out without being called on, doesn't use kind words to fellow classmates using inappropriate words for example Mike and the rest of the class was asked to get in groups at their table to work on an art project I overheard what Mike said to the boy that was next to him telling him to shut up and wait for the glue. After the teacher gives Mike a fair warning, I notice that he was changing his behavior but, first was told by his teacher that he had to apologize to Kevin. Chris – Observation Chris is a Latino, boy about the age of ten light skin with black hair and brown eyes and slim. As I was observing Chris I noticed his was well mannered and respectful to the other classmates at his group well as his teachers. Another thing I noticed that...
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...of psychological disorders and providing us with an understanding of ourselves and how we relate to the world. Statistics is the mathematical product of research findings. It is the recorded data that aids in the identification of truth. This paper will look into the role research and statistics have on the field of psychology, as well as define the scientific method and provide a comparative analysis of primary and secondary data. Research in the scientific sense is not akin to the everyday search for knowledge that human beings conduct through personal observation. Instead scientific research relies on logical methodology. “The scientific approach is characterized by four ideals: curiosity, skepticism, objectivity, and critical thinking.” These ideals are the basic structure referred to as the scientific method and in application they consist of a series of steps to ensure accurate results. Step 1) Observation. This is simply interest shown in answering a question about an observable object or action. For instance, observing plant growth as it pertains to sunlight. The researcher may wonder why tulips planted on the same day in different areas with differing degrees of light bloom several weeks apart. This query initiates Step 2) the Hypothesis. The hypothesis is a best guess statement. It is the initial perception that is formulated by the scope of knowledge...
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...understanding of road signs in Ghana: A case study along Ho – Afloa Togo route Maxwell Selase Akple*, Robert Biscoff Ho Polytechnic, Mechanical Engineering Dept, P.O.Box Box HP 217, Ho. Volta Region, GHANA Corresponding author’s e-mail : oomaxi@yahoo.com, Tel. +233 244979950 Abstract This paper examines driver’s knowledge concerning road sign usage along an international route in Ghana. There were two stages for the data collection. First, an observational study was conducted to determine the specific road signs along the route. Second, questionnaires were administered to 50 drivers who regularly drove on this route to assess their understanding of those road signs. The study shows that various road signs and markings are along the route. Hump ridge ramps are the dominant road signs observed coupled with pedestrian crossing warning sign posts. Most drivers do not recognize common road signs and markings hence their memorability, remembrance and application during driving is difficult. Main contributing factors are driver’s not professional trained and symbolic nature of the road signs. Challenges encountered during road sign usage include size of road sign indicating situations, visibility, reflectivity and placement. The result of the study recommended alphanumeric road sign and identified that most drivers do not comprehend road signs easily. Government should allocate more resources for training drivers on driving theories and road safety. Keywords: Road Signs, Drivers Knowledge...
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...Criteria Your response 1. Introduction of Community (20 points) Identify the city and state of your community and briefly describe the community you will be using for this assignment. It should be the area where you live or the area surrounding your work setting but must include a residential area. Demographic data are not needed. Humboldt Park is a community within the city of Chicago located in Illinois. It’s known for its unique tie to Puerto Rican community for many decades until gentrification and displacement began. According to Joe Zekas a columnist, “the strong ties to it’s Puerto Rican heritage prompts for a parade and festival held between two large Puerto Rican flags that are the staple to the community heritage. It’s also known to have one of the largest parks in Chicago, where many summer music events and recreational events happen. (Zekas,2011) As I drive around the neighborhood I see many-abandoned building next to public housing. I also see new housing developments starting. Townhouses and condominiums with price points starting at $349,900. There are some single-family homes but there seems to be more multi-unit properties. There is one public elementary school, one charter elementary school, and 3 catholic grammar schools, 1 public high school, 1 catholic high school, and one branch of the city college. I see 3 Catholic churches and one Christian church that has about 10 properties that takes up one city block. Some used as housing for the homeless and for...
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...biased to what he is hearing. The term bias here is based on emotionally difficult communications or preconceived ideas. All in all, selective listening is considered as failing communication sign because by filtering some information one cannot hope to understand. For a child, he or she uses selective listening to identify people, for instance, the child knows that his mother voice is different from his father’s. In addition using selective listening a child chooses to listen to cool sound by focusing his or her attention to a specific sound or spoken words. A noisy environment is not ideal for selective listening. A child who is developing will deteriorate his selective listening when exposed to an environment with unpredictable noises (Singleton & Shulman, 2014). The suggestion I would make to optimize the child’s ability to listen to speech for him to understand are using listening games and fun activities to promote the listening. Fun activities will help especially in dealing with selective listening where children hear what they want to hear talking to the child all the time will help improve their listening skills here a parent or guardian develops a habit of narrating chores done around the house to the child. Furthermore, when reading stories to the child, one can always stop and ask them what they think will happen and listening to stories together. Some of the games that would help improve a child listening skills to speech include asking the child to name the...
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...The fourth day of observation, the children had to read their required books from school again. I went from child to child and asked if they wanted to read to me their books and most of them said yes. I sat and listened to them read and would help them sound out words that they didn’t know. There were many times when I would stop the child and ask them questions about the reading. Sometimes the child had no clue what the answer was which told me that they weren’t comprehending what they were reading. I would have them go back and we would re-read the pages to find the answer to my questions. A lot of times I would ask the child if they read the book yet or not and if they haven’t then I’d have them make predictions. They seemed to like...
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...Most sociologists interpret social life and place the theory into one of three major frameworks. A theory is a statement pertaining to how some parts of the world fit together and how they work. (Henslin, 2013) The three theories sociologists have created are based on observations made while examining social life during interactions at the macro level and micro level. These theories include: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis and conflict theory. The main focus of symbolic interactionism is that symbols, those to which we formulate meaning, help us to understand how we view the world and communicate with one another. (Henslin, 2013) Symbolic interactionism observes face-to-face interaction on the microsociological level. When we look at objects and give them meaning, we know how to behave in the various relationships of our world. Symbolic interactionism is present everywhere in our daily lives. If we view a stop sign while driving, we know that this symbol requires us to stop. George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) is a sociologist and one of the founders of symbolic interactionism. Mead taught his views on symbolic interactionism at the University of Chicago. After his death, many of his lectures were compiled into a book, Mind, Self and Society. (Henslin, 2013) The second theory, functional analysis, is based on the idea that society is made up of interrelated parts that work together in harmony as a whole. (Henslin, 2013) Functional analysis theory observes events...
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...aggressive and harder to talk to than girls and girls are perceived to be more gentle and easier to get along with. Some individuals are more aggressive as children and then grow out of that phase, whereas, other children become aggressive over time and are that way as adults. Today, we will explore the idea of how aggressive behaviors differ between different age groups and how these behaviors affect the relationships that children have with their peers. This is an important topic to because many people don’t realize that aggressive behaviors are a normal part of child development and that they don’t always lead to bad social skills and relationships. A study was done by Deynoot-Schaub and Riksen-Walraven (2006) that consisted of the observation of seventy 15-month-olds in their day care centers in order to try to explain the relationship between how they communicated with each other and their temperaments, along with other correlations. Seventy children were randomly chosen from different child care centers that agreed to participate in the study in the Netherlands and they were assessed for peer-peer interactions and peer-caregiver interactions by visitations to the child care centers made by the researchers and a questionnaire given to the parents about the children’s general temperament. Seven groupings were assigned for the children’s contacts with other children and their caregivers so that the children’s behavior could be categorized. The results of the study included more...
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...DSP #1 Argosy University - Atlanta Aziz is a 11.5-month-old, bi-racial male who was born on May 17, 2012. His mother is from Haiti and his father is from Senegal, Africa. At birth, Aziz weighed 10 pounds 9 ounces and was 23 inches long, which are all above average for newborn boys. Currently, Aziz's weight is reported to be 32 pounds, and his height is reported to be 29 inches tall, which places him in the above average percentile for weight, and above average percentiles for length. The observation of Aziz occurred on May 9, 2013, beginning at approximately 7:05 pm and ending at 8:00 pm. The observation took place at Aziz's home, where he resides with his father, mother, and two older brothers (5yrs-old/8 yrs-old). Observations of the home indicated that the family was upper middle class. During the observation period, Aziz's mother and two brothers were present. The three areas of development that were the focus of this observation included biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial. It was reported that a typical day for Aziz is spent with his 5-year-old brother in his mother's care. His day starts with waking in the morning at 7:00 am. His father and 8-year-old brother have to get ready for work and the school bus. This activities wake up the whole family. Aziz's mother prepares breakfast and dresses Aziz and his 5-year-old brother for the day. His mother is a member of a ladies neighborhood group of stay-at-home moms. The group normally meets at the subdivision...
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... Although, the experiment must not have any bias. For example, warm Pepsi compared to cold new coke can yield results. | 3 | You want to know how many miles per gallon your new car runs | | | x | This is done by observing how much gas is burned in comparison to how many miles driven. Allowing for only one gallon of gas in the tank and then driving till it runs out. | 4 | You want to document the life style of an Eskimo community in Northern Canada | | x | | There is no outside participation in this type of observation. If there is any interaction then the objective is yielded which can change the outcome. | 5 | You want to know how many minutes motorists spend at your neighborhood traffic light | | x | x | The experimental study may require testing instruments that cost too much. Cal Trans used devices made for counting and tracking traffic. Developing a similar device to mimic there tool may be efficient. Observing an intersection with a stop watch would perform honest results. | 6 | You want to check whether drivers yield to pedestrians at...
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...Field Inspection Checklist This checklist provides a format for the recording of observations at work sites visited during the inspection. Use this information for completing the inspection and providing the score required for the contractor’s health, environment and safety (HES) qualification rating. The summary of the inspection findings and detailed information about the areas needing improvement (not the scoring) shall be communicated to the contractor’s site representative. After completing this form, turn it in to your local HES representative and provide a copy to the work site supervisor/leader. Company representatives observe the work site and work practices of the contractor. The contractor is an independent contractor responsible for the safe and timely completion of the work in accordance with applicable industry standards and the contract and company specifications. If the work site or practices of a contractor are unsafe, stop the work and notify the contractor’s representative immediately. It is then the contractor’s responsibility to evaluate the situation, take any necessary corrective or remedial action and restart the work when it is safe to do so. The company should not direct the work or provide any work instructions or corrective measures directly to the contractor personnel, except for situations where imminent danger exists. Other than stopping any unsafe work practices, limit inspections to obtaining information for the company’s audit and evaluation...
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...TECH NEWS TECHNOLOGY NEWS September–October 2004 Iowa LTAP Roads Scholar Program Training Workshops Technology News Calendar Safety Circuit Rider Library Catalog Publications Better Mousetraps Simplified spot speed studies Editor’s note This article is the first of five summaries of traffic studies described in the Handbook of Simplified Practice for Traffic Studies: (1) spot speeds, (2) traffic volumes, (3) sight distances, (4) crash analyses, and (5) school zone programs. The handbook was developed by CTRE and funded by the Iowa Highway Research Board (TR455). The handbook describes straightforward trafficstudy procedures to help local agencies “get their arms” around specific traffic-related questions or potential problems. Data collected from these studies can be critical to decision making and can help agencies communicate more effectively with community members and local officials. All procedures outlined in the handbook and described below follow national standards. Figure 1. Example stopwatch spot speed study layout Figure 2. Example radar meter spot speed study layout Spot speed studies are used primarily to determine the distribution of traffic speeds, or vehicle speed percentiles, at a specific location. These data help traffic engineers determine and/or evaluate traffic operations and traffic control practices at specific locations; establish design elements for roadways, pedestrian walkways, and bikeways; assess roadway safety questions; and make other...
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