Kyrill in the Kitchen: Boy with a red hoodie

Observational Study Paper

For this paper you will propose an observational study that you think would be interesting or important to conduct based on video clips of children and families that are provided.

Here are the components of the paper:

PART 1: Observation (document 1)

-Watch one or several of the clips and write a clear narrative observation with the template provided (like in paper 1) of an event or a few events that you are most interested in. Include your interpretations in the template. You may write an observation from 1 or several of the clips that overlap. Be sure to make clear the context of the accounts. (A narrative account means a clear summary of what happened that would allow someone who hasn’t seen the event to imagine it.) This will help you hone in on your research question and help you define what you will be observing.

PART 2: Paper- Propose an observational study 2-3 pages (document 2)

-The paper will look similar to the first few sections of an empirical article! But first you will need to find a focus of your paper, choose an empirical article (from those provided to you) as background for your proposed study,  and come up with a research question and design.

-Choose one of the empirical articles provided to support your research question and as background for your study. What else has been done out there on your topic? And why would you want to ask your question? How does it differ from what was already done in the article you chose? Choose the article while you are thinking of what research question you would like to propose. They must make sense together. Your question will build on the research done in your article of choice!

-Next solidify your research question based on your observations and on the article you are building on. Make sure your research question is clear and tells us just what is being compared and measured. Identify (label) and write a clear definition of what behavior/s you will focus on and explain how you plan to quantify (operationalize) the behavior.

-The first section you will write a short introduction discussing the topic of your proposed research study. And your main research question/s and hypothesis, what you expect to find from your data (if you were to collect it). Next use one of the provided articles and the textbook/lectures to support your ideas and hypothesis. One example of how to start this section could be:

What is collaboration and how do kids participate in it in their daily lives. Are there cultural differences in the use of collaboration or is it a universal part of development? This topic has been studied in developmental psychology and is important to understand how children learn to work together and what that looks like inside and outside of school. This proposed study will focus on young children’s collaboration. The main question I aim to address in this study is…[insert your research question]. I expect to find…[hypothesis-what do you expect to find in your data]. 

There is a wide array of research on children’s collaboration. One study suggests that there are cultural differences in the ways that children collaborate and what children consider working together (cite empirical article). [explain what was done in the article and what they found and discuss any related topics from the book to support your idea for your study and your hypothesis. {add all background information from your article and textbook in discussion here]

The proposed aims to address a question that is not as well addressed in the research currently. [say how your study asks a different question than what you learned from the article you are using in your paper. Why is your idea interesting, how might we use the data you collect and the outcomes that you find?]

-the second section is the methods section.

Repeat your research question

Explain the design of the proposed study (cross-cultural, cross-sectional, longitudinal, microgenetic), why you chose it, and  include information about participants (age, gender, etc.)  

Say why you choose the design. Keep these issues of research design in mind as you work on your proposal and as you define and interpret the behaviors you plan to observe and compare. Say how you have tried to address the issues below:

Objectivity: The requirement that scientific knowledge not be distorted by the investigator’s preconceptions.

Reliability: The scientific requirement that when the same behavior is measured on two or more occasions by the same or different observers, the measurements must be consistent with each other.

Replicability: The scientific requirement that other researchers be able to use the same procedures as an initial investigator did and obtain the same results.

Validity: The scientific requirement that the data being collected must actually reflect the phenomenon being studied.

-the final section

You will tie up the paper here and say why your proposed study is different and important to do. Tell us what we will learn and how your proposed study will add to the conversation on your topic in the existing research (specifically from the article that you chose to support your paper). Why should we care about what you might find in your study, who will it relate to?

*The paper needs to be in APA format, similar to paper 2, you will need a reference page with your article that you use and the textbook if you use it to write your paper and make sure to cite your sources within the text of the paper.

*You will turn in 2 separate items:

1. observation template

2. your paper (2-3 pages)