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Bryman: Social Research Methods: 3e

Chapter 11

http://cbdd.wsu.edu/edev/NetTOM_ToT/Resources/Other/TOM614/page61.htm
Washington State University has a project focussed on "bridging the digital divide”, contained in its CBDD site. This site’s homepage provides lots of links to resources of various kinds that are relevant to the central project. The link given here leads to a section of an e-learning workshop dealing with quantitative techniques in research, summing up the general approach to structured observation very neatly.

http://informationr.net/tdw/publ/INISS/Chap1.html
This is a report of a study that used the method of structured observation. Project INISS was set up by Professor Tom Wilson and his colleagues at the University of Sheffield, to explore the information needs of social workers and other social services employees. Here you can find a detailed account of why the researchers chose to use structured observation over other methods, the observation schedule they devised (coding “communication events” into various categories) and the problems they encountered in doing so, such as the participants’ awareness that they were being observed: reactive effects.

http://www.engsc.ac.uk/resources/easeit/easeitpdfs/7_obsched.pdf
Following this link brings you to an actual observation schedule used for classroom observation.  Page 260 (of chapter 11) dicusses the schedule in general terms, suggesting criteria for producing a schedule.  Check the schedule in the link.  You should find it measures up rather well.  The resource is available as part of a series of aids produced to enhance the learning experience of engineering subjects, produced by EASIET-ENG (Evaluation and Advisory Support to Encourage Innovative Teaching in Engineering).

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ212345&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ212345
Gerald R. Salancik wrote an article entitled "Field Stimulations for Organizational Behaviour Research”, which appeared in Administration Science Quarterly in 1979 (Vol 24, No 4: pps 638-649).  This link brings you to the abstract and first, highlighted, page of the article.  Your institution may be able to give you access to the entire article, which is well worth reading.  If not, enlarge the page and read an amusing story, plus a brief definition of field stimulations.

http://www.readingrecovery.org/reading_recovery/accountability/observation/index.asp
This link shows how an observation survey is conducted to research literacy. It is made available online by the Reading Recovery Council of North America, within a very attractively designed website. The page is also downloadable in pdf format, for storage, later study and referencing.