Psych 130 LabOctober 14, 2010

MealtimeObservational Methods

Bronfenbrenner Review

• Development reflects the influence of five Environmental Systems– Microsystem– Mesosystem– Exosystem– Macrosystem– Chronosystem

Bronfenbrenner’s Contribution

• CONTEXT– Implications for studying development

Observation of behavior within its natural context

The Family Dinner Table as a Context for Development

• Fiese & Schwartz (2008)– Family meals associated with numerous positive

developmental outcomes

• Based on this article, why might we be interested in studying what occurs during a family dinner?

Family Dinner as a Context for Learning Language

• Ely et al. (2001)– Parents exert influence on their children’s

language development, especially through use of language related to language itself

– Studied within three developmental domains• Pragmatics• Metalinguistics• Emergent literacy

• Pragmatic– Socialization of language• Requires explicit guidance about language system

itself• i.e., prompts for politeness, reminders to “say”

certain things

• Metalinguistic–Understanding how language works• “Talk about talk”• i.e., explanatory talk (vocabulary lessons),

reported speech

• Emergent Literacy–Knowledge of the functions of literacy• Value placed in reading and writing activities• i.e., word games, incorporation of ‘literary

experiences’ into experience of world

Coding• Content analysis– Code behavior according to whether it belongs to

a certain category• Defining categories

– Start with a construct, narrow to observable behavior

• Using operational definitions• Objective recipes for variables• Allow hypothesis testing

• Learn to use the scheme• Evaluating your scheme

Observation Type?

• Laboratory• Naturalistic• Participant

Ely et al.Coding Scheme

• Pragmatic Codes– Control– Clarification– Elicitation– Specification

• Literacy Code• Incomplete

• Metalinguistic Codes– Emphasis/formulaic– Comment– Comment about past

speech– Labeling– Reported Speech– Inanimate/generic

Designed to capture functional intent of use of language-focused terms

Today’s Lab

• Activity 1: Field Notes

• Activity 2: Learning to code with the Ely scheme– Calculating inter-rater reliability

• Activity 3: Design and test your own code

• Lab Report Conversation