Whose Interpretation Matters? Centering Participants Through Observation Debrief
Date
2022-09-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Journal of Qualitative Research
Abstract
While observation research strives to capture the diverse experiences of participants, a researcher’s interpretation is often foregrounded in the work. As a result, those observed and how they interpret the meaning of their actions can fade into the background. I argue for a shift in traditional models of observation to include an observation debrief to unite the purpose of interview and observation while centering the participant’s perspective through a more immediate reflection of a participant’s observed experience. I describe the benefit of an observation debrief through a narrative account of one participant in a study about parents’ mathematical interactions with young children.
Description
This article was originally published in American Journal of Qualitative Research. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12440
Keywords
debrief, mathematics education, narrative, observation, parent engagement
Citation
Prough, S. (2022). Whose Interpretation Matters? Centering Participants Through Observation Debrief. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 6(3), 60-73. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12440