On investigating phenomena without losing sight of them: The dialectics of observation and the phenomenological gaze in a kindergarten setting

Abstract

In this article, the authors address some of the scientific challenges associated with using observation as a research method. The authors ask how researchers contextualise and understand observation in terms of its theoretical underpinnings and how it is conducted. Using a vignette in the kindergarten context, the authors explore how observation as a research method requires theoretical reflection in and on observational work. They discuss the role of the observing researcher in a dialectical position and process. The researchers discuss both the dependency on – and the critical suspension of preunderstanding that is necessary for – conducting observations. In addition to being grounded in the researcher’s own embodied position, observation is directed towards something/somebody and by somebody. The researchers are simultaneously also observed by those they are observing. The conclusion assumes that reciprocity in the understanding of observation contributes to knowledge and discussions about credibility and validity in qualitative research based on observation.