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Incident-AnalysisTheoretical background, conceptual remarks

on a key-category of

REDCo-classroom-analysis

- PD Dr. Thorsten Knauth -

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Workshop „Research Methods and Empirical Fieldwork“, Granada, 25.5.2006

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Relevance of classroom-analysis

• Pupils´ perspectives are decisive for our focus: finding methods to deal with religious and cultural heterogenity

• We don´t know much about structures of classroom-interaction

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Possibilities of classroom-analysis

• Direct insight into interaction in classroom

• Observation and analysis of interactive patterns in statu nascendi

• Analysis on possibilities and limitations of dialogue in classroom

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Analysis on the views of pupils according to te REDCo-application

• All projects will analyse RE at school in the 14-16-year age group

• Analysis of interaction patterns in the classroom based on participant observation and videotaped RE-lessons

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„We will focus on incidentsexemplifying both successful

dialogue and conflict in lessons“

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Critical questions

• How can incidents be defined and selected?

• How can we avoid restricting ourselves to one method of interpretation?

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1.The interpretive approach of classroom-analysis

2. Incidents: term and methods of analysis

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Interpretive approach of classroom-analysis

Symbolic interactionism

Ethnomethodology

Theory of Speech acts/

communicationtheory

Classroomanalysis

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Classroom-analysis

• Focussed on communication and interaction in classroom

• Methodological perspective: to reconstruct the perspective of the participants

• All activities in classroom are symbolic actions and interactions

• Hermeneutical perspective of the approach

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Basic aspects

• Teaching and learning in RE as symbolic interaction

• The relevance of the context

• Interpretation as reconstruction

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1. Teaching and learning as symbolic interaction

• All activities in classroom are part of complex procedures of communicative action within the frame of an institution

• Participants act on the basis of rules and structures which form a constantly renewed „social order“

• Doing classroom-analysis means to describe the daily negotiation of meaning

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2. The relevance of the context

• The contextuality of each communicative action is taken into consideration, which means: each act of speech is to be analysed in it´s interactive environment

• Indexicality: the way communicative action is embedded in structures of time, space, situation and knowledge of daily life

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3. Interpretation as reconstruction

• Interpretive research of classroom- interaction wants to make clear how interaction functions by reconstructing the process of meaning-making.

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Interpretive classroom-analysis and interpretive approach of RE

Classroom-analysis:

Active and meaning-making role of the subject

Relevance of the context

Interpretive approach (Jackson 1997, 2004)

Interpretation:Religious practise as meaning-making process

Representation: how is religion embedded in actions, life-world practise etc.?

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The „coldness-scene“- example for an incident

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Incidents –some remarks on the term

1. „Phenomenon“ (H. Mehan 1979): an event during the course of interaction which is relevant for the participants themselves

2. „Surprising phenomenons“ (S. Heil/ H.G. Ziebertz 2003): sequences in interaction which can´t be explained immediately and can´t be deducted from theory.

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Incidents- remarks on the term

3. „cases“ (eg.Kallmeyer/ Schütze 1976): examples for special interactive patterns beneath the surface of interaction

4. „Critical Incidents“ (D. Tripp 1993): critical events in the lesson with a challenge for professional judgement on teaching.

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Incidents- remarks on the term

5. Incident as key-category for classroom-research (Gogolin/Kroon 2000): incidents are phenomenons on the surface of interaction, which can tell something about the deeper structure of an interactive situation – like an iceberg looming with it´s peak out of the water.

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„In the concept of incident-analysis an incident, for example in a teaching- lesson, represents a hidden aspect of the overall structure of the interactive happening. It serves as a key for comprehending the overall context , which is deeply rooted in the pedagogic tradition and the cultural concepts of the concerned country.“ (Herrlitz 1994, S.13)

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Incident- remarks on the term Summary

• Incidents are unusual, sometimes critical events on the surface of interaction. They are „little peaks“ looming out of the stream of interaction.

• Incidents are selected on the basis of open observations which are guided by basic questions.

• Incidents are cristallisations of a problem which is related to the basic question of the research (e.g.: dialogue and conflict).

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Method of analyzing incidents

• Making decisions on the basis of criteria: which lessons should be recorded?

• Videotaping the lesson,• Reviewing the lesson via tape: Pre-

selection of „incident-suspicious“, sequences – guided by the basic question of research,

• Making a list with preliminary descriptions of the sequences,

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• Describing the context; delimitation of the incidents by embedding them in the course of Interaction

• Exact transcription on the basis of a simple transcription guide

• Paraphrasis of the sequence and preliminary interpretation

• Interpretation in detail by using the transcription

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• Enlarging the interpretation by adding different „readings“ of the incident

• Enlargement of the analysis: search for incidents with a similar structure; search for incidents which can contrast the Interpretation,

• Comparative analysis

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Is Incident-Analysis compatible with ethnographic research?

According to C. Geertz [1973] an ethnographic description of culture is:

- Interpretive- Interested to discover the procedure of the

social discourse- documentary (it snatches away the event

from the transitory moments)- microscopical („intense aquaintance with

tiny little things“)

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Incident-analysis is in touch with the groundof facts and phenomenons. Incident-Analysis is „thick description“(C.Geertz)