The Impact Of The Principal In The Classroom
Direct observation is way of gathering data by watching behavior or events as they occur; for example, a teacher teaching a lesson. This methodology is important to teacher induction and professional development, as well as teacher evaluation. Yet, direct observation has a major shortcoming: it is a rather obtrusive data gathering technique. In other words, we know the observer can influence the situation and the behavior of those being observed. We also know people do not behave the same way when they know they are being watched. In psychology, these forms of reactivity are are known as the Hawthorne effect, and the observer- or experimenter-expectancy effect (also here).
Social scientists and medical researchers are well aware of these issues and the fact that research findings don’t mean a whole lot when the researcher and/or the study participants know the purpose of the research