Doing Your Child Observation Case Study: A Step-by-Step Guide

Observation of young children, their development, and planning for next steps is a fundamental requirement of early years practice. Awareness of appropriate techniques, understanding what you are observing, as well as what it all means in terms of planning for learning is an essential yet difficult skill to acquire.
This is a very practical book on observing young children that supports you in preparing a child observation case study. Taking a step-by-step approach the book covers the whole process beginning with choosing a child to study before discussing the fundamentals of child observation.

It includes invaluable guidance on:

The ethics of your study
Appropriate techniques and tools for gathering data
Observations that are useful
How to select material to include
Analyzing or interpreting the information
Potential pitfalls
The book includes many examples of good observations, which help show how your own observations can be evaluated, analyzed and used. In addition there is a fully worked example of a child observation case study in the penultimate chapter.

If you are studying early years or early childhood studies at foundation, undergraduate or Master's degree level then this book will really help you get to grips with how a good child observation study unfolds and develops.

Cath Arnold works at the Pen Green Centre, an internationally renowned Children's Centre in Corby, UK. She is author of Observing Harry (Open University Press 2003).

This is a fascinating and accessible new book on child observation case study for students and professionals. Cath Arnold integrates theoretical perspectives and practical examples of observations with remarkable clarity in this comprehensive guidance to child case study.