Teaching · For Teachers

Decide what you will see before you walk in.

Tie each focus to the question and give it a recording method. The brief prints for every session and lists what to set up before the first.

Design a protocolWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the For Teachers toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The protocol

One record per study. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · For Teachers$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A printable protocol brief with hours, foci and methods, and the checks to finish before the first session.
Who it is for
Teacher-researchers, graduate students in education and instructional leaders running classroom research.
Format
Browser form. One saved protocol per study; printed as a brief for each session or as a blank form; CSV; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the For Teachers toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Teachers space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
decide what to see before you look
Drawn for this page. A room has more going on than anyone can write down; a protocol decides in advance what counts.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with a study code.
  2. Write the question, then only the foci that help answer it.
  3. Choose how you will record each focus.
  4. Run one pilot session and revise.
  5. Print the brief and take it to every session.

Design a protocol

Choices the protocol makes

Observer roles

Observer roles run from complete observer, who does not take part, to full participant, such as a teacher studying their own class. Taking part gives access but makes it harder to notice what you take for granted; plan for that.

Recording methods

Running notes capture sequence and talk; time sampling records what is happening at set intervals; event counts tally a defined behavior; maps show space and movement. Match the method to what the question needs.

Field notes

Keep what happened apart from what you think it means, and expand brief notes within a day while memory is fresh.

Sources

  1. Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass, chapter 6.
  2. Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (2011). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
  3. Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design (4th ed.). SAGE.
  4. Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant Observation. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

The example protocol is made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.