The tutorial is an adjunct to discussions and practice sessions. It was designed to provide a ready reference while teachers are in the field conducting and documenting worksite observation.
For the outsider, another person's job is an incredible blur of people, space, time, and tasks. In our previous research, we constructed a common-sense and low-inference worklife framework to appreciate a job, to organize observations, and to accomplish the descriptive task of detailing frontline work (Stasz et al., 1996). The framework is straightforward and common to all jobs: there is a startup period followed by everyday routines, and each worker is involved in everyday relations with others. Embedded in these three aspects are skills, tasks, and work context.
We blend the worklife framework with what we know about job design to develop a plan for studying various job arrangements. We know that jobs are socially organized and physically situated in particular ways. Thus, we develop different study plans for jobs involving individual work where workers convene in a common space, jobs that involve teaming, and jobs that require workers to be highly mobile or itinerant.
On Day 1, you will meet your worksite mentor. To facilitate scheduling formal interviews, the mentor will arrange introductions with (1) the department manager and (2) the designated trainer for the department or work unit. For small departments, such positions are frequently folded into a single job.
Teacher-observers target for study a job that is related to your proposed curriculum unit. Over the course of the week, you will come to understand the target job. Specifically, you will focus on (1) the social setting for the work and (2) the frequent and critical tasks assigned to the job. Ask the mentor who has agreed to serve as your key informant to help you determine the best approach to accomplish observation of these tasks. The mentor may refer you to the department supervisor and other workers.
Planning task observation encompasses understanding the range of tasks assigned to a job. You need to observe enough workers to exhaust observation of frequent and critical tasks assigned to a job and to witness the same tasks performed by several different workers. You may observe differences in the commission of a task based on expertise of the workers or based on the type and complexity of the problem presented. You will need to "follow" the task to appreciate the complexity of the work and identify high-quality lessons that add value to student internships. Together, the strategies permit one to observe all the workers involved, their positions in the firm, and their relationship to tasks.
After you have determined the "right" job to study, ask for a tour of the immediate areas where workers congregate and where the job is typically performed.
This is a good opportunity to learn names, titles, and to figure out various roles and reporting relationships. You may also have some time to see the "tools" of the work and to acquaint yourself with typical clients. Be prepared to explain the purpose of the mini-sabbatical and the job study to all you meet, including clients. Even though your purpose is to study the work, if observation involves your contact with clients, they have the right to exclude you from the commission of their services. You need not be overly concerned, however, since it is our experience that most workers and clients are happy to be part of efforts to improve education for young people.
When target jobs convene workers in a common space and assigned to specific tasks, we suggest the following Day 2 schedule. With fairly routinized and assigned tasks, the observer is able to witness each task on the average of eight to ten times during the morning. After lunch, the observer--with knowledge of the task and its technical requirements--refocuses on everyday relations involved in accomplishing tasks.
On Day 3, teacher-observers take a break from the field, returning to the classroom to file fieldnotes, debrief and clarify, reflect, and plan.
On Day 4, the teacher-observer returns to the worksite at the beginning of the workday to observe tasks and relationships required to initiate work. We purposely delay this observation until the observer is sufficiently familiar with the work, frontline workers, and other department staff. With completion of task observations, the teacher-observer conducts formal interviews, as we discuss below.
When jobs involve teaming, we revise the above approach. Teaming complicates understanding the worksite. This is especially true when various levels of staff work together to accomplish some product or service. An example is a team comprised of an engineer, technician, and laborer. Foremost, the teacher-observer must adjust their conception of the work. The unit of observation is the job/work-unit. Because the job under study is situated by the team, its meaning is informed by the team. It is necessary to understand and tease out the everyday routines and relations--associated with the job/work-unit--that help the team function and understand how the job under study contributes. This may require an additional half-day on Day 4 to focus observation on everyday routines and relations that center around the team. Observation methods do not change.
When jobs primarily require workers to be highly mobile or itinerant, we make a different revision. Because highly mobile work tends to be heavily laden with relations, you will need to study job tasks on Days 1, 2, and 4, ensuring that you travel with different workers during that time. The travel time permits informal interviewing with frontline workers about tasks and work context.
Because of the relatively short time at worksites and because many jobs are technical and, in some cases, require licensure and certifications, you will not undertake participant-observation. Rather, you will depend on your observation and questioning skills and workers' knowledge. As a result, teacher-observers have to develop a comfortable relationship with workers over a short period of time.
We employ Spradley's framework for understanding social settings as an organizing guide for questions, observations, and fieldnotes (see Table 1). The social setting framework includes the following dimensions: space, actors, acts, activities, events, objects, goals, time, and feelings. Teacher-observers are asked to make holistic observations and then to document observations in a fieldnote using Spradley's framework as a guide. For new observers, this has proved to offer a workable prop for fieldwork chores.
Each day, teacher-observers will transform raw notes of job site observations into a complete fieldnote. This involves observers taking approximately one hour immediately following observations to flesh out the raw notes, using Spradley's framework. Within one to two days, each teacher-observer will produce a draft fieldnote and submit it to the mini-sabbatical project team for review and comment. We expect that each final fieldnote will average 15-20 pages for each half-day of observation.
Each teacher-observer will conduct formal face-to-face interviews with a department head and trainer. From their responses, you will have a fuller understanding of the industry, the company or firm, and the department. Important aspects may come to light that are not visibly prominent at the job level. A fuller understanding of work arms teachers with a rich perspective about authentic problems that can focus and shape high-quality classroom environments and lessons.
The interviews are formal in that you will employ an interview protocol comprised of a set of standard questions. The interview protocol is included in Section D at the end of the tutorial. Ask each question even if you believe you know the answer. Each interview will require approximately 20 minutes. During the interview, you will take raw notes which you will flesh out later. The previous day's informal interviewing, questioning, and note-taking will sharpen the skills required to accomplish face-to-face interviews. Your knowledge of the work itself should improve your ability to probe during questioning.
Table 1
Spradley's Nine Dimensions of a Social SettingSpace: Physical place or places Actor: The people involved Acts: Single actions that people do Activity: The set of related acts that people do Event: A set of related activities that people do Object: The physical things that are present Goal: Things people are trying to accomplish Time: Sequencing that takes place over time Feelings: Emotions felt and expressed Taken from Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant observation.
New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
While accomplishing observations and interviews, the teacher-observer will need to look for artifacts that offer additional evidence of skills, tasks, and context operating in these natural settings. Ask permission from the department manager before removing documents or materials from the worksite.
The following artifacts are potentially helpful in designing authentic projects and investigations: organization charts; employee benefit package; annual reports; employee evaluation forms and procedure; company newsletters; syllabi for training programs; nonproprietary documentation of productivity; and job aids, reference materials, and procedures used by frontline workers to perform tasks.
The mini-sabbatical project staff will monitor each worksite on fieldwork days to answer questions about the application of Job Study procedures. On the evening of Day 1, we will debrief (by telephone) with each teacher about the following day's observation plan and note-taking. We refer questions about the work itself to the worksite and assigned mentor.
My name is ________________ and I am involved in a training project for high school teachers assigned to school-to-career programs. The project is located at (Training Site).
The purpose of this interview is for me to better understand work in the ____________ department, this company, and the (Industry Name). The interview is entirely voluntary. Answer only the questions you want to answer. Your responses are confidential. I will use them along with work observations to help develop curriculum for high school students.
The interview will take about 20 minutes. I will take notes throughout the interview.
Position Title: ___________________________________________________________
Length of Tenure at Company/Firm: __________________________________________
Tenure in Industry: _______________________________________________________
Tenure in Field: __________________________________________________________
| 1. | First, what are your primary job responsibilities? |
| 2. | What key issues are at the forefront of the (Name) industry (e.g., quality, efficiency, good government, environmental concerns, and so on)? |
| 2a. | Can you point me to reference materials that offer a good discussion of the issues (e.g., definitions, pro and con positions, and case studies)? |
| 3. | How is (Name of Company or Firm) coping with the key issues (e.g., improvement programs, restructuring, downsizing, new products and services, and community involvement)? |
| 4. | What is the mission of (Name of Company or Firm)? |
| 5. | What is the role of this department in light of the firm's mission? |
| 6. | I have been observing (Name of Job). For workers recruited as (Name of Job), what specific credentials, skills, or attitudes are considered crucial for solid job performance? |
| 7. | Alternatively, what would be "cause" for dismissing someone from this position? |
| 8. | The final questions focus on training. What company training does someone working as a (Name of Position) typically receive? |
| 9. | What are your training goals? |
| 10. | How do you evaluate training? |
| 11. | This concludes my questions. Is there anything you want to ask me? |
Thank you for allowing me to interview you.