The age of the teachers and their personal equation in the evaluation of pupils’ knowledge

Statistical analysis of the grades at the end of the semester in the following subjects: native tongue, history, mathematics and chemistry in Zadar primary school (7th graders) given to the pupils by 29 teachers (age up to 40) and 29 teachers older than 40, showed that younger teachers are somewhat less strict in grading than the older teachers but there is no significant difference. The value of hi-square was 1,32 which does not have any statistical significance. The conclusion is that the age of the teachers does not have any influence on their personal equation in the evaluations of pupils’ knowledge in the schools.

Some problems in performing observations in the social sciences: Going to the field, sampling, issues in observation procedures, ethical issues and personal equation of the observer

The paper discusses the problems of going to the field, sampling, some issues in observation procedures, ethical issues and personal equation of the observer. Problems related to the choice of some of the different possible roles of observers, like noting and recording their observations and comments, as well as classifying and processing of data and analysis of results, are omitted due to space limitations. In this paper, one strongly advocates the need to apply observation as an integrated process, with all its various forms arising within psychology, sociology, anthropology and ethology. Widespread division into participatory qualitative and quantitative systematic or structured observation to a large extent is challenged. The author tries to argue that the presentation of observations shows that emphasizing the difference between the above-mentioned methods of observation are largely due to the influence and interests which come from the wider social environment.