Metodologia observacional para o estudo do brincar na escola

Abstract

An observation protocol to register the behaviour of children during playtime is a work tool that can be used for health and education professionals. The goal of this paper is to show the steps towards the building of an observational method for collecting data of children playing in the school environment. Twelve children in a class of the third year of basic education participated in this study. The results helped to establish an observational method that demanded the elaboration of a protocol to guide the researchers' procedures. The steps towards the protocol development involved ethical issues, such as free informed term of consent and ethics committee approval, as well as methodological issues, such as elaboration of procedures, theoretical search and definition of categories. The conclusions indicate that the codification of the observed behaviours can be facilitated if using a suitable protocol for the observation, leading the researchers to a more trustworthy results discussion.