Shadowing or what? Experience of Shadowing Acts of Being in the Field of Education.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate my experience of shadowing as a method. Since shadowing comes in a wide variety of understandings, the article gives the reader a short overview of research fields and topics connected to shadowing. In my use of the method, I have focused upon shadowing teachers at a multigrade school in rural Norway. Toward this background, I have formulated the research question, “In what ways has shadowing arisen thoughts on challenges as well as contributed to preliminary results?” The investigation of my experiences presents entrance to the field and orientation and use of compass. I present theories that developed during fieldwork and contributed to concepts, interpretation, and preliminary results. The results indicate shadowing gives the researcher challenges in reference to research design, terminology, and techniques. The contribution to the preliminary results indicate you have to be present in the moment to experience organizing work, whereas you can observe organizations after the fact.