A . Note the day, time, weather, and details of how you arrived at your point of observation. These will help you reconstruct the event in your memory, and they will help others identify the setting.

B. Narrate the event in detail, as though your readers were members of another culture, who, for all you know, see children and school settings (if they have schools) to be as bizarre as you might see a Balinese cock fight. Most events you narrate will be commonplace, everyday occurrences, but only to you, not your imagined audience.

C . Reflect on what you have seen in light of our interest in family life, gender roles, socialization, childhood…

D . Identify topics or themes, even working hypotheses, you intend to use in future observations.