An insight into the Critical Incident Technique

The critical incident technique (CIT) is, according to Flanagan (1954), a group of steps aimed at observing how humans behave in different contexts and following different instructions. The main purpose of this technique is to link behavior with specific actions and outline a certain kind of criterion. This criterion will help to solve and improve some human behaviors.
The technique is based in two principles, incident and critical. The former is defined as human actions that can be understood and analyzed by the act in itself. The latter aims at discarding doubt among participants. That is to say, the person who performs the action and the observer should understand the situation clearly leading to transparent conclusions. Moreover, the observer of the action performed needs to be objective. Objectivity is reached when more than one observer can lead to the same conclusion.
The technique is based on steps. These steps follow certain rules; however, rules are adapted according to the situation that is being observed. There is not a set of unchangeable rules. Furthermore, general aims should be stated to create a common basis to all participants. By general aim, Flanagan (1954) states that authorities are the ones to write the outlines to follow; though, it is very difficult to assign a specific person to this role. They will be in charge of listing what actions should or should not be done during the process. There are some steps to follow when designing general aims. The first one consists of classifying the critical incidents. The second one consists on improving performance based on the incidents observed.
After defining general aims, data collecting should be started. For this to happen, several components are needed: the context, the relevance, the impact and the observers. Without these four elements, the critical incident technique cannot be done. There are also procedures to follow when collecting data. These are: personal or group interviews, questionnaires and record forms. Once the data has been collected, the analyzing stage begins by summarizing the actions that can be used for additional studies and practical purposes.
The critical incident technique can have several uses. Measuring performance is used to observe every day actions while proficiency is used to observe end of training courses. Moreover, the CIT can be used for training purposes to establish specific requirements to specific actions. It can also be used to select and classify different actions and their consequences.
Some other uses of the CIT can be related to the teaching practices, its actions and impacts. Operating procedures with either negative or positive results can be used to improve the usefulness and good organization of operations. This technique can also be applied to material design. After collecting a certain amount of information, conclusions about the most relevant material to use can be inferred. Relating this to the teaching practice, teachers collect information by using different material in class (readers, songs and certain kind of exercises); by analyzing students ´reactions to these materials a list of successful material can be done. Furthermore, the CIT can be related to teaching practices when talking about choices and attitudes, helping teachers understand the reason of certain actions and leading to positive and relevant conclusions.
To conclude, the CIT demonstrated how important the act of reflecting about past, present and future actions is. The critical incident technique is a very valuable instrument for improving procedures. The role of an external observer is crucial to have an objective feedback of the actions being performed. It has also been stated how these actions can also be affected by different contexts and objectives. All in all, this paper demonstrated the CIT can be applied to the teaching and learning fields, proving to be a very useful procedure to take into account.

Reference
Flanagan, J. (1954). Psychological Bulletin: The critical Incident Technique. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved August 2009, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=2962