Sampling Methods

hat’s a key feature in unstructured observations?

Continuous recording of behaviours.

What does continuous recording mean?

All instances of a target behaviour are recorded.

Would continuous recording be good for complex behaviours?

This method may not be feasible or practical.

What must a researcher do in structured observations?

Use a systematic way of sampling their observations.

What does event sampling involve?

Counting the number of times a particular behaviour urs in a target individual or group.

What does time sampling involve?

Recording behaviour within a pre-established time frame.

When is event sampling useful?

When the target behaviour or event happens quite infrequently and could be missed if time sampling was used.

What happens if the specified event is too complex?

The observer may overlook important details if using event sampling.

What’s time sampling effective in?

Reducing the number of observations that have to be made.

What might those instances when behaviour is sampled be?

Unrepresentative of the observation as a whole.