9: Observational Designs

observational experiments can be in _______ or ______ settings and in ____ control

artificial, natural, control

observational (non-experiments) have a ______ setting and ____ control

natural, low

observational design

research methodology in which researcher observes, records, and quantifies or scores ongoing behavior

• observational designs can be either experimental or non-experimental

sampling of observations must be ______/non-systematic

randomized

observer as a test

• reliable → inter-rater and test-retest

• valid

• standardized

• objective

observer characteristics (experimenter effects) as extraneous variable

• train rater to standardize

• build into design as moderator variable

levels of observatoin

naturalistic observation

• disguised naturalistic observation

• undisguised naturalistic observation

participant observation

• disguised participant observation

• undisguised participant observaton

case studies

potential problems with observational designs

• intrusiveness

• reactivity

• privacy

“online” observation

observation of participant in real time

“offline” observation

observation of participants “after the fact”

• videotape participant behaviors and watch later

advantage/disadvantages or trade-offs

• measurement

• levels of observations → intrusiveness, reactivity, privacy