RM2 non-experimental research methods

what are the types of observation?

naturalistic or controlled; covert or overt; participant or non-participant

what makes an observation naturalistic?

it takes place in a natural setting (e.g. home or school) without the researcher interfering

what makes an observation controlled?

it takes place in an environment that’s controlled by the researcher

what makes an observation covert?

the participants are not aware that they are being observed

what makes an observation overt?

the participants are aware that they are being observed

what makes an observation participant?

the researcher joins the participant group and observes internally

what makes an observation non-participant?

the researcher does not become a member of the participant group

what does the researcher do in observations?

observe and record what happens; they do not manipulate any variables

what are the strengths of naturalistic observations?

high ecological validity, can be used in situations where other methods would be impractical or ethical, no effect of strange/artificial environment on behaviour

what are the limitations of a naturalistic observation?

observer bias can influence results, no control over extraneous variables so low internal validity, hard to replicate and check reliability

what are the strengths of a controlled observation?

can control extraneous variables so high internal validity, easy to replicate and check reliability, less ethical issues as participants have usually agreed (so normally covert)

what are the limitations of a controlled observation?

apprehension and demand characteristics may occur which lower validity, observer bias can influence results, low ecological validity as artificial environment can effect behaviour

what are the strengths of a covert observation?

increased internal and ecological validity as participants do not alter behaviour (no Hawthorne effect)

what are the weaknesses of a covert observation?

ethical & consent issues

what are demand characteristics?

subtle cues or signs to the participants that hint at what the observer’s goal is, and therefore may cause them to change their behaviour

what is the Hawthorne effect?

when a person changes their behaviour because they know that they are being observed

what are the strengths of an overt observation?

no consent issues

what are the limitations of an overt observation?

reduced internal validity as participants may alter their behaviour

what are the strengths of a participant observation?

way to study closed-off/private groups which would otherwise be hard to observe, direct involvement helps researcher develop understanding of behaviour/motives/context of participants, researcher has subjective experience

what are the limitations of a participant observation?

researcher may become biased/over-involved and lose objectivity or affect results, observations may have to be recorded after they’ve happened so relies on researcher’s memory, ethical issues (if covert), researcher may feel like they’re betraying participants

what are the strenghts of a non-participant observation?

researcher is able to be objective, researcher does not impact results, no betrayal-of-trust issues, observations do not rely on recall

what are the limitations of a non-participant observation?

no subjective experience, shallower understanding of participant’s behaviours/motives, doesn’t see context, some observations are hard/impossible to make

what happens in an unstructured observation?

the researcher records any relevant behaviour in real time with no set parameters

what are the strenghts of an unstructured observation?

rich, detailed descriptions and continuous records

what are the limitations of an unstructured observation?

observer bias/subjectivity as they only record what they find relevant, may be too much to record so a lot is missed

what happens in a structured observation?

systems are used to organise the observation (e.g. behavioural categories and sampling techniques) so researcher knows what and when to record - increases objectivity

what are the features of behavioural categories?

clear, unambiguous, mutually exclusive categories that code/rate behaviour rather than trying to describe it. there should be categories for all relevant behaviours

what are the strengths of behavioural categories?

increased objectivity (less bias in records), easier to check results for reliability and compare with other results, easier to analyse

what are the limitations of behavioural categories?

lose context and rich, detailed descriptions, relevant behaviour will not be recorded if there is no relevant category, this data will be lost

define operationalism

producing strictly defined and unambiguous categories

define inter-observer reliability

when observations from two independent researchers are compared to check for correlation (positive correlation = reliability)

what is event sampling?

when only categorised behaviours are noted and tallied each time they occur

what are the strengths of event sampling?

produces quantitative data (easier to analyse and compare), reduces observer subjectivity/bias

what are the weaknesses of event sampling?

unanticipated relevant behaviour will not be recorded, no note of when behaviour occured/in what order

define internal validity

the extent to which a study measures what it was planning to measure (effect on DV from manipulation of IV rather than extraneous variables)

define external validity

the extent to which research findings can be generalised to other settings/people/times etc

define ecological validity

a type of external validity. the extent to which a study’s findings can be generalised and applied to real-world settings/natural environments

what is time sampling?

recording behaviour periodically or at predetermined intervals chronologically

what are the strengths of time sampling?

reduces observer bias and subjectivity

what are the limitations of time sampling?

relevant behaviour that occurs between intervals will not be recorded

what a questionnaires?

a predetermined set of written questions (items) that participants answer

what are the strengths of questionnaires?

quick, economical, can have large samples of participants, easy to replicate and check for reliability, if they’re anonymous they reduce social desirability, removes interviewer bias

define social desirability bias

the tendency of people to give socially acceptable answers and present themselves in a favourable light

what are the limitations of questionnaires?

questions/words will be interpreted differently by participants, biased participant samples (people with spare time so unemployed people, must be literate, have access to questionnaire etc), respondents might not be truthful (accidentally or purposefully), researcher is unable to ask follow up questions

define an acquiesent response set

a response set when a participant has answered in one way (e.g. strongly agree, yes) to many questions, so they stop reading the questions and only answer that way

how can you test the reliability of a questionnaire?

test-retest method or split-half technique

explain the test-retest method

the same questionnaire is given to the same sample twice with an interval inbetween, if the results are consistent the questionnaire is reliable

explain the split-half technique

items on the questionnaire are randomly split into two groups and the scores are compared. if they are relatively similar the questionnaire is reliable

define face validity

if something looks to be researching what it says it’s researching. this is subjective.

how can you test the validity of a questionnaire?

give it to a sample whose views on the topic are already known. the answers should reflect the already-known views