Observations

what are the 6 individual types of observations?

• naturalistic OR controlled

• covert OR overt

• participant OR non-participant

Each observation needs to have 1 of the 2

e.g. a naturalistic, overt, participant observation

Naturalistic OR controlled

• Naturalistic

  • what is it

  • strengths and weakness

observation that takes place in an everyday, real-life environment

• no control over aspects of the environment

Strengths:

1)High ecological validity: means ppts will show genuine behaviour that’s reflective of everyday, real life. Means results can be generalised

Weakness

2) Low replicability: little to no control means that the researcher cannot establish a standardised procedure, so other researchers cannot easily replicate the study to check for reliability

Naturalistic OR controlled

• Controlled

  • what is it

  • strengths and weakness

takes place in an artificial, highly controlled environment.

There’s control over aspects of the environment and less EV’s affecting the study

Strengths:

1)High replicability: due to some control, allowing other researchers to replicate study to test for reliability

Weakness:

1)Low ecological validity:the artificial environment means that behaviour isn’t genuine and not reflective of everyday life cannot be generalised

Covert OR overt

• covert

  • what is it

  • strengths and weakness

ppts aren’t aware they are being observed

Strengths:

1)No demand characteristics: Any behaviour shown will be a genuine reflection of everyday real life. Can be applied and generalised

Weakness:

1)Unethical: breaks the guideline of informed consent and deception, therefore research decreases in credibility

Covert OR overt

• overt

  • what is it

  • strengths and weakness

ppts are aware they are being observed

Strengths:

1) Ethical as it follows guidelines: the study and findings increase in validity and credibility

Weakness:

1) Show demand characteristics: any behaviour shown isn’t genuine and not a reflection of everyday real life

Participant OR Non-participant

• participant

  • what is it

  • strengths and weakness

researcher takes part in the activities alongside observing the ppts

Strength:

1) In depth insight: allows for greater understanding of the group, such as understanding the subtle interactions within

Weakness:

1) Skewed perspective: can lead to the researcher becoming attached and having a skewed reporting of data

2) May miss out on behaviour: whilst participating with the others

Participant OR Non-participant

• non-participant

  • what is it

  • strengths and weakness

researcher doesn’t take part in the activities alongside the ppts

Strength:
1) Objective: the researcher doesn’t have the opportunity to become attached and therefore less likely to have a skewed perspective

Weakness:

1) Lack in-depth insight: May not pick up on the subtle interactions within the group

Designing an observation:

• what are the 2 ways observations can be carried out?

• unstructured

• structured

Designing an observation:

• unstructured observation

• doesn’t involve behavioural categories

• observers can describe the behaviours that occurred in rich detail and elaborate to whatever extent they wish to

• useful when observing a small amount of people

Designing an observation

• structured observation

• uses behavioural categories which are predetermined

• whenever a ppt does a certain behaviour that fits into one of the behavioural categories, the researcher notes it down

• results from structured observations lend themselves well to structural analysis

Designing an observation:

Structured observation

• what are behavioural categories

• how is the broader, target behaviour operationalised

• what should good behavioural categories look like?

Behavioural categories: operationalised set of actions allowing the researcher to measure the broader, target behaviour

How is the broader,target behaviour operationalised?

• when a researcher takes a target behaviour and breaks it down into actions that can be counter numerically

What should good behavioural categories look like?

• specific

• easily countable

• something that clearly starts and stops

Observation recording methods (sampling)

• what are the 2 types of sampling procedures

• time sampling

• event sampling

Observation recording methods (sampling)

• event sampling

  • how is it done

  • advantages and disadvantages

How it’s done:

1)List of behavioural categories are determined by the researcher

2)Once the observation begins, the researcher notes done every occurrence of behaviour that fits into a behavioural category

Advantages:

1) Don’t miss out on any behaviour: Because the researcher is observing for the whole duration, and therefore get a more accurate representation of ppts behaviour

Disadvantages:

1)Impractical and difficult to conduct compared to time sampling: researcher has to be vigilant throughout and this can be mentally and physically straining and demanding. As a result, the researcher is more likely to make recording mistakes

Observation recording methods (sampling)

• time sampling

  • how is it done

  • advantages and disadvantages

1)researcher decided the total duration of an observation

2)researcher determines the time intervals at which they will observe

3)once the observation occurs, the researcher only observes and records behaviour at the ‘stoke of the interval’

4)researchers do this until the total duration of the observation is complete

Advantages:

1)Practical and easier to conduct: researcher doesn’t have to be vigilant throughout the whole observation. Rather, they only need to be at the stroke of the intervals. This will be less physically and mentally demanding and as a result they are less likely to make mistakes when recording.

Disadvantages:

1)Miss out on behaviour: Therefore, they wont get an accurate representation of behaviour

inter observer reliability

• The extent to which the observations made by 2 independent observers are similar

Process of assessing inter observer reliability:

1) 2 researchers observe the same ppts for the same duration at the same time

2) researchers then compare their findings

3) they do this by conducting a ‘correlation analysis’ between 2 sets of results, the the co-variable of 1 researchers observation, and the co-variable of another

4) if the observations are similar, then there is inter observer reliability

• results can be seen as similar if the correlation co-efficient is a positive 0.8 or above