non experimental methods

Naturalistic and controlled

Carried out in a naturall setting e.g. school, prison, shopping centre and the observer can either tell people they’re being observed (overt) or do the observation secretly (covert)

Example - parent/child observation and marshmallow observation

Natural and controlled observations evaluation

✅high ecological validity - generalise findings to other real life settings

✅ Variety of behaviour - study behaviour that cannot be manipulated in a lab

❌ Extraneous variables - can’t control them e.g. temp, weather therefore difficult to determine the exact cause of a behaviour

❌ Difficult to replicate - in natural setting the environment may have changed

Controlled observations

Take place in controlled lab conditions

Researcher attempts to manipulate variables

Controlled observations evaluation

✅easy to replicate - easy to check reliability due to high control

✅ High control - make sure any unwanted extraneous variables have been eliminated

❌ Demand characteristics - they know they’re being observed so more likely to change their behaviour (please you/screw you)

❌ Lack ecological validity - environment is artificial so its not possible to generalise the findings to other situations

Covert observation

Observation done secretly

Covert observation evaluation

✅no demand characteristics - unaware so will act naturally

✅ Private behaviour - allows researchers to explore secretive/Private behaviour

❌ Ethical issues - participants haven’t given consent

❌ Practical problems - difficult to record behaviour without being discovered

Overt observation

Obsevration done openly

Overt observations evaluation

✅reasons for behaviour - researcher can interview them and find out reasons for actions

✅ Fewer ethical issues - given consent

❌ Demand characteristics - aware of being observed meaning changing behaviour

❌ Difficult to recruit P’s - sometimes P''s do not like being observed

Participant observation

Observer gets involved and participates in behaviour of group, done overtly or covertly

Participant observation evaluation

✅natural behaviour - if done covertly, behaviour of P’s will be natural

✅ Less ethical issues - if done overtly given consent

❌ Unnatural behaviour - if done overtly causes change in behaviour

❌ Practical problems - if done covertly it becomes very dificult to record behaviour

Non participant observation

Researcher follows group around but doesn’t engage

Non participant observation evaluation

✅valid behaviour - researched is not interfering with behaviour of group being observed

✅ Objectivity - able to remain objective with no bias and be an observer rather than participant

❌ Lack of understanding - might not fully understand the actions of the group as they’re not engaged

❌ Artificial behaviour - presence of the observer can change the behaviour of the group