9. Observational Design

Question 1

What is an unstructured observation?

Answer 1

When the researcher writes down everything they see

Question 2

When should you use an unstructured observation?

Answer 2

When observations are small in scale and involve few participants

Question 3

What is a structured observation ?

Answer 3

When the researcher only records down things relevant to the target behaviour

Question 4

When would you use a structure observation?

Answer 4

When there is too much going on in a single observation for the researcher to record it all e.g the playground

Question 5

What are behavioural categories ?

Answer 5

When a target behaviour is broken up into components that are observable and measurable

Question 6

How could a target behaviour of affection be broken down ?

Answer 6

Kissing, hugging, holding hands, smiling etc.

Question 7

What is continuous recording ?

Answer 7

All instances of a target behaviour are recorded

Question 8

What is event sampling ?

Answer 8

A target behaviour or event is first established then the researcher records this every time it occurs

Question 9

What is time sampling ?

Answer 9

A target individual or group is first established then the researcher records their behaviour in a fixed time frame

Question 10

What is inter-observer reliability ?

Answer 10

Used to assess the degree to which different raters/observers give consistent estimates of the same research study

Question 11

Why is inter observer reliability used ?

Answer 11

Single observers may miss important details or may only notice events that conform their hypothesis, this introduces bias.

Question 12

How do you carry out inter observer reliability?

Answer 12

• Observers should familiarise themselves with the behavioural categories
• observe the Same behaviour at the same time
• compare the data they have and discuss any differences in interpretations
• analyse data from the study

Question 13

What are the strengths of structured observations ?

Answer 13

• recording data is easier & more systematic

- quantitative data is easy to analyse and compare

Question 14

What are the weaknesses of a structured observation?

Answer 14

• results aren’t as in depth and detailed
• restricted information about what is happening
• behaviours May be missed

Question 15

What are the strengths of an unstructured observation ?

Answer 15

• qualitative data means it is more in depth and detailed

- unexpected behaviours are included

Question 16

What are the weaknesses of unstructured observation?

Answer 16

• Difficult to analyse
• hard to replicate
• greater risk of observer bias by recording most noticeable behaviours which may be irrelevant information

Question 17

What are the most important things when creating behavioural categories?

Answer 17

• You need to make it as clear and unambiguous as possible
• they must be observable, measurable and self evident
• should ensure that all possible forms of the year get behaviour is included
• categories shouldn’t overlap

Question 18

When should you use event sampling ?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

What is a weakness of time sampling ?

Answer 19

If a specified event is too complex, the observer may overlook important details

Question 20

What is a strength of time sampling ?

Answer 20

It is effective in reducing the number of observations that have to be made

Question 21

What is a weakness of time sampling ?

Answer 21

In instances when behaviour is sampled, it may be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole