Ch. 4 Observation

Question 1

External validity

Answer 1

the extent to which a study’s findings may be used to describe people, settings, and conditions. the goal is to obtain representative sample of behavior

Question 2

Situation sampling

Answer 2

choose different settings, circumstances, and conditions for observations.

enhances external validity

use subject sampling to observe some people within a situation

Question 3

Time sampling

Answer 3

choose time intervals for making observations; systematic, random

don’t use time sampling for observing behavior during rare events

Question 4

Naturalistic observation

Answer 4

observation in natural (real-world) settings without attempts to intervene or change the situation

Question 5

Participant observation

Answer 5

observer is an active participant in the natural setting they observe (undisguised or disguised)

Question 6

Structured observation

Answer 6

set tup (structure) specific situations in order to observe behavior

Question 7

Field experiment

Answer 7

manipulate independent variable in natural setting and observe behavior

Question 8

Reactivity

Answer 8

when people change their usual behavior because they’re being observed

Question 9

Confederates

Answer 9

assistants to the researcher that help set up a situation by acting without the participants awareness

Question 10

Narrative records

Answer 10

complete reproduction of behavior (video, audio, field notes) - comprehensive record

made during or soon after behavior begins

Question 11

Selected behaviors

Answer 11

checklists, electronic recording; requires decision regarding how to measure behavior (e.g., frequency, duration)

Question 12

What do methods of recording behavior determine?

Answer 12

how results are measured, summarized, analyzed, and reported

Question 13

Nominal

Answer 13

categories, many demographics

ex. gender, eye color, hair color, political preference

Question 14

Ordinal

Answer 14

ranked category

ex. satisfaction, socioeconomic status, degree of pain

Question 15

Interval

Answer 15

clear distance between options, not real “0”

ex. temperature, credit scores, SAT scores

Question 16

Ratio

Answer 16

clear distances between options, real “0”

ex. height, weight, length

Question 17

Qualitative analysis

Answer 17

comprehensive, narrative records, data reduction (abstracting and summarizing behavioral data), choose representative examples

Question 18

Quantitative analysis

Answer 18

selected behaviors, method of data analysis depends on measurement scale used to record behavior

nominal or ordinal: summarize behavior using relative frequency
interval or ration: summarize behavior using central tendency (mean) and variability (standard deviation)

Question 19

Reliability

Answer 19

refers to consistency

ex. do two or more observers agree in their observations?

Question 20

Factors that affect interobserver reliability

Answer 20

characteristics of the observers
- bored, tired, amount of experience, train observers and provide feedback
clearly define events and behaviors to be observed
- provide examples

Question 21

Observer bias

Answer 21

• systematic errors in observation that result from expectations (also called expectancy effects)
• observers often have expectations about behavior
• reduce bias by keeping observers “blind” to aspects of the study: reasons for observations, goals of the study, hypotheses

Question 22

Controlling reactivity

Answer 22

conceal observer (ethics: privacy issues), disguised participant observation (privacy), use indirect (unobtrusive) observation

Question 23

Unobtrusive measures

Answer 23

learn about behavior by looking at evidence of people’s past behavior, not directly observing when the behavior happens

nonreactive: people can’t react to being observed because they’re no longer present

Question 24

Categories of unobtrusive measures

Answer 24

physical (products, used) and archival (running records, fixed records)

Question 25

Physical traces

Answer 25

remnants, fragments, and products of past behavior

products: creations, constructions, or other artifacts of earlier behavior
use traces: evidence that remains from the use (or nonuse) of an item

Question 26

Natural-use traces

Answer 26

produced without any intervention by the investigator

Question 27

Controlled-use traces

Answer 27

produced with some degree of intervention or manipulation from the researcher

Question 28

Archival data

Answer 28

public and private documents of individuals, institutions, governments, and other groups

data from archival records are nonreactive (people’s behavior is observed indirectly)

used to test the external validity of laboratory findings and test hypotheses about past behavior

Question 29

Natural treatments

Answer 29

naturally occurring events that impact society and individuals

ex. drastic changes in stock market (societal), death of a parent (individual)

Question 30

Selective deposit

Answer 30

occurs when some information is selected to be included in archival record, but other information is excluded

Question 31

Selective survival

Answer 31

occurs when information is lost or missing from an archival source