L2 - Observational Techniques

Question 1

What’s an observation?

Answer 1

When a researcher watches/listens to participant engaging in whatever behaviour is being studied

Question 2

Non participant observation

Answer 2

researcher doesn’t get directly involved with interactions of the participants and doesn’t take part in their activities

Question 3

Non participant observation advantages

Answer 3

Can focus on recording all information
Can focus on activity occurring and can make good quality notes and make sure that all details are recorded and no actions/behaviour are missed

Question 4

Non participant observation disadvantages

Answer 4

• May lack validity as if the researcher isn’t engaging in the activity it may mean that they fail to have a deeper understanding of the behaviour
• Researchers also must not look too out of place so that the participants don’t guess someone is watching

Question 5

Participant observation

Answer 5

When the researcher is directly involved with the interactions of the participants and will engage in the activities that the participants are doing

Question 6

Participant observation advantages

Answer 6

May be more valid then non-participant observations as the researchers are getting involved in the activity and would have a greater understanding of the activities

Question 7

Design of observations

Answer 7

1) Recording data - make written notes. Or, video or audio recordings means that you have a more accurate permanent record
2) Categorising data you must define the behaviours you observe known as behavioural categories. For example, if you are observing aggression in children then you must operationalise (define and state how the variable will be measured) what constitutes as aggression for example physical aggression is punching hitting etc., and verbal aggression is swearing, shouting etc.

Question 8

Participant observation disadvantages

Answer 8

Not fully focused on getting information
May loose objectivity - too subjective/biased as they are too involved with observation which may influence activity/recording of results

Question 9

Covert observation

Answer 9

• Psychologist goes undercover and doesn’t reveal their true identity - may give themselves a new identity
• The group doesn’t know that they are being observed
• can be participant or non-participant

Question 10

Covert observation advantages

Answer 10

That the participants are less likely to show demand characteristics as they don’t know they are being observed making the results more valid - less likely to guess the aim of the study

Question 11

Covert observation disadvantages

Answer 11

There is deception used and it can break ethical guidelines as the participants don’t know they are being observed, there has been no informed consent

Question 12

Overt observation

Answer 12

• Psychologist reveals true identity and may also state that they are observing the group
• can mean that observer effects can occur as participants may change their behaviour when they know they are being observed leading to invalid results

Question 13

Overt observation advantages

Answer 13

No deception has occurred with this, can get fully informed consent and it’s very ethical compared to covert experiments

Question 14

Overt observation disadvantages

Answer 14

More likely to show demand characteristics as they know that they are being observed so they are more likely to guess the aim of the study and change behaviour making the results less valid

Question 15

Naturalistic observation

Answer 15

researcher observes participants in their own natural environment and there is no deliberate manipulation of the IV

Question 16

Naturalistic observation advantages

Answer 16

1) participants are usually unaware that they are being observed (covert observation) so there is a reduced chance of observer effect and participants are likely to act naturally giving valid results

2) have high mundane realism as behaviour shown is likely to reflect everyday behaviour, a,so have high ecological validity - results can be generalised to other settings or contexts

3) are useful when deliberate manipulation of variables would be impractical/unethical e.g. if observing children in playground it would be unethical to tell a child to be aggressive but ethical to study normal agression

Question 17

Naturalistic observation disadvantages

Answer 17

1) impossible to control any EV, means other variables might be affecting the DV other then the IV which could make results invalid

2) problematic to try to determine the cause of a behaviour, especially as there is a high lack of control, so cause and effect can’t truly be determined by naturalistic observations, a more controlled observation would be needed

3) risk of observer bias, due to lack of control the observer may be very subjective & might be very biased when trying to interpret behaviour. These interpretations might be incorrect and could lead to unreliable results

Question 18

Controlled observations

Answer 18

• researchers observe participants in controlled environment, allows for manipulation of the IV
  E.g. in a lab experiment

Question 19

Controlled observation advantages

Answer 19

1) cause and effect can be determined as the observation is highly controlled, so psychologists can identify whether the IV caused a change in the DV

2) EV can be controlled for this type of observation, so it means the results will be more valid as we can be more certain that the IV is having an effect on the DV

3) likely to yield qualitative data that’s rich and detailed, also increases the validity of the study as the observation is likely to be accurately measuring the key variables identified in the aim

Question 20

Controlled observation disadvantages

Answer 20

1) low levels of mundane realism and ecological validity because of the high control in the observation, this is likely to be restrictive and means that the results might not be an accurate reflection of everyday life and might not be able to be generalised to others settings/contexts

2) observer effects can occur as participants usually know they are being observed (overt observation), so participants may show social desirability bias and may behave unnaturally so data collected may be invalid

3) risk of observer bias which means that the researchers own views and opinions can influence the recording of the data which then becomes inaccurate

Question 21

Observer bias

Answer 21

• if observer knows purpose of study then they may observe behaviours that they think meets their aims/hypothesis
• can influence how they record the data which may be inaccurate and subjective
• observers need to be reliable - one way is to have 2 observers - each record data separately then correlate their observations and data together
• if they have a kappa score of +0.8 then they data gained from each researcher is reliable
• known as inter-rater reliability

Question 22

What are behavioural categories?

Answer 22

Specific types of behaviour that are being looked for in an observation

Question 23

Two sampling procedures

Answer 23

• event sampling
• time-interval sampling

Question 24

Event sampling

Answer 24

• observer decides in advance what types of behaviour they are interested in and records all occurrences
• all other types of behaviour are ignored
• there could be human error

Question 25

Time-interval sampling

Answer 25

• observer decides in advance that observation will take place only during specified time periods (e.g. 10 mins every hr or an hr a day)
• record occurrences of specified behaviour during that period only
• however may be certain times where what your measuring is more popular but you may miss it as it’s not within the specified time interval

Question 26

Pilot study

Answer 26

• a pilot study is a preliminary small scale investigation of the procedures to be used in the main study, involves selecting a few people and trialing the study on them
• can save time & money by identifying any flaws that can be rectified before the main study starts
• can also help researcher spot any ambiguities or confusion in the information given to participants or problems with task devised
• can be useful to establish behavioural categories and check they are suitable
• can also fix any practical problems like where observers should stand or where video cameras should be