Lesson 2 Observational Tecniques

Question 1

What is an observation

Answer 1

An observation is when a researcher watches or listens to participants engaging in whatever behaviour is being studied.

Question 2

What is an non participant observation

Answer 2

This is when the researcher does not get directly involved with the interactions of the participants and does not take part in their activities. For example observing participants in the gym and the psychologist stands around and does not actually engage in any exercise.

Question 3

Advantages of non participant observation

Answer 3

The researcher won’t be able to manipulate the results in any way
Participants Can’t show demand characteristics

Allows researcher to see what goes on with their own eyes - can make judgements and observe body language used
Researcher can be more open minded as they’re an outsider looking in - less likely to feel sympathy and therefore produce bias data
More ethical if done overtly - no ethical issues if people are aware they are being observed

Question 4

Disadvantages of non participant observation

Answer 4

There may be valuable information research may not see

can lead to Hawthorne effect - people act differently as they know they are being observed
May be hard to gain accurate results as watching from a distance
Impression management
Time consuming/costly

Question 5

What is participation observation

Answer 5

This is when the researcher is directly involved with the interactions of the participants and will engage in the activities that the participants are doing e.g. observing participants in the gym and the psychologist actually engages in exercise and uses the gym equipment

Question 6

Advantage of participant observation

Answer 6

You get a close up insight on results, and a better understanding of what is happening, which increases validity

Validity - produces rich qualitative data which shows picture of how people really live. Researcher can see for them selves
Insight - Allows researcher to gain empathy through personal experience . By acting as a member can get insight into their meanings, veiw points, values and problems - gives authentic data
Flexibility - more flexible and allows for an open mind. Researcher can follow up different directions/ideas if something interesting occurs - Whyte - ‘learned answers to questions i wouldn’t have had the sense to ask’
Practical advantages - Access to more suspicious groups as can gain rapport and trust - helpful when studying groups like gangs. Also useful to use where questioning ineffective - Cicourel - study of how police categories juveniles through unconscious assumptions it would be pointless questioning them

Question 7

Disadvantage of participant observation

Answer 7

Could lead to inaccurate or biased data
participants could show demand characteristics

Covert participation observation raises serious ethical difficulties - deceiving people to gain info on them is wrong - or participating in illegal/immoral activity in the course of research
Practical disadvantages - very time consuming - Whytes study took him 4 years to complete, need a trained researcher to recognise specific details, can be very demanding and stressful especially if done covertly
Representatives -small sample sizes as time consuming so hard to generalize from data
Bias - risk of getting to involved and therefore giving bias data, may begin to sympathise with the group so give bias data - Willis giving romanticized view of the lads to show them more positively

Question 8

What is covert observation

Answer 8

The psychologist goes undercover and does not reveal their true identity, they may even give himself or herself a new identity. The group does not know that they are being observed. For example the psychologist introduces themselves as “Jim” (fake name) and does not tell people at the gym that he is really a psychologist and that he is observing their behaviour

Question 9

Advantage of covert observation

Answer 9

High validity as participants will act as they naturally do

An advantage of covert observation is that it should be high in validity, as people are observed in natural surroundings, and – as they are unaware of being observed – the Hawthorne Effect is avoided. However, a disadvantage of covert observation is that it raises a number of ethical concerns.

Question 10

Disadvantage of covert observation

Answer 10

Could be an ethical, because we don’t know if people would want to be recorded or observed, and they haven’t given permission

Could be seen as unethical- lack of consent and trust issues
• If the reporter is uncovered then the whole research could be ruined
• This type of research is hard to sustain over long periods of time
• Recording changes in behaviour/ recording general behaviour is difficult without raising suspicion

Question 11

What is an overt observation

Answer 11

The psychologist reveals their true identity and might also state that they are observing the group. This can mean that observer effects can occur as participants may change their behaviour when they know they are being observed, leading to invalid results. An example might be that a psychologist visits a gym, tells members of the public that they will be observed in the gym by them (the psychologist). Members of the public then become very aware that their behavior is being observed.

Question 12

Advantage of overt observation

Answer 12

The participants have given permission, so you can feel free to make notes and it is ethical

Characteristics of reseracher
Don’t have to fit in with group
Can make notes not rely on memory
Structured observation
Detail
Evidence
No ethical issues
Ask questions
Natural
Positivist Objective
Higher level of reliability

Question 13

Disadvantage of overt observation

Answer 13

The participants know they are being observed, which means they could show demand characteristics

Time consuming
Hawthorne effect
Difficult to repeat
Not always representative

Question 14

What is a naturalistic observation

Answer 14

A researcher observes participants in their own natural environment and there is no deliberate manipulation of the independent variable. An example might be that a psychologist watches people shopping at Westfield’s to see whether they are shopping alone or in a group.

Question 15

Advantages of a naturalistic observation

Answer 15

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. This gives valid results.

2) These studies have high mundane realism as the behaviour that is shown is likely to reflect everyday behaviour. These observations are also high in ecological validity, which means the results can be generalised to other settings and contexts.

3) Naturalistic observations are useful when the deliberate manipulation of variables would be impractical or unethical. For instance if we were to observe children in the playground naturally playing, it might be unethical to deliberately tell a child to be aggressive to another. However, if we saw natural aggression in the playground then this is more ethical as it has not been forced upon the participants.

Question 16

Disadvantages of naturalistic observation

Answer 16

1) It is impossible to have any control over extraneous variables. This means that other variables might be affecting the dependent variable other than the independent variable. This could make results invalid

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

3) There is a risk of observer bias. Due to lack of control the observer might be very subjective and might be very biased when trying to interpret behaviour. These interpretations might be incorrect and could lead to unreliable results (if the observation were to be repeated, the same results would NOT be gained again).

Question 17

What is a controlled observation

Answer 17

A researcher observes participants in a controlled environment and this allows for manipulation of the independent variable. An example might be to watch participants in a laboratory setting and record their behaviour e.g. induce high levels of stress in participants by giving them a very difficult IQ test and then watch their reactions.

Question 18

Advantages of a controlled observation

Answer 18

1) Cause and effect can be determined because the observation is highly controlled. Therefore psychologists can identify whether the independent variable caused a change in the dependent variable.

2) Extraneous variables can be controlled for in this type of observation. Therefore it means the results will be more valid as we can be more certain that the independent variable is having an effect of the dependent variable.

3) Controlled observations are likely to yield qualitative data that is rich and detailed. This also increases the validity of the study as the observation is likely to be accurately measuring the key variables identified in the aim.

Question 19

Disadvantages of controlled observation

Answer 19

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 other settings and contexts.

2) Observer effects can occur as participants usually know they are being observed (overt observation). Therefore participants might show social desirability bias and might behave unnaturally which means the data collected might be invalid.

3) There is a 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 20

What is observer bias

Answer 20

If the observer knows the purpose of the study then they may observe behaviours that they think meet their aims and hypothesis. This can influence how they record the data from the study which might be inaccurate and subjective. Observers need to be reliable, one way to check this is to have two observers who each record their data separately. They then correlate their observations and data together and if a Kappa score of +0.8 is gained then the data gained from each researcher is reliable. This is known as inter-rater reliability.

Question 21

What are behavioural categories

Answer 21

Behavioural categories
These are specific types of behaviour that are being looked for in an observation. For example if we wanted to observe young children playing in the school playground, make a list of some behavioural categories that we might observe:

Question 22

What is event sampling

Answer 22

The observer decides in advance what types of behaviour they are interested in and records all occurrences. All other types of behaviour are ignored. An example might be that we are investigating whether people at a conference drink coffee or not. Every time a participants goes to get a cup of coffee (the event), we would log this information, e.g. make a note of the event and what happened.

Question 23

What is time interval sampling

Answer 23

The observer decides in advance that observation will take place only during specified time periods (e.g. 10 minutes every hour, 1 hour per day) and records the occurrence of the specified behaviour during that period only. For example we might decide we want to observe people at the conference every thirty minutes. So if we start observing at 1pm, we might decide at 1.30pm to count up how many people are drinking coffee. We would do the same at 2pm, 2.30pm etc.

Question 24

What is a pilot study

Answer 24

• A pilot study is a preliminary small scale investigation of the procedures to be used in the main study. It involves selecting a few people and trialing out the study on them. It is possible to save time and money, by identifying any flaws in the procedures or any problems or issues that can be rectified before the main study takes place.
• A pilot study can help the researcher spot any ambiguities (i.e. unusual things) or confusion in the information given to participants or problems with the task devised.
• A pilot study could be useful to establish behavioural categories and check they are suitable. A pilot study could also iron out any practical problems such as where observers should stand or where video cameras should be placed.

Question 25

Advantage of a pilot study

Answer 25

Save some money and time if something goes wrong

One of the advantages of conducting a pilot study is that it might give advance warning about where the main research project could fail, where research protocols may not be followed, or whether proposed methods or instruments are inappropriate or too complicated.

Question 26

Disadvantage of pilot study

Answer 26

If there are only a few people in a sample, then it isnt representative

Pilot studies can often be misleading, if the sample size used is too small. A pilot study with a small sample size is generally not a good prediction for the results and problems that will arise from a very large, full-scale study.