Non experimental- Observations Flashcards
What is the difference in a naturalistic observation in comparison to a controlled observation?
Naturalistic- researcher studies behaviour in its real life or natural setting without intervention or control from the researcher
Controlled-Observation occurs in a carefully controlled and structured environment
What is Participant in comparison to non participant?
Participant- Observer goes undercover and joins group they’re observing-become part of research
Non-participant- Observer remains separate from those they’re studying and observe in a more objective way
What is covert in comparison to overt?
Covert- Participant doesn’t know they’re being observed
Overt- Participant knows they’re being observed and have given informed consent prior the observation
Whats one strength and one limitation of Naturalistic
S- High external validity-gives a better insight to real life behaviour
L-Hard to be replicable as there was lots of extraneous variables
Whats one strength and one limitation of controlled observation
S-More control over what’s being observed and its replicable as high control for extraneous variables
L-Low external validity, doesn’t apply to real life as its highly controlled
Whats one strength and limitation of a covert observation
S-avoids demand characteristics
L-Ethical issues, observing ppt without their informed consent
Whats one strength and limitation of an overt observation=
S- More ethical as the ppt know they’re b wing observed and have given informed consent prior to observation
L-More demand characteristics as they’re aware they’re being observed
Whats 1 strength and limitation for Participant observations
S- Allows the researcher to gather in depth infomation which increases external validity
L-Ethical issues, there’s an invasion of privacy on the participants life
Whats 1 strength and limitation for non-participant observations?
S-Avoids ethical issues of being involved in the participants life
L-Can’t demonstrate a casual relationship
What is one limitation that can be applied for all limitations?
Can’t demonstrate a cause and effect relationship
Why can’t cause and effect be established in observations?
Because there’s no manipulation of the IV so we can’t measure if any effect on the DV was caused by manipulated by the IV
What are behavioural categories?
When a target behaviour is broken down into components that are observable and measure able
What is event sampling?
Counting a number of times that a particular behaviour occurs
What’s is it good to use event sampling?
When the behaviour occurs infrequently as it may be missed in time sampling
What’s a limitation of event sampling?
Important details may be overlooked during more complex observations
What is time sampling?
Recording behaviour with pre-determines time frame, we record what behaviour is occuring every Nth time
When is it good to use time sampling?
When your reducing the number of observations to be made
Whats a limitation of using time sampling ?
The behaviour sample may be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole is the behaviour isn’t performed within the time frame
What is meant by inter observer reliability?
the degree of agreement between different people observing the same thing
How do researchers assess for inter-observer reliability
By using at least 2 observers who use same behavioural categories and who independently rate observations
How can the reliability of an observation be improved?
-each observer independently rates observation
-correlate findings on a scatter graph
-the observation is reliable if the level of agreement is 80% or above
