Observation

Question 1

What is a naturalistic observation?

Answer 1

Studying behaviour is a natural setting where everything has been left as it is normally

Question 2

What are the advantages or naturalistic observations?

Answer 2

It has high external (ecological) validity
It can be generalised to everyday life
There are few demand characteristics

Question 3

What are the disadvantages of naturalistic experiments?

Answer 3

It is difficult to replicate
There may be a lot of extraneous variables

Question 4

Give a famous example of a naturalistic observation?

Answer 4

Bickman and Bushman’s (Obedience to authority in uniform)

Question 5

What is a controlled observation?

Answer 5

Where the researcher has some measure of control over the environment where the experiment takes place

Question 6

What are the advantages of a controlled observation?

Answer 6

You have better control over extraneous variales
Easy to replicate
Inter-observer reliability - when 2 or more researchers observe separately and compare their results. There should be a 80% consistency

Question 7

What are the disadvantages of controlled observations?

Answer 7

Bad ecological validity
The experiment may be subjective towards what the researcher wants to see

Question 8

Give an example of a famous controlled observation experiment?

Answer 8

Bandura’s bobo doll experiment

Question 9

What is an overt observation?

Answer 9

This is when the participants are aware that they are being observed

Question 10

What are the advantages of an overt observation?

Answer 10

Less ethical issues as participants aren’t being deceived

Question 11

What are the disadvantages of an overt observation?

Answer 11

There may be demand characteristics as they know that they are being observed

Question 12

Give an example of a famous overt observation experiment?

Answer 12

Zimbardo’s SPE

Question 13

What is a covert observation?

Answer 13

When the participants are not aware that they are being observed

Question 14

What are the advantages of a covert observation?

Answer 14

No demand characteristics

Question 15

What are the disadvantages of covert observations?

Answer 15

Ethical issues as they do not know they are being observed

Question 16

Give an example or a famous covert observation?

Answer 16

Bushman and Bickman’s (Obedience to authority in uniforms

Question 17

What is a participant observation?

Answer 17

This is when the observer acts aa part of the group being watched

Question 18

What are the advantages of a participant observation?

Answer 18

The experimenter experienced the situation which could give them valuable insights of the situation (mainly in field experiments)
Decreased validity because you aren’t observing results that represent the true reflection of the population that you are studying

Question 19

What are the disadvantages of a participant observation?

Answer 19

You can loose objectivity
Difficult in recording observations
Ethical issues

Question 20

What is an example of a famous participant observation?

Answer 20

Being sane in insane places

Question 21

What is a non participant observation?

Answer 21

This is when the experimenter doesn’t become part of the group being observed

Question 22

What are the advantages of a non participant observation?

Answer 22

It is more ethical and objective

Question 23

What are the disadvantages of a non participant observation?

Answer 23

You get less insight (mainly not in lab experiments eg in a gang)
You are not experiencing the experiment

Question 24

Give an example of a famous non participant observation?

Answer 24

The strange situation

Question 25

What is a structured observation?

Answer 25

This is when the researcher determines precisely what behaviours are to be observed and uses a standardised checklist to record the frequency with which they are observed within a specific time frame

Question 26

What are the advantages of structured observations?

Answer 26

It is easier to gather relevant data because you know what you are looking for All behaviour is recorded

Question 27

What are the disadvantages of a structured observation?

Answer 27

Interesting behaviours could go unrecorded because they were not pre-defined as importsnt Its not controlled or repeatable

Question 28

Give an example of a famous structured observation?

Answer 28

The strange situation

Question 29

What is an unstructured observation?

Answer 29

This is when the observer recalls all relevant behaviour but has no system

Question 30

What are the advantages of unstructured observations?

Answer 30

Interesting behaviours are less likely to be missed as certain behaviours weren't predefined as important

Question 31

What are the disadvantages or unstructured observations?

Answer 31

It is harder to gather relevant data as you don't know what you are looking for

Question 32

Give an example of a famous unstructured observation?

Answer 32

Zimbardo's SPE

Question 33

What is event sampling?

Answer 33

This is when you are counting the number of times a certain behaviour (or event) occurs in a target individual/s

Question 34

What is time sampling?

Answer 34

This is when you are recording behaviours in a giving time frame

Question 35

What is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 35

Consistency across our behavioural categories observed by 2 separate researchers. For the research to be valid you want to see an agreement rate of 80%

Question 36

What should all observers do? How can this be achieved?

Answer 36

Give consistent results regardless of who administers it. This can be assesed by corrlating the scores that each researcher produces and comparing them (aka inter-rater reliability) There should be a 80% agreement rate at least for research to be valid

Question 37

How would you fully describe an experiment?

Answer 37

(Covert/Overt), (Non participant/Participant),(controlled/Naturalistic) Experiment

Question 38

Define behavioural categories?

Answer 38

Categories defined by the researcher to observe, during the observation

Question 39

Give an example of event sampling?

Answer 39

Being sane in insane places

Question 40

Give an example of a famous experiment where time sampling was used?

Answer 40

The strange situation

Question 41

How can we improve inter rater reliability?

Answer 41

You get multiple people to test it