Observation

Question 1

Participant

Answer 1

• The observer acts as part of the group being watched

Question 2

Participant Evaluation

Answer 2

+ Good vantage point of the behaviours
+ Detailed/qualitative data collected

• Presence of observer may affect behaviour e.g. cause demand characteristics
• Observer bias due to the subjective/biased viewpoint

Question 3

Non-Participant

Answer 3

• The observer doesn’t become part of the group being observed

Question 4

Non-Participant Evaluation

Answer 4

+ The observer viewpoint remains objective

• Lack of detailed/qualitative detail due to not much insight

Question 5

Naturalistic

Answer 5

• Observations occur in a natural setting

Question 6

Naturalistic Evaluation

Answer 6

+ Ecologically valid as natural behaviour is observed

• Extraneous variables may affect the DV due to lack of control

Question 7

Controlled

Answer 7

• Variables are controlled and manipulated by an experimenter

Question 8

Controlled Evaluation

Answer 8

+ Only the IV affects the DV due to the good controls

• Lacks ecological validity due to the artificial setting

Question 9

Structured

Answer 9

• The observer determines the behaviours being observed

Question 10

Structured Evaluation

Answer 10

+ This is objective as a good coding frame is used
+ Quantitative data is easy to gather and present

• Misses out on other key observations

Question 11

Unstructured

Answer 11

• The observer records everything that happens

Question 12

Unstructured Evaluation

Answer 12

+ Qualitative/detailed data is collected

• Difficult to summarise/present data
• Too much to be observed

Question 13

Covert

Answer 13

• Participants are unaware of being observed

Question 14

Covert Evaluation

Answer 14

+ Natural behaviour is observed

- Unethical as consent has not been gained from the participant

Question 15

Overt

Answer 15

• Participants are aware of being observed

Question 16

Overt Evaluation

Answer 16

+ Ethical as consent has been gained from participants

• Unnatural behaviour e.g. social desirability bias

Question 17

Event Sampling

Answer 17

• Behaviour is recorded each time it occurs
• Observation categories/coding frames are used which produce quantitative data that’s easy to compare, summarise, analyse and present
• However it gives a restricted view of what’s happening
• E.g. if too many things happen at once it’ll be hard to record

Question 18

Time Point Sampling

Answer 18

• The observer records what the participant is doing at fixed intervals
• E.g. every five seconds over twenty minutes
• The issue with this is that behaviours may be missed during the time of non-observation

Question 19

Time Event Sampling

Answer 19

• When behaviour is recorded when it occurs during a fixed time set for observation
• E.g. the first 10 minutes of every hour
• Some behaviours may be missed during the time of non-observation

Question 20

Reliability In Observations

Answer 20

• Difficult to replicate observations due to confounding variables
• Consistency can be checked in observations using inter-rater-reliability
• Reliability is improved by using a good coding frame

Question 21

Validity In Observations

Answer 21

• Overt observations and observer bias result in a low validity
• Validity is checked by asking participants through self report
• Validity is improved by using wider categories or single blind techniques

Question 22

Inter-rater-reliability In Observations

Answer 22

• Observers agree beforehand on what will be observed
• A pilot study is carried out to ensure that it works
• Each observer then observes the same thing independently
• At the end of the observation the results are compared
• The greater the level of similarity, the greater the inter-rater-reliability
• This means that the coding frame/scheme is consistent and works the same way as it produces the same results when used by different people