Observation and content analysis Flashcards
What is the main pro of observational research?
1
- What people say they do is different to what they do, diff take on behaviour ^validity
What are behavioural categories?
1
- Objective methods to separate continuous stream of action into components
What are the pros of behavioural categories?
2
- Important info not overlooked (systematic observat)
- Categories tallied, conclusions drawn
What is event sampling?
2
- Draw up a list of behavioural categories
- Tally each time a behaviour occurs
What is time sampling?
2
- Count behaviours at regular intervals
- Take sample at different times of day/month
What are the pros of time/event sampling?
3
- Observations ^manageable by taking a sample
- Event sampling useful when behaviour only happens occasionally
- Time sampling = track time related changes in behaviour
What are the cons of time/event sampling?
2
- Observations >representative if list of events isn’t comprehensive
- Time sampling = some behaviours missed if occurs outside of interval, >validity
What are the stages of content analysis?
5
- Behaviour is seen indirectly (transcribed)
- Themes identified (thematic analysis)
- Behavioural categories (examples of themes)
- Instances in each category tallied
- Trends
What are the pros of content analysis?
2
- Based on what people actually do (^eco validity)
- When sources can be accessed by others, content analysis exactly replicated (^reliability)
What are the cons of content analysis?
2
- Observer bias (reduces objectivity)
- Culture biased as source material is rooted in a culture (categories determined by observers culture)
What are the cons of observational research?
2
- Observer bias (less of what they expect to see)
- Can’t provide info about what people think
What are the cons of behavioural categories?
2
- Categories may not cover all possibilities
- Poor design of categories may >reliability
