Observational Design Flashcards
Ways of recording data
Researcher may simply want to write down everything they see-unstructured observation, this tends to produce accounts of behaviour that are rich in detail. Appropriate if observations are small in scale and involve few participants.
If observation is large, researcher may need to simplify target behaviours that become main focus of investigation using behavioural categories.-structured observation.
Behavioural categories
Target behaviours to be studied should be precisely defined and made observable and measurable.
For example behaviour ‘affection’ may be broken down into observational categories such as hugging, kissing, smiling and holding hands. Needs to be observable. All ways affection can be shown should be in the behavioural checklist.
Sampling methods
Continuous recording or behaviour is a key feature of unstructured observations in which all instances of a target behaviour are recorded. With structure observations, the researchers must use a systematic way of sampling their observations.
Event sampling-counting number of times a particular event (behaviour) occurs in a target individual or group.
Time sampling-recording behaviour within a pre-established time frame. For example what someone is doing every 30 seconds. (Using behavioural checklist)
Evaluation-structured vs unstructured
Structure observations make recording data easier and more systematic. Data likely to be numerical, analysing and comparing it is more straightforward.
Unstructured tend to produce qualitative data, more difficult to record and always.
Unstructured benefit from more richness and depth of detail. May be greater risk of observer bias with unstructured. The researcher may only record those behaviours that catch the eye and these may not be the most important or useful.
Evaluation-behavioural categories
Categories must be observable, measurable and self-evident. All forms of target behaviour should be in checklist. Categories should be exclusive and not overlap. For example the difference between smiling and grinning would be difficult to discern.
Evaluation-sampling methods
Event sampling is useful when the target behaviour or event happens quite infrequently and could be missed if time sampling was used. However, if the specified event is too complex, the observer may overlook important details if using event sampling.
Time sampling is effective in reducing the number of observations that have to be made. That said, those instances when behaviour is sampled might be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole.
