Observational Design

Question 1

What is an observational design?

Answer 1

The choice of the behaviour to record and how they are measured

Question 2

What are behaviour categories?

Answer 2

-Operationlised behaviours that the observer will be looking for
-The researchers will agree on the behaviours that should be recorded, creating these behaviour categories
-The behaviour categories need to be able to reflect what is being studied, and then the researcher would develop codes for behaviours relevant to that

Question 3

What are sampling procedures?

Answer 3

-Can be difficult to observe all behaviour at all times during an observation especially if a continuous observation
-Researchers use a sampling procedure to help this, such as time sampling and event sampling

Question 4

What is time sampling?

Answer 4

The researcher records all behaviours for a set time frame, at a set point.
-The researcher would choose the time sample relevant to the research
-Time sampling allows the researcher flexibility to record behaviour and has the opportunity to record unexpected behaviours
-However, it can also miss behaviours that do not happen within the set time

Question 5

What is event sampling?

Answer 5

-The researcher records/tallies every time a behaviour (from the behaviour categories) happens
-The researcher observes these behaviours on target individuals
-All behaviours that are included in the behaviour categories are on a list then that behaviour will be recorded
-However, behaviours that are not on the categorised list are not recorded, which means relevant behaviours could be missed

Question 6

What is inter-observer reliability?

Answer 6

-level of consistency between 2 or more trained observers when they conduct the same observation
-Inter-observer reliability means it is less like to have observer bias and therefore, can be a valid representation of behaviour
-A high correlation coefficient shows the behavioural categories are reliable

Question 7

What are the steps of inter-observer reliability?

Answer 7

-They must agree on the list of behaviour categories and how they are going to record them before the observation begins
-The observation is conducted separately by each observer
-They then compare the two independent data sets and test the correlation using a statistical test (e.g. Spearman’s Rho)
This produces a correlation coefficient result (e.g., 0.63)
-To be considered a good/high level of inter-rater reliability, it must pass a threshold of +0.8 or 80% consistency