observational design Flashcards
What is unstructured sampling
A type of observation where every instance of a behaviour is recorded in as much detail as possible
- interested in a limited set of behaviours which allows the to quantify the observed behaviours
What is structured sampling
A type of observation where the researcher uses various systems to organise observations
define the term behavioural categories
when a target behaviour is broken up into components that are observable and measurable - operationalised behaviours that the observer is looking for must reflect what is being studied
What is behaviour checklist
What is behaviour checklist
What is event sampling
When the researcher records the number of times a particular behaviour or event occurs in a target individual or group
What is time sampling
When the researcher records behaviour within a pre determined time frame
What is inter-observer reliability
The extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour. If correlation between two observers is more than 0.8 then it has high inter observer reliability
What is quantitive data
Data that can be counted
What is qualitative data
Data that is expressed in words
What is observer bias
When observers expectations affect what they see or hear, reduced validity of observation
why must behavioural categories be operationalised ?
The behaviour categories have to be operationalised to make sure they are specific and the behaviour that is recorded cannot be confused with anything else other than what we are looking for
For example: ‘Aggressive behaviour’ is too vague: What constitutes as aggressive? Is shouting as aggressive as punching?We should create specific categories from this. E.g.: ‘punching’ ‘kicking’ ‘pushing’ These three examples are much more specific and aren’t easily confused with each other, which makes recording and analysing them also much easier
pros of time sampling
- time sampling allows the researcher flexibility to record behaviour and has the opportunity to record unexpected behaviours
cons of time sampling
- it can also mean that observers miss behaviours that do not happen within the set time
- unrepresentative
cons of event sampling
however behaviours that are not on the categories list are not recorded, which means relevant behaviours could be missed over look important behaviours
pros of event sampling
useful when even happens quite infrequently and could be missed if time sampling is used
how to improve inter-observe reliability
- train observers to use your system
- the 2 observers should work independently and use the same behavioural categories
- compare results by doing a correlation analysis
condition a good/ high level of inter-rater reliability, it must pass a threshold of +0.8 or 80% correlation / consistently
pros of structured observations
using quantitive data is a quick and easy method which can be present visually in graphical form and it can show trends and frequencies of behaviour across a large sample which leads to reliable data
- using predetermined categories means that the researcher is not likely to become distracted or unfocused which means that they can ignore any behaviours that do not align with the behavioural categories decided on - relevant to the aim
cons of structured observation
- quantitive data can shed light on what was observed but nit on why that behavioural occurred - lack explanatory power
- using pre-determined categories means that the researcher is unable to include any behaviours which may be interesting and highly relevant to the study which limits the usefulness of the structured observations
pros of unstructured interviews
- allows researcher to gain rich, insightful data full of depth and detail and the recorded data is likely to be highly subjective and personal increasing the ecological validity
- by focusing the unique experiences, opinions and personal journey of a pp is a good method to use when doing a case study - increasing validity
cons of unstructured interviews
- due to highly personal and subjective nature of unstructured observation, the researcher may lose their sense of objectivity and become too close to the pps
- may use confirmation bias and analysing their records and overlook some important detail which makes the findings unreliable due to a lack of objectivity
- analysing data is time-consuming
