observational design

Question 1

define unstructured observation

Answer 1

• researcher writes everything they see
• appropriate if observations on small scale & involve few participants

Question 2

define structured observation

Answer 2

• simplify target behaviours that will become main focus using behavioural categories

Question 3

describe behavioural categories

Answer 3

• target behaviours broken up into categories
• each must be observable

Question 4

describe sampling methods

Answer 4

• unstructured observations = continuous recording
• structured observations:
  1) event sampling = count number of times certain behaviour occurs in target individual/group
  2) time sampling = record behaviour within pre-established time frame

Question 5

describe inter-observer reliability

Answer 5

• makes data more objective & unbiased
• data from different researchers (2+) compared

Question 6

how to carry out inter-observer reliability

Answer 6

• observers familiarise selves with behavioural categories
• observe same behaviour at same time
• observers compare data they’ve recorded & discuss any differences in interpretations
• finally, observers should analyse data & inter-observer reliability calculated by correlating each pair of observations made & overall figure produced

Question 7

evaluate structured observations

Answer 7

+)
- those that involve behavioural categories make recording data easier & more systematic
- data produced likely numerical = can easily analyse & compare

Question 8

evaluate unstructured observations

Answer 8

+)
- more richness & depth of detail in data

-)
- often produce qualitative data which is harder to analyse & record
- greater risk of observer bias as objective behavioural categories not present

Question 9

evaluate behavioural categories

Answer 9

+)
- makes data collection more structured & objective

behavioural categories should be:
- observable, measurable & self-evident
- ‘dustbin’ category
- exclusive & not overlap

Question 10

evaluate sampling methods

Answer 10

+)
- event sampling is useful if target behaviour happens quite infrequently & could be missed if time sampling was used
- time sampling effective in reducing number of observations needed

-)
- if event too complex, observer may overlook important details if use event sampling
- observations made during time sampling may be unrepresentative of observation as a whole