observational design Flashcards
what is meant by behavioural categories in observations ?
refer to the breaking up of target behaviour into components that are observable and measurable
why do researchers use behavioural categories in observations ?
in order to produce a structured record of what a researcher sees or hears
what are the issues of behavioural categories that the researcher should be aware of ? (3)
- they must be observable . measurable and self-evident –> should need no further interpretation
- all possible occurrences of the behaviour should be included -no dustbin / miscellaneous category
-categories should be exclusive and should not overlap
give examples of target behaviours in ‘affection’
- hugging, kissing, holding hands
what must the behaviours be ?
observable
why is ‘being loving’ wouldn’t be considered as a observational category ?
as it would be vague and there should be no need for inferences to be made
what is the problem for the observational category ‘being loving’ in terms of observers ?
as 2 observers might interpret this differently and thus it would not be reliable
what must the researcher ensure that they have before the observation begins ?
included all the ways in which target behaviour may occur within their behavioural checklist
what is one of the key influences on the design of any observation ?
how the researcher intends to record their data
what is an unstructured observation ?
when the researcher write down everything they see
when would unstructured observation be appropriate ?
when observations are small in scale and involve a few participants
what is an example of unstructured observation ?
observing interaction between a couple and a therapist within a marriage guidance counselling session
if there was too much going on in a single observation what might the researcher consider ?
simplify the target behaviours that will become the main focus of the investigation
what is an example of how target behaviours are being simplified ? (3)
- target behaviour = aggression +
setting = school playground
-specfic acts = (verbal or physical)
what would the target behaviours need to be ?
clearly defined
what is structured observations ?
when the researcher uses
various ‘systems’ to organise observations,
such as a sampling technique and behavioural
categories
what is continuous reading ?
a key feature of unstructured observations in which all instances of a target behaviour are recorded
why wouldn’t continuous recording be appropriate for complex beahviours ?
as complex behaviours involve subjective elements like emotions or intentions ,which is harder to observe and record consistently
what does event sampling mean ?
a target behaviour or event is first established then the researcher records this event every time it occurs
what is an example of event sampling ?
- at a football match counting the number of times players disagree with the refree
what does time sampling mean ?
a target individual or group is first established then the researcher records their behaviour in a fixed time frame
what is an example of time sampling ?
- in a particular football match we may only be interested in one specific player , so may make a note of what our target individual is doing every 30 secs
what is recommended that researcher does with observational studies and why ?
conduct them alone
- as single observers may miss important details
OR
- may only notice events that confirm their opinions or hypothesis
–> introduces bias into the process
what should be done to make data more objective and unbiased ?
should be carried out by 2 researchers
what must the 2 researchers have similar in ?
consistent in their judgements and that any record is the same or very similar
what must observers be trained to establish ?
inter-observer reliability
what process would be recommended to researchers observing a study (4)
*observers should familiarise themselves with the
behavioural categories to be used.
* they then observe the same behaviour at the same time,
perhaps as part of a small-scale pilot study
* observers should compare the data they have recorded
and discuss any differences in interpretations.
* finally observers should analyse the data from the study.
–>inter-observer reliability is calculated by correlating
each pair of observations made and an overall figure is
produced
what does structural observation often involve and it makes it easier as.. ?
- use of behavioural categories make the recording of data easier and more systematic
–> data produced is likely to be numerical - -> means analysing and comparing the behaviour observed between participants is more straightforward
what does unstructured observation produce and it is ..?
qualitative data
–> which may be more difficult to record and analyse
what does unstructured observation benefit from ?
more richness
and depth of detail in the data collected
what may there be a greater risk of with unstructured observations and why ?
observer bias
–>as the objective behavioural categories are not present here
what may the researcher only record in unstructured observations ?
those behaviours that ‘catch their eye’ and these may not be the
most important or useful
what do behavioural categories have features of ?
make data collection more structured and objective
what is important that the categories need to be .. and why?
clear and umambigious as possible
–> they must be observable , measurable , self-evident
–> they should not require further interpretation
what should researchers also ensure within target behaviours ?
all possible forms of the TB are included in the checklist
what must there not be in in BC?
‘dustbin category’
–> which many different behaviours are deposited
what should the categories be ?
exclusive and not overlap
what is an example of this ?
the difference between ‘smiling’ and ‘grinning’ would be
very difficult to discern
when is event sampling useful?
when the target behaviour or event
happens quite infrequently
what would happen if the specified event is too complex ?
the
observer may overlook important details if using event sampling
what is time sampling effective in ?
reducing the number of observations
that have to be made
when behaviour is sampled in time sampling ..?
might be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole
