observational design

Question 1

what is meant by behavioural categories in observations ?

Answer 1

refer to the breaking up of target behaviour into components that are observable and measurable

Question 2

why do researchers use behavioural categories in observations ?

Answer 2

in order to produce a structured record of what a researcher sees or hears

Question 3

what are the issues of behavioural categories that the researcher should be aware of ? (3)

Answer 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

Question 4

give examples of target behaviours in ‘affection’

Answer 4

• hugging, kissing, holding hands

Question 5

what must the behaviours be ?

Answer 5

observable

Question 6

why is ‘being loving’ wouldn’t be considered as a observational category ?

Answer 6

as it would be vague and there should be no need for inferences to be made

Question 7

what is the problem for the observational category ‘being loving’ in terms of observers ?

Answer 7

as 2 observers might interpret this differently and thus it would not be reliable

Question 8

what must the researcher ensure that they have before the observation begins ?

Answer 8

included all the ways in which target behaviour may occur within their behavioural checklist

Question 9

what is one of the key influences on the design of any observation ?

Answer 9

how the researcher intends to record their data

Question 10

what is an unstructured observation ?

Answer 10

when the researcher write down everything they see

Question 11

when would unstructured observation be appropriate ?

Answer 11

when observations are small in scale and involve a few participants

Question 12

what is an example of unstructured observation ?

Answer 12

observing interaction between a couple and a therapist within a marriage guidance counselling session

Question 13

if there was too much going on in a single observation what might the researcher consider ?

Answer 13

simplify the target behaviours that will become the main focus of the investigation

Question 14

what is an example of how target behaviours are being simplified ? (3)

Answer 14

• target behaviour = aggression +
  setting = school playground
  -specfic acts = (verbal or physical)

Question 15

what would the target behaviours need to be ?

Answer 15

clearly defined

Question 16

what is structured observations ?

Answer 16

when the researcher uses
various ‘systems’ to organise observations,
such as a sampling technique and behavioural
categories

Question 17

what is continuous reading ?

Answer 17

a key feature of unstructured observations in which all instances of a target behaviour are recorded

Question 18

why wouldn’t continuous recording be appropriate for complex beahviours ?

Answer 18

as complex behaviours involve subjective elements like emotions or intentions ,which is harder to observe and record consistently

Question 19

what does event sampling mean ?

Answer 19

a target behaviour or event is first established then the researcher records this event every time it occurs

Question 20

what is an example of event sampling ?

Answer 20

• at a football match counting the number of times players disagree with the refree

Question 21

what does time sampling mean ?

Answer 21

a target individual or group is first established then the researcher records their behaviour in a fixed time frame

Question 22

what is an example of time sampling ?

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

what is recommended that researcher does with observational studies and why ?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

what should be done to make data more objective and unbiased ?

Answer 24

should be carried out by 2 researchers

Question 25

what must the 2 researchers have similar in ?

Answer 25

consistent in their judgements and that any record is the same or very similar

Question 26

what must observers be trained to establish ?

Answer 26

inter-observer reliability

Question 27

what process would be recommended to researchers observing a study (4)

Answer 27

*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

Question 28

what does structural observation often involve and it makes it easier as.. ?

Answer 28

• 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

Question 29

what does unstructured observation produce and it is ..?

Answer 29

qualitative data
–> which may be more difficult to record and analyse

Question 30

what does unstructured observation benefit from ?

Answer 30

more richness
and depth of detail in the data collected

Question 31

what may there be a greater risk of with unstructured observations and why ?

Answer 31

observer bias
–>as the objective behavioural categories are not present here

Question 32

what may the researcher only record in unstructured observations ?

Answer 32

those behaviours that ‘catch their eye’ and these may not be the
most important or useful

Question 33

what do behavioural categories have features of ?

Answer 33

make data collection more structured and objective

Question 34

what is important that the categories need to be .. and why?

Answer 34

clear and umambigious as possible
–> they must be observable , measurable , self-evident
–> they should not require further interpretation

Question 35

what should researchers also ensure within target behaviours ?

Answer 35

all possible forms of the TB are included in the checklist

Question 36

what must there not be in in BC?

Answer 36

‘dustbin category’
–> which many different behaviours are deposited

Question 37

what should the categories be ?

Answer 37

exclusive and not overlap

Question 38

what is an example of this ?

Answer 38

the difference between ‘smiling’ and ‘grinning’ would be
very difficult to discern

Question 39

when is event sampling useful?

Answer 39

when the target behaviour or event
happens quite infrequently

Question 40

what would happen if the specified event is too complex ?

Answer 40

the
observer may overlook important details if using event sampling

Question 41

what is time sampling effective in ?

Answer 41

reducing the number of observations
that have to be made

Question 42

when behaviour is sampled in time sampling ..?

Answer 42

might be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole