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
