Observational Design Flashcards
What are the ways to record data
- Structured observation
- Unstructured observation
What is a structured observation
- Behavioural categories: in order to produce a structured
record of what a researcher sees/hears, it is first necessary to
break the target behaviour into a set of behavioural categories - target behaviours should be clearly defined and made observable and measurable
How is data recorded in an unstructured observation?
Continuous recording- where all target behaviour is
recorded.
What is time sampling?
What is time sampling At specific time intervals behaviour is recorded. Any behaviour outside these intervals is ignored.
What is event sampling?
Involves counting the number of times a particular behaviour occurs.
What is inter-rater reliability
- Two researchers agree on behavioural categories
- Two researchers conduct same experiment at the same time but record data independently
- Statistical comparison (using Spearman’s Rho)
- If there’s a correlation = high reliability
What is inter-observer reliability
- Two researchers agree on behavioural categories
- Two researchers conduct same experiment at the same time but record data independently
- They come together at the end of observations compare results
4.They then test the correlation between the two sets - If there is a strong positive correlation between the sets then this shows that there is good inter-observer reliability and that the behaviour categories are reliable
What is a strength of unstructured observation
More richness and depth of detail
What is a weakness of unstructured observation
- Produces qualitative data which is more difficult to record & analyse.
- Greater risk of observer bias e.g. only record ‘catch the eye’ behaviours.
What are the strengths of structured observation
- Easier as is more systematic.
- Quantitative data is collected which is easy to analyse and compare with other data.
- There is less risk of observer bias.
What is a weakness of structured interview?
- Not much depth of detail.
- Difficult to achieve high inter observer reliability as filling the predetermined lists in is subjective.
What is a strength of time sampling
It reduces the number of observations that has to made so it is less time consuming.
What a weakness of time sampling
The small amount of data that you collect within that time frame ends up being unrepresentative of the observation as a whole.
What is a strength of event sampling
It is good for infrequent behaviours that are likely to be missed if time sampling was used.
What is a weakness of event sampling
- If complex behaviour is being observed, important details of the behaviour may be overlooked by the observer.
- If the behaviour is very frequent, there could be counting errors.
- It is difficult to judge the beginning and ending of a behaviour.
