Observational Methods

Question 1

3 contexts and types of observation

Answer 1

lab: fully structured
field: naturalistic
participant: researcher as participant

Question 2

advantages of fully structured observation

Answer 2

systematic

control extraneous variables

Question 3

advantages of naturalistic observation

Answer 3

ecological

less subject to setting

Question 4

disadvantages of naturalistic observation

Answer 4

obtrusive
poorly controlled extraneous variables
recording difficult

Question 5

disadvantages of fully structured observation

Answer 5

lack ecological

ethical issues

Question 6

2 types of observational data sampling

Answer 6

event (one event - set time)

time (snapshots of time over set time) e.g. 5 min every 10 min for an hour

Question 7

3 methods of data recording

Answer 7

note taking
video recording
coding

Question 8

3 types of notes

Answer 8

substantive (description of scene)
methodological (observation)
analytic (analysis/ discussion)