Observational technique

Question 1

What is an observation

Answer 1

Researchers observe behaviour in a certain situation(more natural than an experiment)

Question 2

What is a naturalistic observation

Answer 2

Behaviour is studied in 100% natural setting

Question 3

What is a controlled observation

Answer 3

Some variables are regulated by the researcher

Question 4

What is an overt observation

Answer 4

Participants know they are being observed (can be controlled or naturalistic)

Question 5

What is a covert observation

Answer 5

Participants don’t know they are being observed (can be naturalistic or controlled)

Question 6

What is a participant observation

Answer 6

Observer takes part in study (can be overt or covert)

Question 7

What is a non participant observation

Answer 7

Observer just watches

Question 8

Advantages/disadvantages of naturalistic observation

Answer 8

Advantages:
High ecological validity

Disadvantages:
Extraneous variables
Less reliable - not standardised

Question 9

Advantages/disadvantages of controlled observation

Answer 9

Advantages:
Less extraneous variables
Reliable - Standardised

Disadvantages:
Low ecological validity

Question 10

Advantages/disadvantages of overt observation

Answer 10

Advantages:
No ethical issues

Disadvantages:
Demand characteristics
Investigator effects

Question 11

Advantages/disadvantages of covert observations

Answer 11

Advantages:
High internal validity due to less demand characteristics and investigator effects

Disadvantages:
Ethical issues

Question 12

Advantages/disadvantages of participant observations

Answer 12

Advantages:
Qualitative data

Disadvantages:
Demand characteristics when overt
No informed consent when covert

Question 13

Advantages/disadvantages of non participant observations

Answer 13

Advantages:
Less investigator effects and demand characteristics

Disadvantages:
Missed behaviours leads to less understanding

Question 14

What do behavioural categories do

Answer 14

Makes data collection objective

Question 15

What are structured observations/Advantages and disadvantages

Answer 15

Researcher uses behavioural categories to look for specific behaviours and records them in a tally

Advantages:
Quantitative data is easy to analyse

Disadvantages:
Less detailed

Question 16

What are unstructured observations/advantages and disadvantages

Answer 16

All behaviour is recorded through any method

Advantages:
Detailed qualitative data

Disadvantages:
Difficult to analyse

Question 17

What is time sampling/advantages and disadvantages

Answer 17

Behaviour is recorded using a time frame e.g. every 10 seconds

Advantages:
Reduces number of observations needed

Disadvantages:
Can be unrepresentative

Question 18

What is event sampling/advantages and disadvantages

Answer 18

Count number of times an event happens

Advantages:
Event could be missed with time sampling

Disadvantages:
If event is too complicated, details could be missed

Question 19

What is inter observer reliability

Answer 19

1 observer may miss details leading to observer bias

2 observers are used to prevent this/confirm data

Question 20

How do you calculate inter observer reliability

Answer 20

Both observers agree on behavioural categories beforehand(give example)
Observations occur separately
Observers return to each other and compare results
Consistency/agreement of both observers data must be 80% or above