Observational Techniques Flashcards
What are participant observations?
Where the observer is part of the group being observed
Advantages of participant observations
Overt, participants can consent as they know they are being observed
Disadvantages of participant observations
Social desirability
Demand characteristics
What is a non participant observation?
The researcher is just watching their participants
Advantages of non participant observations
No demand characteristics
No social desirability
Notes can be taken more openly
Disadvantages of non participant observations
Ethical issues, cannot consent if it is a covert observation
May feel as though their privacy has been invaded
What are unstructured observations?
Records all relevant behaviour but has no system
- there would be too much behaviour to record
- the behaviour recorded will be the most visible/ eye catching behaviour, not see all relevant behaviour
What are structured observations?
Aim to be objective and rigorous
The two main ways are through behavioural categories and sampling procedures
What are behavioural categories?
Where a researcher breaks up the stream of behaviour into different behavioural categories
What are sampling procedures?
Event sampling- counting the number of times a certain behaviour occurs
Time sampling- recording behaviours in a given time frame
Advantages of observations
