observational techniques Flashcards
observation
provide psychologists a way of seeing what people do without having to ask them in self report methods
allow researchers to study observable behaviour in a natural or controlled setting
allows a researcher the flexibility to study more complex interactions between variables
strength of all observations
able to capture what people actually of which may include unexpected behaviour
people often do not act the sae as they say they would
so observational methods are useful because they give special insight into behaviour
limitation of all observations
observer bias
observes interpretation of a situation may be affected by their expectations
can be reduced by using more than one observer
naturalistic observations
take place in the setting or context where the tarter get behaviour would usually occur
all aspects of the environments are free to vary
much better to study interaction in a naturalistic observation
strenght of naturalistic observation
high external validity as findings can often be generalised into everyday life
this is because behaviour is studied within the environment that it would usual occur
limitation of naturalistic observations
lack of control over research situations makes replication of the investigation difficult
may also be many uncontrolled confounding and extraneous variables that make it difficult to establish cause and effect
controlled observations
control certain aspects of the research situation
some control over variables including manipulating variables to observe effects
also control of confounding and extraneous variables
strength of controlled observation
confndning anf extraneous variables may be less og a factor so replication of observation becomes easier
limitation of controlled observations
may produce findings that cannot be applied to everyday life due to the artificial environment created
covert observation
particpants are unaware they are th focus of study and their behaviour is observed in secret
such behaviour must be pub;of when it is being observed to be ethical
limitation of covert observation
ethics are questioned
even though it is public people may not want their behaviour to be recordered
strenght og covert observation
particpants don’t know that they’re being watched
removes the problem of demand characteristics and ensures that any behaviour observed will be natural
increases internal validity
overt observations
know their behaviour is being observed and have given their informed consent beforehand
strenght of overt
more ethically acceptable as there is knowledge that they are being observed so that means they can give informed consent to the study
limitation of overt
due to the particpants knowing that hey are being observed this could significantly influence their behaviour and they could respond to demand characteristics
decreases internal validity