Observational Techniques

Question 1

Naturalistic Observation:

Answer 1

Watching and recording behaviour in the setting within which it would normally occur.

Question 2

Controlled observation:

Answer 2

Watching and recording behaviour within a structured environment (one or more variables are controlled)

Question 3

Covert observation:

Answer 3

Participants’ behaviour is watched and recorded without their knowledge or consent.

Question 4

Overt Observation:

Answer 4

Participants’ behaviour is watched and recorded with their knowledge and consent. Have given informed consent.

Question 5

Non-participant observation:

Answer 5

The researcher remains outside of the group whose behaviour he/she is watching and recording.

Question 6

Why is observation used?

Answer 6

1. Non-experimental method.
2. Seeing what people do without having to ask them.
3. They also allow researchers to study observable behaviour within a natural or controlled setting.
4. Can study more complex interactions between variables in a more natural way.

Question 7

More on Naturalistic:

Answer 7

1. Takes place in the setting or context where the target behaviour would normally occur.
2. All aspects of the environment are free to vary.

Question 8

More on Controlled:

Answer 8

1. May be useful to control certain aspects of the research situation.
2. Mary Ainsworth used it in her Strange Situations studies. Recorded the way in which children reacted to their mothers and how they dealt with the introduction of a stranger within a specially designed playroom (recorded data remotely)
3. Control over some variables and the control of extraneous variables.