Observations Flashcards
What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic observations?
Take place in a natural setting where the researcher has no control
STRENGTH:
- High ecological validity as they take place in a natural setting - PPs display natural behaviour thus findings are applicable to real life
WEAKNESS:
- Hard to replicate as there is no control over conditions. Thus researcher can’t establish a standardised procedure that can be repeated to test for reliability
What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of controlled observations?
Are conducted in an artificial setting with some degree of control (aspects of environment are controlled to observe phenomena and reduce EVs)
STRENGTH:
- Replicable - high levels of control allow for standardised procedure which other researchers can repeat to prove reliability
WEAKNESS:
- Low ecological validity as behaviour is based on an artificial setting thus results aren’t applicable to real life
What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of covert observations?
PPs are NOT aware that they are being observed
STRENGTH:
- Deman characteristics won’t occur as PPs don’t know they’re being studied. Thus are likely to show natural behaviour rather than changing to suit/refute the study’s aims. This increases validity
WEAKNESS:
- Ethical issues - PPs aren’t aware they’re being studied so can’t give informed consent thus breaking BPS ethical guidelines
What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of overt observations?
PPs are aware that they’re being observed
STRENGTH:
- More ethical than covert as PPs are able to give informed consent as they know that they’re being studied
WEAKNESS:
- Since PPs are aware that they’re being studied they are likely to change their behaviour (to suit/refute the study’s aims) due to demand characteristics. This decreases the validity
What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of participant observations?
Researcher partakes in the observation alongside PPs
STRENGTHS:
- More depth - better insight as you understand reasons for even subtle interactions and behaviour among PPs thus increasing validity
WEAKNESSES:
- May miss out info when busy taking part in the study leading to invalid data
- As researcher is part of PP groups they may bond with PPs leading to subjective interpretations of behaviour thus decreasing validity
What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of non-participant observations?
Researcher does NOT take part in tasks, just records info without direct participation
STRENGTH:
- Researcher can closely monitor and record PPs behaviour objectively thus producing more valid results than participant observation as researcher is less likely to miss info and have an interpretation skewed by bonds with PPs
WEAKNESS:
- Don’t require in depth insight compared to participant observations as researcher is only watching behaviour and may miss reasons for behaviour
What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of structured observations?
Involve deciding pre-determined behavioural categories and method of recording data before beginning observation. When PP performs behaviour researcher records in categories. Obtains quantitative data which can be numerically analysed.
STRENGTH:
- Quantitative data is easy to analyse and draw objective conclusions
WEAKNESSES:
- Limited depth - only measure number of occurences of behaviour and provides no further info
- If researcher seeks action relevant to target behaviour but has no behaviour category it must be ignored thus reducing validity
What is and are the strengths and weaknesses of unstructured observations?
No specific behaviour categories - researcher simply noted down behaviour in rich detail. Obtains qualitative data.
STRENGTHS:
- More in depth as PPs behaviour is described in detail
- Can record everything relevant as behaviour isn’t restricted by pre-determined categories
WEAKNESS:
- Qualitative data is hard to analyse and conclusions may be subjective
What are behavioural categories?
- Specific actions which help measure a target behaviour in observation
- Target behaviour = general behaviour researcher is interested in
- The target behaviour is operationalised into a set of components
- Good behavioural categories are: objective, easily countable, and specific
How do recording methods vary between structured and unstructured observations?
- In an unstructured observation, continuous observation is used and every detail is recorded
- For a structured observation, once behavioural categories are determined, there are 2 ways to record data: event sampling and time sampling
What is event sampling?
- A list of behaviour categories linked to target behaviour being observed and established prior to study
- Once observation starts, researcher records every time an action relating to the category occurs within PPs
- Researcher continues until observation is complete and have collected quantitative data
What are the advantages and disadvantages of event sampling?
PRO: Don’t miss any occurences of behaviour as PPs are being observed the whole time
CONS:
- Possible to miss behaviour - must be vigilant at all times which is harder for researcher
- Can’t help measure longer ongoing behaviour
What is time sampling?
- Researcher decides duration of observation
- Researcher splits up the whole duration into intervals e.g. 30 secs
- On the stroke of each interval, researcher observes PPs and records any behaviour occuring at that moment relating to their behaviour categories
- Researcher continues until all predetermined intervals are recorded
What are the advantages and disadvantages of time sampling?
PROS:
- Easier than event sampling as researcher only focuses on observations on the interval not the entire observation
- Can help measure ongoing behaviour
CON: If behaviour starts and stops between intervals, it won’t be recorded thus reducing validity
What is inter observer reliability?
- 2 observers are given the same pre-determined behaviour categories
- They independently observe the SAME PPs in the SAME place, at the SAME time, for the SAME duration
- Researcher then conducts a spearmans rho correctional analysis where one variable is the first observers data and the other variable is the second observers data
- If there is a strong positive correlation with a coefficient of 0.8+ the observation is considered to have high inter observer reliability
