Observations Flashcards
what are controlled observations?
- ppts are observed in controlled artificial settings
how are controlled observations carried out?
- observer can control EV and set up tasks to observe the target behaviour
- will usually be structured
what are naturalistic observations?
- ppts observed in natural settings
how are naturalistic observations carried out?
- less likely to control EV so may not see the target behaviour
- unstructured then followed up with structured
what are structured observations?
observations that use a system to observe specific behaviours
how are structured observations carried out
- record specific behaviours using behavioural categories or coding system, sampling procedures and quantitative data
what are unstructured observations?
when you observe everything you see
how are unstructured observations carried out?
recording everything you see within a set period of time, likely to collect qualitative data
what are overt observations?
when ppts know they’re being observed
what are covert observations?
when ppts don’t know they’re being observed
what are participant observations?
when the researcher/observer is part of the observed group
what are non participant observations?
when the observer is away from the observed group
what the conditions of behavioural categories?
- must be operationalised
- must be objective to prevent inferences of behaviour
- cover all possible components/behaviours
- be mutually exclusive (no overlapping)
what is event sampling?
- recording in the table each time a behaviour occurs
- data likely to be collected in a tally
- ‘events’ are the behavioural categories
what is time sampling?
- recording behaviour that occurs at pre-determined time intervals e.g. every 3 mins
- no behaviour is recorded outside these time intervals
what are the strengths of observations?
- high external validity so behaviour can be generalised
- practical methods, can be used on animals, children, and in situations unethical to manipulate
what are the limitations of observations?
- little control over EV so hard to establish C+E
- Amy have practical problems e.g how many ppl u need to observe, interruptions etc
- lack of control means no replication
- observer bias and ethics
what is observer bias?
different observers interpret behaviours differently and some may see what they want to see leading to invalid results
how can we overcome observer bias?
- operationalise categories specifying how acts will be measured, if they weren’t used then suggest using them
what are double blind procedures?
both observer and ppts are unaware of the hypothesis
what’s a pilot study?
practice investigation- used to check categories are fully operationalised and that methods for that study are suitable
how can we check for reliability (consistency)?
use inter-observer reliability: having 2 observers and seeing if they produce similar results
- compare ratings using a scatter graph (>75%=consistent)
