Observations

Question 1

what is a non-participant observation?

Answer 1

involve a researcher observing a group of participants from a distance.

Question 2

what is an advantage of non-participant observations?

Answer 2

less likely to show demand characteristics as the participants are unaware that they are being watched.

Question 3

What is a participant observation?

Answer 3

the researcher becomes part of the group they are observing by deceiving the participants and pretending to be part of their group.

Question 4

what is an advantage of participant observations?

Answer 4

usually covers and so the participants are unaware that they are being watched so behavior will not be changed and therefore less likely to show demand characteristics, so results will be high in ecological validity.

Question 5

What is an ethical issue about participant observations?

Answer 5

participants are deceived about the researchers real identity and is also invading their privacy. They are also time consuming and difficult to achieve as participant my become suspicious and the researcher may lose objectivity and subjective if they develop a relationship and empathy with the people they are observing

Question 6

what is an advantage of observations?

Answer 6

researchers get to see how participants actually behave rather than how they say they behave, so results are more likely to be ecologically valid. They are also less likely to so demand characteristics.

Question 7

What is a disadvantage of observations?

Answer 7

observing participants in there natur environment means there is little to no control over extraneous variables therefore causality is not realy possible to infer. They are also highly difficult to replicate to check the reliability of the results. There may also be observer bias over interpretations of participants behaviour and therefore could be subjective and so invalid.

Question 8

what is a naturalistic observation.

Answer 8

one which takes place in the participants natural environment where nothing has been manipulated by the researcher.

Question 9

what is a controlled observation?

Answer 9

one which takes place in a laboratory, controlled room, where certain variables can be manipulated such as who enters the room,lighting and which apparatus are used.

Question 10

what is an advantage of naturalistic observations?

Answer 10

The observation occurs in the participants natural environment so it it less likely that they will show demand characteristics

Question 11

What is a disadvantage of naturalistic observations?

Answer 11

Researchers have little to no control over extraneous variables so they cannot infer causality

Question 12

what is an advantage of controlled observations?

Answer 12

high levels of control

Question 13

what is a weakness of controlled observations?

Answer 13

high levels of controls reduces ecological validity therefore results are less likely to be valid.

Question 14

What are structured observations?

Answer 14

observers observe and record participants behaviours by checking off or coding behaviours seen on a predetermined list, known on a coding scheme.

Question 15

What is an advantage of structured observations?

Answer 15

data collected is easier to analyse and therefore compare participants behaviour due to quantitative data. Researcher bias is also less likely due to its objective nature.

Question 16

what is a disadvantage of structure observations?

Answer 16

results does not allow the reasons for behaviour therefore observer bias is more likely during observations why a participant is behaving in a certain way, invalidating the results.

Question 17

what is a unstructured observation?

Answer 17

observers observe and record participants behaviours by writing it all down during the whole observation period, generally gathering qualitative data as it is indepth and descriptive.

Question 18

what is an advantage of unstructured observations?

Answer 18

it is easier to gain insight and find reasons for the behaviour observed that are perhaps more valid due to the qualitative.

Question 19

what is a disadvantage of unstructured observations.

Answer 19

This data is difficult to analyse and compare with other participants, as researchdr bias when interpretating behavior could occur invalidating results.

Question 20

what is time sampling?

Answer 20

observers pick a time interval such as every 15 seconds, and then only record the behaviours which occur at that time interval across the whole observation period.

Question 21

why is time sampling affective?

Answer 21

observers only have to pay attention to behaviours occurring during that time interval, so they are less likely to miss behaviours and resulta are more likely to be representative and valid.

Question 22

what is a disadvantage of time sampling?

Answer 22

If any behaviour happens outside of the time interval it cannot be recorded and so the results are less likely to be representative of all behaviours and so are less likely to be valid in comparison to recording the whole observation.

Question 23

what is event sampling?

Answer 23

observers create a coding scheme of behaviours they expect to see and each behaviour, an event, which is noted down as a tally.

Question 24

why is event sampling affective?

Answer 24

observers only have to pat attention to the event list and so it is quick and efficient doing so, more likely to be valid and less likely to miss behaviours.

Question 25

what is a disadvantage of event sampling?

Answer 25

behaviours could occur outside of the coding scheme and so cannot be recorded and results may not be representative of all behaviours that could and so are not valid.

Question 26

define observer bias

Answer 26

observer bias is when observers are influenced by what they expect to see and therefore subjectively record the behaviour of the participants

Question 27

define inter rate reliability

Answer 27

the extent to which rating of two or more observers are in agreement in their measurements when compared.

Question 28

Exain what is meant by a covert observation?

Answer 28

A covert observation means that participants are being observed without knowing that they are being , so participants are unaware of the observation.