Observations Flashcards
What is an observation? What does this involve not setting up?
Looking at and recording behaviour without interfering with it
Not setting up an independent variable (No attempt to manipulate an independent variable)
What is a naturalistic observation?
Observing in a setting where the behaviour would naturally occur
What are two strengths and two limitations of naturalistic observations?
+ High ecological validity
+ Fewer demand characteristics
- Cannot replicate
- Low control (EVs)
What is a controlled observation?
Observing behaviour in a situation created by a researcher (e.g in a laboratory)
What are two strengths and two limitations of of controlled observations?
+ High control
+ Can be replicated easily
- Demand characteristics
- Low ecological validity
What is a covert observation?
Participants are aware they are being observed and the researcher is not hidden
What is a strength and a limitation of overt observations?
+ Ethical
- Demand characteristics
What is a covert observation?
Participants are unaware that they are being observed and so the researcher is hidden
What is a strength and a limitation of covert observations?
+ No demand characteristics
- Unethical
What is a participant observation?
The researcher becomes part of the group of people being observed
What is a strength and a limitation of participant observations?
+ Better insight/detail so more likely to be accurate
- Researcher bias (Get to know them too well)
What is a non-participant observation?
The researcher does not become part of the group of people being observed
What is a strength and a limitation of non-participant observations
+ No researcher bias
- Lack of insight/details
What is a structured observation?
You know what you are looking for (behaviours) before the observation starts
What is an unstructured observation?
You don’t know what you are looking for before you start
What are behavioural categories? Give an example. How are these scored?
Operationalised/specific elements of a behaviour
Examples= shouting, hugging, hitting
Scored by using tallies every time this behaviour is seen
What is event sampling?
Recording each time a behaviour occurs e.g smiling in a 10-minute period
What are two strengths and two weaknesses of event sampling?
+ Less likely to miss important behaviours as have specified categories before hand
+ Easy to analyse-> researchers can clearly see the total number of behaviours for each event
- Difficult to record everything especially over a large area
- Gives no indication of the amount of time spent on each behaviour category
What is time sampling?
Recording data at some time intervals e.g note down what a particular person does every 5 minutes
What are two strengths and a limitation of time sampling?
+ Can give an indication on the amount of time people are spending on a behaviour so more detailed
+ Good when dealing with large groups
- Only noting at specific times so might miss specific behaviours if they occur at other times outside the intervals
What are two ways to improve an observation?
1) Operationalise the behaviour categories as much as possible
2) Train all observers to the same standard
What is inter-observer reliability? How does inter-observer reliability work in observations? What number is the minimum for high IOR?
How likely researchers agree with each other
Each observer records behaviours independently using the same behavioural grid
They compare using a correlation
Positive correlation = high level of agreement
+ 0.8 is the minimum for high inter observer reliability
