observations Flashcards
Component 2
What type of method is an observation?
Non-experimental
Why are observations non-experimental?
- No manipulation of variables
- Not technically an experiment
What are the 8 sub-types of observation?
Naturalistic or controlled environment
Structured or unstructured systems
Participant or non-participant
Overt or covert
What are the positives and negatives of a naturalistic environment observation?
+ High ecological validity
+ Can be generalised to real life as behaviour is studied in a normal environment
- Hard to replicate as there is a low control of variables
What are the positives and negatives of a controlled environment observation?
+ Easier to replicate as the variables are controlled
- Unnatural environment so behaviour is less natural
What are the positives and negatives of a covert observation?
+ Behaviour is more natural
- Less ethical as participants cannot give informed consent
What are the positives and negatives of an overt observation?
+ Ethical as it is possible for participants to give informed consent
- Participants behaviour may change through social desirability bias
What are the positives and negatives of a participant observation?
+ Researcher can get in-depth data as they are close to the participants and so are unlikely to overlook or miss behaviours
- Researchers being part of the group could affect objectivity (conducting research free of bias)
What are the positives and negatives of a non-participant observation?
+ Researchers are more objective as they are not part of the group
- Researcher may miss behaviours or not gain as much information
What are the positives and negatives of a structured observation?
+ Makes the recording of data easier and can replicate
- Important information may be missed if it hasnt been defined as a category
What are the positives and negatives of an unstructured observation?
+ Detailed
- May be too much to record so a greater risk of observer bias as the observer may focus on behaviours that meet the aims
What are the 2 different types of sampling that can be used in an observation?
Time sampling
Event sampling
What is Time sampling?
Design behavioural categories or coding frames of anticipated behaviours (max. 6) and agree on a schedule of when you will observe and for how long each time
What are the positives and negatives of time sampling?
+ Reduces the number of observations being made
- May be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole eg. something happening between the interval
What is Event sampling?
Design behavioural categories or coding frames of anticipated behaviours (max. 6) and tally every time you see an instance of the behaviours on the coding scheme
What are positives and negatives of event sampling?
+ Useful if behaviour doesnt happen often so could be missed in time sampling
- If too many behaviours happen at once, it may be difficult to get everything down
What must behavioural categories be in an observation?
Operationalised into different behaviours
What should behavioural categories be?
Shouldn’t overlap e.g smiling and grinning
Be observable
Be precise
Cover all possible behaviours
What is a problem of having a single observer?
Single observers may miss important details or only notice events that confirm the hypothesis
How do you check for inter-observer reliability?
- Let the observers familiarise themselves with the behavioural categories
- Observe the same behaviours at the same time in a small pilot study
- Compare data and discuss differences
- Conduct observation
- Analyse data and correlate both observations
- High correlation means high inter-observer reliability
What are the issues with validity of observations?
Observer bias
Issues with the coding systems
How can observer bias be reduced?
Having more than one observer
Using double blind technique
How can issues with the coding system be reduced?
Piloting the observation and tweak categories
Compare to similar observations already conducted
