Observations

Question 1

what is an ethological observation

Answer 1

records behaviour impartially and in detail with no evaluation

Question 2

what is an ethnographic observation

Answer 2

describes behaviour in such as way as to resemble the original cultural reality for the individual

Question 3

what is a systematic observation

Answer 3

describes behaviour with an emphasis

Question 4

whats an eg of ethological

Answer 4

Lorenz - squirell monkeys on a capybara - obvs of interspecies interaction

Question 5

whats an eg of ethnographic

Answer 5

Malinowski, Peter Marsh - direct first hand observation of daily behaviour - can include participant observation

Question 6

how are systematic observations carried out

Answer 6

the researcher defines the categories of beh to be observed and defines the rules for recording behaviour

Question 7

whats an eg of systematic

Answer 7

discovery of local beliefs and perceptions

Question 8

how are ethnographic observations carried out

Answer 8

conversations with different levels of formality
the genaelogical method - a set of procedures by which ethnographers discover and record connections of kinship, descent and marriage using diagrams and symbold

Question 9

whats a causal observation

Answer 9

observing with an open mind/ “first impressions”

Question 10

whats a participant observation

Answer 10

allows access to attitudes and feelings as well as behaviours but is not at all objective

Question 11

whats a formal observation

Answer 11

planned and systemic application of a system of procedures for conducting observations or gathering data

Question 12

what do formal observations normally inovolve

Answer 12

unintrusive observer who counts or rates behaviours or events

Question 13

what are causal/ ad lib observations

Answer 13

• informal and unstructured
• starting point for developing a research question or a way to systematically record something of interest
• answers casual “whats happening?” questions

Question 14

what are the advantages of ad lib sampling

Answer 14

• useful for hypothesis generation

* allows the observer to generate an account of the behaviour that is likely to be meaningful to the lay person

Question 15

what are the disadvantages of ad lib sampling

Answer 15

likely to be an over-interpretation of events and to produce reliability problems

Question 16

what is systematic observations driven by

Answer 16

the need for replicahility

Question 17

what must happen to the data in a systematic observation

Answer 17

it must be reduced so it can be analysed

Question 18

what must a systematic observer decide

Answer 18

• what and who?
• how long?
• behaviour of interest?
• how to code?

Question 19

how should systematic observations be coded

Answer 19

must be mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories

Question 20

what do mutually a exclusive and exhaustive categories of behaviour require

Answer 20

• that only one code can be associated with a particular event
• that there is a code for every event

Question 21

what needs to be decided in advance

Answer 21

full definitions of the behaviours to be observed

Question 22

all definitions of behaviours need to be

Answer 22

• clear
• complete
• unambiguous
• refer to observable characteristics

Question 23

whats the first recording rule about

Answer 23

how to record the behaviours you have defined

Question 24

whats continuous recording

Answer 24

all coded behaviours as they happen with recording of onset and offset time

Question 25

advantages of continuous recording

Answer 25

comprehensive

Question 26

disadvantages of continuous recording

Answer 26

time consuming

Question 27

whats the second recording rule

Answer 27

time sampling

Question 28

what are the 2 types of time sampling

Answer 28

• instantaneous or ‘point’ sampling

* one-zero sampling

Question 29

whats point sampling

Answer 29

whats happening at a particular instant eg every 10 secs

Question 30

whats one-zero sampling

Answer 30

occurrence/non-occurrence of beh in a defined time period

Question 31

advantages of point sampling

Answer 31

simple to carry out if categories are mutually exclusive and exhaustive
*depending on the beh studied - increasing the gap between sampling points may have little effect on accuracy

Question 32

disadvantages of point sampling

Answer 32

depending on spacing of points and nature of beh under study, this could produce highly representative or highly unrepresentative descriptions of behaviour - can make assessing time spent in a beh difficult

Question 33

disadvantages of one-zero sampling

Answer 33

increasing the duration of the selection time period may have a major effect on accuracy

Question 34

advantages of one-zero sampling

Answer 34

method can provide richer description of behaviour than point sampling