Observations Flashcards
What is Participant Observation?
The observer acts as a part of the group being watched
Strengths of Participant Observation…
-Get better understanding being around them (increases reliability
Weaknesses of Participant Observation…
- Miss things happening with other participants elsewhere
- Might influence participants in group and be bias( decreases reliability/validity)
What is Non-Participant Observation?
The observer doesn’t become part of the group being watched
Strengths of Non-Participant Observation…
- Less observer bias as they’re not a part of the group(High validity)
- Able to observe everybody and not miss behaviour happening
Weaknesses of Non-Participant Observation…
-Wont fully understand as they’re not in the group(decreases reliability)
What is a Naturalistic Observation?
Observation that takes place in natural/ real setting
Strengths of Naturalistic Observation
-Higher Ecological Validity- showing real behaviour
Weaknesses of Naturalistic Observation
-Lots of confounding variables could happen( weather, uncoded behaviour)
What is a Controlled Observation?
Observation that takes place where some variables are controlled and manipulated
Strengths of Controlled Observation…
-Can control variables to prevent them from becoming confounding and affecting the results
Weaknesses of Controlled Observation…
-Lower Ecological Validity- behaviour is in a controlled environment
What is a Structured Observation?
Determine the behaviours to be observed and sampling to be used
Strengths of a Structured Observation…
- Compare with others to increase reliability
- Can agree on specific behaviour types to tick right ones (increases validity)
Weaknesses of a Structured Observation…
-Unanticipated behaviour might happen- can’t record it- (lose validity)
What is an Unstructured Observation?
Observer records everything that happens with no preconception
Strengths of Unstructured Observation…
-Records all behaviour (increases validity)
Weaknesses of Unstructured Observation…
- Qualitative data- hard to compare
- Might miss something if observing everything (impacts validity)
What is Overt ?
Open, people know they’re being observed
Strengths of Overt …
- More ethical (informed consent)
Weaknesses of Overt…
- Might show demand characteristics (impacts validity)
- Social Desirability Bias- want to be seen positively (validity)
What is Covert?
People don’t know they’re being observed
Strengths of Covert…
- More Ecological Validity- true behaviour as they’re unaware of observer
Weaknesses of Covert…
-Less Ethical no informed consent
What is Time Sampling?
Observations recorded at fixed time intervals and coded
What is Event Sampling?
Keep a tally chart of each time a type of behaviour occurs- constantly observing for specific behaviours
What is Time Event Sampling?
Combined Time and Event Sampling- Still observing at specific times but with a tick list of the behaviours.
Why are Behavioural Categories needed in structured observations?
So that what is going to be observed and how its going to be observed is decided before
What is a Coding Frame?
- List different behaviours as different categories or codes
- Allows other information to also be recorded quickly such as the severity and duration of the incident or who was involved
Why do Observations lack reliability?
Something would be different each time you observe (confounding variables)
How can you check consistency within observations?
-Use Inter-Rater Reliability by repeating the observation with a different observer, you should get the same results.
How can you improve reliability?
- Use a good coding scheme
- Use wider categories
- Single blind technique
- Check validity by asking participants
How can you use Inter- Rater Reliability within an Observation?
- Agree beforehand what will be observed
- Carry out a pilot study to ensure it works
- Each observer then observes the same things independently
- Results compared at the end
- Greater level of similarity= greater inter rater reliability
- This means your coding system is consistent- works the same way and produces the same results when used by different people
