OBSERVATIONS

Question 1

What is the difference between a participation and non-participation study?

Answer 1

Participant observation is when the researcher is a member of the group

Non-participant observation is when the researcher acts as a bystander

Question 2

What is overt research?

Answer 2

when individuals have full knowledge they are being observed

Question 3

What is covert research?

Answer 3

when individuals are unaware they are being observed, no consent is given and the identity of the researcher is kept secret

Question 4

What are the advantages of Covert research?

Answer 4

no ‘observer effect’
behaviour is more natural and less staged
more natural data to be observed
more insightful data concluded

Question 5

What are the disadvantages of Covert research?

Answer 5

must gather acceptance from participants
research can be sometimes dangerous if cover is blown
Ethically wrong to ‘spy’ could lead to prosecution if breaks the law

Question 6

What are the advantages of Overt research?

Answer 6

Honesty, no one is being deceived

Compliance as a result of research

Question 7

What are the disadvantages of Overt research?

Answer 7

May not be trusted by members of the group?

Question 8

What are the advantages of Observations?

Answer 8

Naturalistic approach
data tends to be high in validity (1st hand research method)
opportunity to study behaviours/interactions between different individuals
ability to generate further hypothesis

Question 9

What are the disadvantages of Observations?

Answer 9

Ethical concerns, needs to be justified in BSA’s code
‘Observer effect’ - presence of observer could influence behaviour as a group
Some small scale observations are not generable, this means the data could have limited value
Time consuming
practically it is difficult to record observations (memory is problematic but microphones and cameras are intrusive)
Low in reliability, hard to replicate