Observations & Animal Studies Flashcards
Describe structured observation
A task or situation is saved for the pp to do, including apparatus to aid the behaviour being observed.
Often the behaviour to he observed is carried out in an artificial setting.
A structure for the observation is laid down through observation schedule.
Describe naturalistic observations
This is when the observation takes place in the pps natural setting.
There is no manipulation of the environment or variables from the researcher.
Describe participant observation
When the observer becomes a part of the situation by participating in what is going on around them, making them a participant in the observation.
Describe non participant observation
When the observer is not part of the situation, and observed what is going on from an outsiders point of view/ at a distance.
Describe covert observations
Pps do not know they are being observed, it is kept a secret.
Describe overt observations
Pps know they are being observed.
What practical considerations need to be taken when recording data from observations?
Operationalisation of behaviours, particular behaviours have to be selected and operationalised to ensure consistency.
Inter rater reliability, two or more observes make observational judgments and their two sets f dats are compared to see if the judgements are consistent.
What practical considerations need to be taken when recording and analysing qualitative data from observations?
The data must produce in depth accounts of specific events, behaviours etc.
Time sampling can be used eg during a one hour observation researchers only record behaviours for a particular period of time.
When analysing the data thematic analysis is carried out so key themes are established.
What practical considerations need to be taken when recording amd analysing quantative data from observations?
When recording the data, the simplest method is use a tally chart of the frequency of behaviours shown. Categories of behaviour need to be agreed before by all observers.
Time sampling can be used, observer would make a tally mark every minute.
Event sampling when the researchers only record specific events.
When analysing the data the observers look at which behaviours occur the most in different situations.
What ethical considerations are there for observations?
Informed consent, important that naturalistic observations without consent take place where people expect to be on public display.
Privacy location issues, when doing observations in privately owned places permission must be sought.
Describe content analysis
A primary method that largely gathers quanta tube data from sources that already exist.
The content is from articles, books, media sources, of auditory or visual information.
Categories or behaviours are coded and counted using a talking system to how often they appear.
Operationalisation takes place place o ensure the categories are clear and understood so wrong conclusions are not drawn.
State one strength and one weakness of structured observations
👍They have good controls as the behaviour being measured is controlled in an artificial and structured setting. Extraneous variables that might alter behaviour of the pp are controlled or eliminated.
👎They have low ecological validity as the setting and task are staged so natural behaviour is not measured in a realistic way. This limits generalisability of the research method to real life situations.
State one strength and one weakness of naturalistic observations
👍High in ecological validity as they take place in a natural setting and observe naturally occurring behaviour. This makes ten a true representation of pps real behaviour and one can generalise easily from the observation to real life.
👎Hard to gain control over variables as they take place in the pps natural environment ad not all extraneous variables can be controlled for. This makes them lack reliability as they are harder to replicate and gain consistent results.
State one strength and one weakness of content analysis
👍Reliability is high as other people can repeat the content analysis using the same themes an categories. It is also possible to have more than one person doing the content analysis to check for inter rater reliability.
👎It is subjective as the choice of the categories and the definitions are decided by the researcher. Not everyone may agree whether something could be considered to fit within a category making the researcher less scientific and reliable.
Describe animal lab experiments
Has a IV that is manipulated to measure the effect on a DV.
They are well controlled, ensuring the environment, duration of study, gender and type of animal are all under control of the experimenter.
They use an experimental group and control group for comparison purposes.
Using animals means others fact not normally considered when using humans need to e planned for such as preparing appropriate housing, food, and care routines.
