observations, content+meta analysis

Question 1

naturalistic observation

Answer 1

watching and recording behaviour in the setting in which it would occur. All aspects of the environment are free to vary

Question 2

controlled observation

Answer 2

watching and recording behaviour within a structured environment where the variables are managed

Question 3

overt observations

Answer 3

participants’ behaviour is watched and recorded, by a clearly visible researcher, with their knowledge and consent

Question 4

covert observations

Answer 4

participants’ behaviour is watched and recorded, by a not clearly visible researcher, without their knowledge and consent

Question 5

participant observation

Answer 5

the researcher becomes a member of the group whose behaviour they are watching and recording

Question 6

non-participant observation

Answer 6

the researcher remains outside of the group whose behaviour they are watching and recording

Question 7

structured observation

Answer 7

researcher simplifies the target behaviours that will become the main focus of the investigation because there is too much going on in a single observation for the researcher to record it all

Question 8

unstructured observation

Answer 8

researcher writes down everything they see

Question 9

behavioural categories

Answer 9

when a target behaviour is broken up into components that are observable and measurable (operationalisation)

Question 10

sampling methods

Answer 10

the way in which the researcher records behaviours

Question 11

continuous sampling

Answer 11

continuous recording of behaviour is a feature of unstructured observations in which all instances of a target behaviour are recorded

Question 12

time sampling

Answer 12

a target individual or group is first established then the researcher records their behaviour in a fixed time frame (e.g. 60s)

Question 13

event sampling

Answer 13

a target behaviour or event is first established then the researcher records the event every time it occurs

Question 14

naturalistic observation strengths/weaknesses

Answer 14

strengths
- high external validity as findings can be generalised
weaknesses
- lack of control over research situation makes replication difficult
- uncontrolled CVs and EVs make it difficult to judge any behaviour pattern

Question 15

controlled observations strengths/weaknesses

Answer 15

strengths
- CVs/EVs may be less of a factor so replication becomes easier
weaknesses
- findings cannot be readily applied to every day life

Question 16

overt observations strengths/weaknesses

Answer 16

strengths
- more ethically acceptable than covert observations
weaknesses
- knowledge that they are being observed may act as a significant influence on their behaviour

Question 17

covert observations strengths/weaknesses

Answer 17

strengths
- removes demand characteristics
- ensures that any behaviour observed is natural
- increased internal validity of data
weaknesses
- ethics are questioned as people may not wish for their behaviours to be written down

Question 18

participant observation strengths/weaknesses

Answer 18

strengths
- researcher can experience the participants’ situation, giving increased insight into their lives which increases external validity
weaknesses
- danger that the researcher may come to identify too strongly with those they are studying and lose objectivity

Question 19

non-participant observation strengths/weaknesses

Answer 19

strengths
- researcher maintains objective psychological distance from their participants so less danger of adopting their lifestyle
weaknesses
- may lose valuable insight to be gained in a participant observation as they are too far removed from the people they are studying

Question 20

structured observation strengths/weaknesses

Answer 20

strengths
- recording data is easier and more systematic
- data produced is likely to be numerical so analysing and comparing behaviour observed is easier
weaknesses
- data is not in depth so important details may be missed
- gives restricted views of what is actually happening

Question 21

unstructured observation strengths/weaknesses

Answer 21

strengths
- more richness and depth in the data collected
weaknesses
- data produced is qualitative which may be more difficult to record and analyse
- greater risk of observer bias

Question 22

what is inter-rater reliability

Answer 22

• 2 observers create behavioural categories separately
• they get together and compare categories
• they can only use the ones they agree on
• they do the whole observation separately but at the same time and using the same behavioural categories (so they dont influence each other)
• they get together at the end and compare their results through a statistical test
• if the correlation is strong and positive (+0.8 +) they are reliable

Question 23

strengths of observations over self-report techniques

Answer 23

• allows us to see people’s actual behaviour rather than what they say they will do
• younger participants may be unable to express themselves fully in self-report techniques
• participants may become disengaged with the self-report techniques e.g. boredom

Question 24

strengths of self-report techniques over observations

Answer 24

• the participant has a greater insight into their thoughts and feelings than the researcher therefore getting them to report their thoughts is more effective than observing them

Question 25

what is content analysis

Answer 25

• an indirect form of observation that examines forms of media that people produce
• technique for systematically analysing various kinds of qualitative data
• data is placed into categories and counted using coding, or data is analysed in themes using thermatic analysis

Question 26

what is coding

Answer 26

• categorising data when data sets are too large when they need to be analysed
• produces quantitative data

Question 27

what is thermatic analysis

Answer 27

• process that involves the identification of themes that are recurrent
• produces qualitative data

Question 28

strengths of content analysis

Answer 28

• gets around ethical issues in psychological research as much of the material studied already exists within the public domain so no need to obtain permission
• high external validity
• flexible- qualitative and quantitative data

Question 29

weaknesses of content analysis

Answer 29

• people are studied indirectly so the communications they produce are analysed outside of the context within which it occurred. Researcher may attribute opinions which the speaker did not intend originally
• lack of objectivity when descriptive forms of thermatic analysis are employed

Question 30

what is test-retest reliability

Answer 30

• psychologist conducts content analysis
• repeats content analysis on a second occasion using the same data and same categories at a later date
• compare the 2 sets of data and look for agreement (+0.8+ correlation means it’s reliable)

Question 31

meta analysis

Answer 31

• process of combining findings from studies on a particular topic
• aim is to produce a statistical conclusion based on a range of studies

Question 32

effect-size

Answer 32

the dependent variable of meta-analysis which gives an overall statistical measure of difference or relationship between variables across a number of studies

Question 33

primary data

Answer 33

information that has been obtained first-hand by a researcher for the purposes of a research project

Question 34

secondary data

Answer 34

information that has already been collected by someone else and pre-dates the current research project

Question 35

quantitative data strengths/weaknesses

Answer 35

strengths
- simple to analyse so comparisons can be easily drawn
- numerical data is more objective and less open to bias
weaknesses
- much narrower in meaning and detail
- may fail to represent ‘real life’

Question 36

qualitative data strengths/weaknesses

Answer 36

strengths
- richness in detail as participant can fully report their thoughts/feelings
- higher external validity as there is a more meaningful insight into the participant’s worldview
weaknesses
- difficult to analyse as it isnt summarised statistically
- conclusions rely on subjective interpretations of the researcher which may be bias
-

Question 37

meta analysis strengths/weaknesses

Answer 37

strengths
- larger, more varied sample so results can be generalised across larger proportions, so higher validity
weaknesses
- publication bias where researcher may not select all relevant studies, may leave out studies with negative results, so meta analysis conclusions are biased as they only represent some of the relevant data

Question 38

primary data strengths/weaknesses

Answer 38

strengths
- authentic data obtained from the participants themselves for the purpose of an investigation
weaknesses
- time and effort for researcher
-conducting experiments requires planning, preparation, resources

Question 39

secondary data strengths/weaknesses

Answer 39

strengths
- inexpensive and easily accessed requiring minimal effort
- when examining secondary data, researcher may find that the desired info already exists so no need for conducting primary data collection
weaknesses
- variation in quality/accuracy as it may first appear valuable but on further investigation mat be outdated or incomplete
- data content may not match researcher’s objectives which may change validity of conclusions