Observations in child

Question 1

AO1/Description

Answer 1

• Observational research could be used to study child development as certain milestones in progress can be observed
• A child could be observed in a naturalistic situation, such as the family home, to record naturally occuring behaviour
• Covert would involve the child being unaware of being observed and overt is where they are aware
• Participant is where the observer is involved in the task given to the child and non-participant is where they would rate the behaviour away from the situation/behind a mirror
• A coding sheet would be drawn up for certain behaviours and tallies could be used when each event is observed
• A child’s response could be observed when presented with a task/object to judge their cognitive progress
• Event sampling, Time sampling or continuous sampling may be used

Question 2

Structured observations

Answer 2

• It is usually conducted in an artificial situation such as a laboratory
• The procedure is contrived/set up to involve a task or situation in which the behaviour of the child is observed/the procedure is contrived to involve a series of stages such as a caregiver leaving and stranger entering a room
• Typically an observer/video camera records the behaviour/emotional reaction of the child/Typically an observer records the reaction of the child when a caregiver leaves the room and stranger enters

Question 3

AO3- Covert

Answer 3

• Less chance of Demand Characteristics because they don’t know they’re being observed increasing validity of the findings
• Less chance of Social Desirability because they don’t know they’re being observed increasing validity of the findings
• High Ethical Issues as participants don’t know they’re being observed and you can’t get consent

Question 4

AO3- Overt

Answer 4

• Less Ethical Issues as participants know they’re being observed and you can get consent
• Demand Characteristics are increased since they know they’re being watched, this lowers the validity of the findings
• Social Desirability is increased since they know they’re being watched, this lowers the validity of the findings

Question 5

AO3- Participant

Answer 5

Gathers more depth of detail as you’re part of the group and you’re able to get a better understanding

More likely to be biased as you’re part of the group and this might influence your judgements

The presence of the observer can alter the group’s behaviour (Demand Characteristics)

Question 6

AO3- Non-Participant

Answer 6

Less biased

Gathers less depth of detail

Question 7

AO3- Structured

Answer 7

• The structured observation lacks ecological validity because the child is placed in an unnatural environment/lab, in which the behaviour of the child may not be spontaneous and natural
• Video recordings can be used to check for reliable findings as it can be viewed more than once by more than one person
• The procedure is to some degree standardised so that the same situation can be recreated for another child and therefore reliable findings should be drawn
• The highly controlled environment controls for and eliminates variables that could lead to unreliable findings
• The ethics of using children in the structured observation should be considered such as causing undue distress so the behaviour of the child should be monitored and procedures stopped if distress is detected

Question 8

AO3- Naturalistic

Answer 8

• High in ecological validity (like real life)
• Reduction in demand characteristics (people acting how they think you want them to).
• Low in reliability.
• Hard to control extraneous variables. (things which affect the results which we aren’t looking at)
• They may take more time since we’re waiting for the behaviour to occur naturally