Observations, Questionnaires, and Interviews Flashcards
What is participant observation?
When the researcher participates in the activity under study.
Advantages of participant observation?
- The researcher develops a relationship with the group under study,
- Gaining a greater understanding of the group’s behaviour.
Limitations of participant observation?
- Researcher loses objectivity by becoming part of the group,
- Participants may act differently if they know a researcher is amongst them.
What is non-participant observation?
When the researcher observes the activity without getting involved in it.
Advantages of non-participant observation?
- The researcher can remain objective throughout the study.
Limitations of non-participant observation?
- The researcher loses a sense of the group dynamics by staying separate from the group.
What are structured observations?
Where the behaviour categories that are going to be used are defined in advance.
Advantages of structured observations?
- It is easier to gather relevant data because you already know what you are looking for.
Limitations of structured observations?
- Interesting behaviours could go unrecorded because they haven’t been pre-defined as important.
What are overt observations?
Where the researcher’s presence is obvious to the participants.
Advantages of overt observations?
- They are much more ethically sound than other methods because the participants are aware of the research.
Limitations of overt observations?
- People might change their behaviour if they know they’re being observed.
What are covert observations?
Where the researcher’s presence is unknown to the participants.
Advantages of covert observations?
- The participants are much more likely to behave naturally.
Limitations of covert observations?
- Gaining ethical approval may be difficult.
What is controlled observation?
Often take place in a laboratory so that the researcher can control the conditions. In example, Bandura’s Bobo doll study.
Advantages of controlled observation?
- Because the study is highly controlled, it is possible to replicate it to check that the results are reliable,
- A controlled environment means that extraneous variables can be controlled, so it becomes possible for cause and effect to be established.
Limitations of controlled observation?
- They will have lower ecological validity than naturalistic observations,
- Participants may alter their behaviour if they know they are being observed.
What is naturalistic observation?
Takes place in a natural environment, rather than a lab. Can be structured in adsvance to make sure no behaviours are missed; involves making design decisions.
What design decisions can be made in observations?
- Recording data,
- Categorising behaviour,
- Rating behaviour,
- Sampling behaviour,
- Inter-observer reliability.
What is ‘recording data’?
If you want qualitative data you could just make written notes. But video or audio recording means that you have a more accurate permanent record.
What is ‘categorising behaviour’?
- Must define the behaviours you aim to observe,
- In example, if you were going to observe children in a playground to see how many behave aggressively, you’d have to decide what counts as aggression,
- Involves giving an operationalised definition (i.e. some specific, observable behaviours),
- For example, you could say that aggressive behaviour is ‘any physical act made with the intention of hurting another individual’.
What is ‘rating behaviour’?
- Use a rating scale to classify behaviour,
- Could put each participant’s behaviour into one of several categories, e.g. aggressive, not aggressive, mildly aggressive,
- Or could use a coding system where each participant is given a number (e.g 1-10) to represent how aggressive they were, where a higher score would indicate more aggression,
- However, you still have to define what kinds of behaviour are included for each number on the scale.
What is ‘sampling behaviour’?
- Have to decide how often and for how long you are going to observe the participants,
- Either event sampling or time-interval sampling.
What is event sampling?
When you only record particular events that you are interested in and ignore other behaviours.
Advantages of event sampling?
- Researchers know exactly what behaviours they are looking for.
Limitations of event sampling?
- Potentially interesting behaviours could be ignored.
What is time-interval sampling?
If the behaviours occur over a long period of time you might choose to observe only set time intervals, e.g. the first 10 mins of every hour. The time intervals could be chosen randomly.
Advantages of time-interval sampling?
- Very convenient for the researchers to carry out.
Limitations of time-interval sampling?
- If interesting behaviour occur outside the sample intervals they won’t be recorded.
What is inter-observer reliability?
- Even after you’ve defined the behaviours you are interested in, you have to make sure that the observers are actually putting each participant in the right category or giving the right rating,
- Might involve comparing the data from two or more observers to make sure they are giving the same scores.
What factors need to be considered when designing a questionnaire/interview?
- Type of data,
- Ambiguity,
- Double-barrelled questions,
- Leading questions,
- Complexity.
What is meant by type of data? How does this effect questionnaire/interview design?
- Whether you want quantitative or qualitative data will affect whether you ask open and/or closed questions,
- Open questions are questions are questions such as ‘what kinds of music do you like?’ The participant can reply in any way, and in as much detail as they want. This gives detailed, qualitative information, although it might be hard to analyse, as the participants could give very different answers,
- Closed questions limit the answers that can be given, e.g. which do you like: Pop, Rock, or neither? They give quantitative data that is relatively easy to analyse; you can only say exactly how many people liked each.
What is meant by ambiguity? How does this effect questionnaire/interview design?
- Have to avoid questions and answer options which are not clearly defined, e.g. ‘do you listen to music frequently?’ frequently is not defined.
What is meant by double-barrelled questions? How does this effect questionnaire/interview design?
- A question that asks two questions but only allows one answer, e.g. ‘do you agree that modern music is not as good as that from the 60s and that there should be more guitar-based music in the charts?’,
- These should be avoided since a person may wish to answer differently to each part.
What is meant by leading questions? How does this effect questionnaire/interview design?
- These are questions that lead the participant towards a particular answer. E.g. ‘How old was the boy in the picture?’ the participant may have seen an old man but the word ‘boy’ leads them to describing the person as young,
- Also leading them to answer that the person is male, but they might not have been sure.
What is meant by complexity? How does this effect questionnaire/interview design?
- Whevener possible, clear English/subject language should be used, avoiding jargon,
- However, if specialist terms are included, they should be clearly defined,
- E.g. ‘do you prefer music written in unusual time signatures?’ is probably not an ideal question for the majority of participants.
What additional features must be considered in interviews?
- How structured the interview will be,
- Question checklists,
- Behaviour or appearance of the interviewer.
What different types of structure can be used in interviews?
- Interviews can be informal with few set questions, and new questions being asked depending on the participant’s previous answers,
- This gives qualitative data, which may be difficult to analyse,
- Alternatively, they may be more structured, with set questions and clsoed answers, giving less detail but being easier to analyse.
What is a question checklist?
If the interview is structured, a checklist ensures that no questions are left out and questions aren’t asked twice.
