Overall Vocab Flashcards
Naturalistic observation
The observation takes place in the environment where the phenomenon to be studied naturally occurs, the observer avoids interfering, or influencing the real world setting in anyway.
Structured observation
The observation takes place in the lab or simulated environment. The observer does not interfere with the actual experiment, but the factor e.g. behaviour that being studied might be manipulated or controlled in someway.
Participatory observation
The observation takes place either in the environment where the phenomenon to be studies occurs in the natural environment, or in a lab setting. The observer is involved and immersed in activities of the participants in addition to observing them.
Structured Interview
In a structured interview the researcher asks every participant exactly the same questions. This is somewhat similar to a questionnaire, except that the participant is free to answer in any way they think is appropriate, rather than being limited to, for example, ticking boxes for specific responses.
Unstructured interview
In an unstructured interview the researcher has only one pre-prepared question or prompt (e.g. ‘Tell me about being a therapist.’). Everything else is asked in response to what the participant says (e.g. ‘You said you sometimes find it stressful. Can you tell me more about what makes it stressful?’). This means that each interview is unique, as it is mostly shaped by what the participant says.
Semi-structured (most comman)
In a semi-structured interview the researcher has a list of topics and questions to ask, but they also respond to what the participant says. As the name suggests, this type of interview is somewhere between the structured and unstructured types. The prepared questions and prompts will be the same for all participants, but the interview as a whole will be unique to each participant as the researcher will ask follow-up questions that reflect what the participants says.
