Observations

Question 1

what are controlled observations?

Answer 1

• ppts are observed in controlled artificial settings

Question 2

how are controlled observations carried out?

Answer 2

• observer can control EV and set up tasks to observe the target behaviour
• will usually be structured

Question 3

what are naturalistic observations?

Answer 3

• ppts observed in natural settings

Question 4

how are naturalistic observations carried out?

Answer 4

• less likely to control EV so may not see the target behaviour
• unstructured then followed up with structured

Question 5

what are structured observations?

Answer 5

observations that use a system to observe specific behaviours

Question 6

how are structured observations carried out

Answer 6

• record specific behaviours using behavioural categories or coding system, sampling procedures and quantitative data

Question 7

what are unstructured observations?

Answer 7

when you record everything you see

Question 8

how are unstructured observations carried out?

Answer 8

recording everything you see within a set period of time, likely to collect qualitative data

Question 9

what are overt observations?

Answer 9

when ppts know they’re being observed

Question 10

what are covert observations?

Answer 10

when ppts don’t know they’re being observed

Question 11

what are participant observations?

Answer 11

when the researcher/observer is part of the observed group

Question 12

what are non participant observations?

Answer 12

when the observer is away from the observed group

Question 13

what the conditions of behavioural categories?

Answer 13

• must be operationalised
• must be objective to prevent inferences of behaviour
• cover all possible components/behaviours
• be mutually exclusive (no overlapping)

Question 14

what is event sampling?

Answer 14

• recording in the table each time a behaviour occurs
• data likely to be collected in a tally
• ‘events’ are the behavioural categories

Question 15

what is time sampling?

Answer 15

• recording behaviour that occurs at pre-determined time intervals e.g. every 3 mins
• no behaviour is recorded outside these time intervals

Question 16

what are the strengths of observations?

Answer 16

• high external validity so behaviour can be generalised
• practical methods, can be used on animals, children, and in situations unethical to manipulate

Question 17

what are the limitations of observations?

Answer 17

• little control over EV so hard to establish C+E
• may have practical problems e.g how many ppl u need to observe, interruptions etc
• lack of control means no replication
• observer bias and ethics

Question 18

what is observer bias?

Answer 18

different observers interpret behaviours differently and some may see what they want to see leading to invalid results

Question 19

how can we overcome observer bias?

Answer 19

• operationalise categories specifying how acts will be measured, if they weren’t used then suggest using them

Question 20

what are double blind procedures?

Answer 20

both observer and ppts are unaware of the hypothesis

Question 21

what’s a pilot study?

Answer 21

practice investigation- used to check categories are fully operationalised and that methods for that study are suitable

Question 22

how can we check for reliability (consistency)?

Answer 22

• inter-observer reliability: use 2+ observers and see if they produce similar results
• compare ratings by calculating correlation co-efficient