Observations

Question 1

What’s an observation?

Answer 1

• when researchers observe participants, and record their behaviour
• non-experimental method
• allows them to observe behaviour in a natural or controlled setting

Question 2

What are the different types of observations?

Answer 2

• naturalistic or controlled
• participant or non-participant
• covert or overt

Question 3

What’s a controlled observation?

Answer 3

• observing behaviour in a controlled environment
• standardised procedure
• control over extraneous variables
• e.g. lab observation

Question 4

Strengths of controlled observations

Answer 4

• easy to replicate so more reliable

Question 5

Weaknesses of controlled observations

Answer 5

• behaviour is less natural
• artificial setting
• lack ecological validity

Question 6

What’s a naturalistic observation?

Answer 6

• an observation conducted in a natural, everyday life setting

Question 7

Strengths of naturalistic observations

Answer 7

• high ecological validity
• behaviour is natural

Question 8

Weaknesses of naturalistic observations

Answer 8

• lack of control over extraneous variables
• harder to replicate so less reliable

Question 9

What’s a covert observation?

Answer 9

• participants are unaware that they’re being observed
• researcher is hidden

Question 10

Strengths of covert observations

Answer 10

• behaviour is natural
• increased validity
• no investigator effects or social desirability bias

Question 11

Weaknesses of covert observations

Answer 11

• ethical issues regarding informed consent

Question 12

What’s an overt observation?

Answer 12

• participants are aware that they’re being watched

Question 13

Strengths of overt observations

Answer 13

• no ethical issues regarding informed consent

Question 14

Weaknesses of overt observations

Answer 14

• unnatural behaviour
• demand characteristics

Question 15

What’s a participant observation?

Answer 15

• the researcher is involved in/part of the group of participants
• researcher’s role may be hidden

Question 15

Strengths of participant observations

Answer 15

• researcher has better insight and understanding of participants

Question 16

Weaknesses of participant observations

Answer 16

• may interfere with group behaviour
• hard to replicate data
• may affect researcher’s objectivity
• researcher has to rely on memory (no time to make notes)

Question 17

What’s a non-participant observation?

Answer 17

• researcher doesn’t take part in the investigation
• remains outside of the group

Question 18

Strengths of non-participant observations

Answer 18

• researcher can’t interfere with behaviour
• researcher can be more objective

Question 19

Weaknesses of non-participant observations

Answer 19

• investigator effects
• lack of insight

Question 20

What are behavioural categories?

Answer 20

• when researchers break down the behaviour they want to measure into smaller behaviours
• operationalises the dependent variable
• e.g. happiness can be broken down into smiling and laughing

Question 21

What’s event sampling

Answer 21

• when a researcher focuses on one or more specific behaviours, and records every time the behaviour occurs throughout the investigation

Question 22

What’s time sampling?

Answer 22

• when researchers categorise/record behaviours at regular intervals

Question 23

What’s observer bias?

Answer 23

• the tendency for the researcher to see what they expect to see when conducting observations, making them less accurate and objective
• behavioural categories help to reduce observer bias

Question 24

Weaknesses of observational techniques

Answer 24

- observer bias - doesn't tell us much about people's thoughts and feelings

Question 25

What's inter-observer reliability?

Answer 25

- measure of how similar the data collected by different observers is - assesses the external reliability of observations - have at least two observers - observers familiarise with behavioural categories - observe same behaviour at same time - observers compare data to assess similarity and discuss differences - revisit behavioural categories and amend if necessary

Question 26

What's an unstructured observation?

Answer 26

- researcher writes down everything they see - produces data that's rich in detail - appropriate for small scale studies

Question 27

What's a structured observation?

Answer 27

- create behavioural checklist - list of observable and measurable behavioural categories - involves event and time sampling

Question 28

Strengths of structured observations

Answer 28

- easier and more systematic - data collection is more structured and objective - easier to analyse and compare quantitative data

Question 29

Weaknesses of structured observations

Answer 29

- might not be enough categories to include all behaviours - categories might overlap

Question 30

Strengths of unstructured observations

Answer 30

- more detailed

Question 31

Weaknesses of unstructured observations

Answer 31

- qualitative data is harder to analyse - risk of observer bias - difficult to record everything

Question 32

Strengths of event sampling

Answer 32

- useful when behaviour is infrequent

Question 33

Weaknesses of event sampling

Answer 33

- behaviour might be too complex to record everything

Question 34

Strengths of time sampling

Answer 34

- reduces number of observations that have to be made

Question 35

Weaknesses of time sampling

Answer 35

- behaviour may be missed if it occurs between chosen time frame - unrepresentative of observation as a whole