Observations
- Created by: JuliaMabiza
- Created on: 07-04-19 21:29
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- Observational Techniques
- Naturalistic Observation
- an observation carried out in an everyday setting, in which the investigator does not interfere in any way but merely observes the behaviour(s) in question.
- Strengths: realism and natural behaviour, the researcher can observe behaviour, which occurs, in a natural setting, likely to have high ecological validity
- Limitations: lack of control of variables, cause and effect relationships cannot be established.
- Controlled Observation
- observe behaviour but under conditions where certain variables have been organised by the researcher.
- Strengths: due to control, the observer can focus on particular aspects of behaviour
- Limitations: disturbing natural settings, this means that the setting is no longer natural, lack of validity
- Overt Observation
- in both a natural and controlled observation the people being observed may know that their behaviour is being observed.
- Strengths:more ethical as pps know they are being observed
- Limitations|: likely to have am effect on naturalness of behaviour
- Non Participant Observation
- the observer observes from a distance and does not interact with people being observed
- Strengths: more objective as the observer is not part of the group
- Limitations: may not gain special insights into behaviour
- Participant Observation
- observations are made by someone who is also participatingin the activity being observed, affecting objectivity
- Strengths: provide special insights into behaviour from the inside
- Limitations: these are likely to be overt and have issues with pp awareness, if covert, there are ethical issues
- Covert Observation:
- in both a natural and controlled observation the people being observed may not know that their behaviour is being observed.
- Strengths: pps unaware of being observed so behaviour is more natural
- Limitations: ethical issue- it is acceptable to observe people in a public place as long as the behaviours being observed are not private
- Observational Design
- unstructured observation
- the researcher records all relevant behaviour but has no system
- structured observation
- a] behavioural categories- operationalisation, involves dividing a target behaviour e.g aggression e.g aggression into subset of behaviours
- sampling procedures
- event sampling- counting the numbers of times behaviour occurs
- time sampling- recording behaviours in a given time e.g every 15 mins
- unstructured observation
- Naturalistic Observation
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