Unit 2: Education with research methods- Observations

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  • Created by: Evie
  • Created on: 20-05-13 18:05

Unit 2: Education with research methods- Observations

Advantages

  • Participant observations give a large insight into groups of people. They may be the only way to gain information about those people especially with private groups.
  • It is a good chance to see what people actually do rather than what they say they do.
  • Non-participant observations are objective therefore more scientific.
  • They can produce lots of rich, qualitative data which can be closely analysed.

Disadvantages

  • It may be hard to gain access to a particular group and researchers may need to find a 'gatekeeper' in order to get that access.
  • People may change their behaviour if they know they are being observed (known as demand characteristics or experimenter bias).
  • Covert observations (where the researchers identity is hidden) may have ethical issues especially concerning deception and possibly even 'going native' where the researchers join the group.
  • Participant-observations can be highly subjective and different researchers may interpret things differently.
  • Notes need to be recorded and if the researcher is involved closely with the group this will have to be done later meaning the findings may be less accurate and lack reliability
  • They take up a lot of: time, money and personal cost.

Evaluation

Observations come in different types: Non-participant and participant and within that covert and overt. Each has their benefits and downfalls but all produce a greater insight into natural behaviour with lots of qualitative data that can be analysed. However there are ethical issues surrounding deception and need to gain consent and results may be unreliable if written up at a later date.

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