Observational designs.

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Behavioral categories

The target behaviour is broken down into behavioural categories, similar to a checklist.

Disdavantages

  • Behavioural categories may not have valid behaviours in, this means the results collected may not represent the target behaviour
  • Any other behaviour that is not on the list is not to be concerned with, which is bad because recording all behaviours may increase internal validity of the results.
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Time sampling

Observations are made at regular intervals for example once every 30 seconds.

Advantages

  • More of a systematic structure and makes the observation more organised as all behaviours are not recored.

Disadvantages

  • Some behaviours may be missed, this may lead to important behaviours not being noted, causing validation problems.
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Event sampling

A target behaviour is recorded everytime it occurs.

Advantages

  • Behaviours that don't fit the time schedule are recorded, this means greater understanding of the observation.

Disadvantages

  • If the event is too complicated then important behaviours maybe missed causing huge validity concerns.
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