A Level Psychology - Observations

A Level Psychology - Observations:

• Involve precise measurement of naturally occurring behaviour
• Aim’s to observe behaviour, record it, look for patterns and then make sense of it

Types of Observation:

1) Naturalist Observation:

• Observations are carried out under natural conditions
• People are unaware they’r being monitored in their real world environment

2) Participant Observation:

• Involves researcher becoming part of the group being observed
• Can be done with (covert) or without (overt) participant knowledge
• E.g. Would be done to see if participant behaviour could be persuaded in a given direction

3) Non-Participant Observation:

• Involves researcher recording participants behaviour while not being in the situation themselves
• May be covert or overt

4) Structured (systematic) Observation:

• Uses a specially designed coding framework/chart to record behaviour, e.g. a list of behaviours to look for
• This may be non-participant, covert or overt

5) Unstructured Observation:

• Observer records a non-specified (wide) range of behaviours…