Self-report techniques and design, observational techniques and design (RM II)

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  • Created by: asusre
  • Created on: 03-05-21 00:12
What is a strength of observations?
One strength of observations is that they give special insight into behaviour
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What are the limitations of observations?
Observations cannot demonstrate causal relationships and are subject to observer bias.
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What is observer bias?
Observer bias means that the observer’s interpretation of a situation may be affected by their expectations. This can be reduced by using more than one observer.
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What are naturalistic observations?
Naturalistic observations involve watching and recording behaviour in the setting within which it would normally occur.
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What are controlled observations?
Controlled observations involve watching and recording behaviour within a structured environment where some variables are managed.
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What is a strength of naturalistic observations and a limitation of controlled observations?
Naturalistic observations have a high external validity as findings can be generalised to everyday life, whereas controlled observations cannot.
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What is a strength of controlled observations and a limitation of naturalistic observations?
In a naturalistic observation, lack of control over the research setting makes replication difficult and means that there are more confounding/extraneous variables, whereas controlled observations are easily replicated.
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What are covert observations?
Covert observations involve watching and recording participants’ behaviour without their consent.
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What are overt observations?
Overt observations involve watching and recording participants’ behaviour with their consent.
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What is a strength of covert observations and a limitation of overt observations?
In covert observations, participants do not know they are being watched which removes demand characteristics and increases internal validity, whereas there may be less natural behaviour in overt observations.
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What is a strength of overt observations and a limitation of covert observations?
Overt observations are more ethically acceptable than covert observations.
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What are participant observations?
Participant observations involve the researcher being embedded in the group of participants and observing from within.
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What are non-participant observations?
Non-participant observations involve the researcher remaining outside of the group they are observing and not interacting with participants.
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What is a strength of participant observations and a limitation of non-participant observations?
When the researcher experiences the situation as the participants do, they gain increased insight into the experiences of the participants which increases external validity.
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What is a strength of non-participant observations and a limitation of participant observations?
In a participant observation, the researcher may lose objectivity by going native and identifying too strongly with the participants, whereas non-participant observers can be more objective.
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What are behavioural categories?
Behavioural categories operationalise target behaviours into acts which are observable and measurable. They must be exclusive and not overlap.
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What are the different sampling methods of observations?
Observations can use event or time sampling.
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What is event sampling?
Event sampling is when a target behaviour or event is first established, then a researcher records it every time it occurs.
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What is a strength of event sampling?
Event sampling is useful when the target behaviour happens infrequently thus could be missed by time sampling.
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What is a limitation of event sampling?
One limitation of event sampling is that the observer may overlook important details if the target behaviour is too complex.
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What is time sampling?
Time sampling is when a target individual or group is first established, then the researcher records their behaviour in a fixed time frame e.g., every sixty seconds.
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What is a strength of time sampling?
One strength of time sampling is that it reduces the number of observations that have to be made.
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What is a limitation of time sampling?
One limitation of time sampling is that the instances where behaviour is sampled may be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole.
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What are questionnaires?
Questionnaires are a list of written questions which assess someone’s thoughts or experiences.
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What are the strengths of questionnaires?
Questionnaires are cost-effective, can be distributed to large samples, and are easily analysed and replicated.
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What are the limitations of questionnaires?
Questionnaires can be easily misunderstood, have low response rates and have responses that are influenced by social desirability bias or response bias which are demand characteristics.
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What is social desirability bias?
Social desirability bias involves participants responding in an untruthful way that presents them in a positive light.
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What is response bias?
Response bias involves participants tending to reply in a similar way such as always ticking ‘yes’.
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What are open questions?
Open questions have no fixed choice of response, allowing respondents to answer however they wish which produces qualitative data containing a wide range of responses but may be difficult to analyse.
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What are closed questions?
Closed questions offer a fixed number of responses which produces quantitative data, which is easy to analyse but lacks detail.
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What are Likert scales?
Likert scales allow respondents to indicate their agreement or disagreement with a statement using a scale of usually five points, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
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What are rating scales?
Rating scales ask respondents to identify a numerical value that represents their strength of feeling about a particular topic.
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What are fixed-choice options?
Fixed-choice options include a list of possible options which respondents are required to indicate those that apply to them.
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What are interviews?
Interviews involve a face-to-face interaction where the interviewer asks the interviewee a set of questions to assess their thoughts or experiences. They may also be conducted over the phone.
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What are structured interviews?
Structured interviews are made up of a pre-determined set of questions that are asked in a fixed order.
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What are unstructured interviews?
Unstructured interviews have no set questions, working more like a conversation where there is an aim that a certain topic will be discussed and interaction tends to be free-flowing. The interviewer encourages the interviewee to expand and elaborate their
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What are semi-structured interviews?
Semi-structured interviews have a pre-determined list of questions but interviewers are also free to ask follow-up questions based on previous answers.
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What is a strength of structured interviews but a limitation of unstructured interviews?
Structured interviews are easy to replicate as they are standardised and this reduces interviewer bias, whereas unstructured interviews are not standardised and are harder to replicate.
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What is interviewer bias?
Interviewer bias involves an interviewer’s expectations being communicated unconsciously, which effects a respondent’s behaviour.
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What is a limitation of structured interviews and a strength of unstructured interviews?
Structured interviews produce less richly detailed data, whereas unstructured interviews produce more valid data.
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What is a limitation of all types of interview?
One limitation of interviews is that they are at risk of social desirability bias.
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What is an interview schedule?
Interview schedules are lists of questions that the interviewer intends to cover. They should be standardised to reduce interviewer bias.
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What must be considered when conducting an interview?
Interviews should be conducted in a quiet room to increase help the interviewee will open up. They should open with neutral questions to establish rapport. The interviewee must be reminded on several occasions that their answers will be kept confidential
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What factors can threaten the clarity of questions?
Jargon, emotive language, leading questions, double-barrelled questions double negatives should be avoided.
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What is jargon?
Jargon refers to technical terms which are only familiar to those within a specialised field area.
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Why should emotive language and leading questions be avoided?
Emotive language and leading questions can give clues about the researcher’s own attitude, which leads respondents to a particular answer.
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Why should double-barrelled questions be avoided?
Double-barrelled questions contain two questions in one, which is a problem as respondents may agree with one half of the question and not the other.
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Why should double negatives be avoided?
Questions that include double negatives can be difficult to understand and should be phrased in a more straightforward way.
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Card 2

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What are the limitations of observations?

Back

Observations cannot demonstrate causal relationships and are subject to observer bias.

Card 3

Front

What is observer bias?

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Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What are naturalistic observations?

Back

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Card 5

Front

What are controlled observations?

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