observational design

Question 1

inter observer reliability description

Answer 1

single observes may miss important details or only notice events that confirm their opinions in their hypothesis

introduces bias to the research process

to make ecording stat more objective and unbiased observations should be carried out by two researchers

data from different observes is compared to check for consistency

Question 2

how to do inter- observer reliability

Answer 2

observers should familiarise themselves with the behavioural catergories to be used

then observe the same behaviour at the same time maybe in a pilot study

then they compare the data they have recorder

then they should analyse the data from the study and inter observe reliability is calculated by correlating each pair of observations made and an overall figure is produced

Question 3

issues in observational design - ways of recording data

unstructured observation

Answer 3

simply want to write everything they see

produces accounts of behaviour that are rich in detail

may be appropriate when observations are small in scale and involve few partisans

Question 4

issues in observational design - ways of recording data

structured observation

Answer 4

may be too much going on in a single observation

necessary to simplify the target behaviours that will become the main focus of the investigation using behavioural categories

Question 5

behavioural categories

Answer 5

break the target behaviour up into a set of behavioural categories

need to be reliable categories so that two observers don’t interpret the study differently

before the observation begins the researcher should ensure that they have included all the ways in which the target behaviour may occur in their behaviour checklist

Question 6

sampling methods - continuous recording of behaviour

Answer 6

key feature of unstructured observations

all instances of target behaviour are recorded

in structured observations - researcher must use a systematic way of sampling

Question 7

event sampling

Answer 7

involves counting the number of times a particular behaviour occurs in a target individual or group

Question 8

time sampling

Answer 8

recording behaviour within pre established time frame

Question 9

strength of structured vs unstructred

Answer 9

structured observations that involve the use of behavioural categories make recording the data easier and more systematic

data produced is likely to be numberical

means analysing and comparing the behaviour observed is astir

in contrast unstructred observations tend to produce more qualitative data which may be more difficult to record and analyse

Question 10

limitation of structured vs unstructred

Answer 10

unstructured observations benefit form more richness and depth in detail

though there may be a bigger risk of observer bias with unstructred observations as the objective categories that are a feature of sturucted are not present

Question 11

strength of behavioural categories

Answer 11

can make data collection more structured and objective

but the categories need to be as clear as possible must be observable measurebale and self evident

Question 12

strength of sampling methods

Answer 12

event sampling is useful when the target behaviour or event happens quite infrequent;you and could be missed if time sampling is used

Question 13

strength of sampling

Answer 13

effective in reducing the number of observations that have to be made