Observational Design Flashcards
(15 cards)
What are the ways to record data
- Structured observation
- Unstructured observation
What is a structured observation
- Behavioural categories: in order to produce a structured record of what a researcher sees/hears, it is first necessary to break the target behaviour into a set of behavioural categories
- target behaviours should be clearly defined and made observable and measurable
How is data recorded in an unstructured observation?
Continuous recording- where all target behaviour is
recorded.
What is time sampling?
- At specific time intervals behaviour is recorded.
- Any behaviour outside these intervals is ignored.
What is event sampling?
Involves counting the number of times a particular behaviour occurs
Throughout whole observation.
What is inter-rater reliability
- Two researchers agree on behavioural categories
- Two researchers conduct same experiment at the same time but record data independently
- Statistical comparison (using Spearman’s Rho)
- If there’s a correlation = high reliability
What is inter-observer reliability
- Two researchers agree on behavioural categories
- Two researchers conduct same experiment at the same time but record data independently
- They come together at the end of observations compare results
They then test the correlation between the two sets - If there is a strong positive correlation between the sets then this shows that there is good inter-observer reliability and that the behaviour categories are reliable
What is a strength of unstructured observation
More richness and depth of detail
What is a weakness of unstructured observation
- Produces qualitative data which is more difficult to record & analyse.
- Greater risk of observer bias e.g. only record ‘catch the eye’ behaviours.
What are the strengths of structured observation
- Easier as is more systematic.
- Quantitative data is collected which is easy to analyse and compare with other data.
- There is less risk of observer bias.
What is a weakness of structured interview?
- Not much depth of detail.
- Difficult to achieve high inter observer reliability as filling the predetermined lists in is subjective.
What is a strength of time sampling
It reduces the number of observations that has to made so it is less time consuming.
What a weakness of time sampling
The small amount of data that you collect within that time frame ends up being unrepresentative of the observation as a whole.
What is a strength of event sampling
It is good for infrequent behaviours that are likely to be missed if time sampling was used.
What is a weakness of event sampling
- If complex behaviour is being observed, important details of the behaviour may be overlooked by the observer.
- If the behaviour is very frequent, there could be counting errors.
- It is difficult to judge the beginning and ending of a behaviour.
