RM - Types of Observation Flashcards
(17 cards)
Strength of Controlled Observation:
P: high in reliability
E: environment controlled and standardised (context)
E: observation can be easily repeated to check for consistent results
L: therefore, the controlled observation will gain more respect from other professionals and members of the public
Weakness of Natural Observation:
P: low in reliability
E: natural environment (context)
E: observation is difficult to replicate in the exact same conditions to check for consistent results
Strength of Covert:
P: less prone to demand characteristics
E: less likely to know they’re being watched (context - how do you know it’s a covert observation?)
E: unlikely to change natural behaviour to help or hinder the research
L: ↑ internal validity
Weakness of Covert:
P: raises ethical issues
E: such as lack of informed consent and invasion of privacy that needs to be resolved
E: when ppts are informed they may become upset and choose to withdraw their data
L: ↓ credibility
Strength of Overt:
P: more ethically appropriate
E: ppts know they’re being observed (context - how do you know it’s an overt observation?)
E: ppts can give consent for their data to be used
L: ↑ credibility
Weakness of Overt:
P: more prone to demand characteristics
E: ppts more likely to know they’re being watched (context)
E: likely to change their natural behaviour to help or hinder the research based on clues given off by the observer/ environment
L: ↓ internal validity
Strength of PPT Observation:
P: observer can gain an in-depth understanding of the group’s behaviour
E: as they’re part of the group (context)
E: won’t miss important aspects e.g feelings/motivations (context)
L: ↑ internal validity
Weakness of PPT Observation:
P: increased chance of researcher bias
E: observer part of group
E: ↓ objectivity as researcher’s own thoughts and behaviours ↑ likely to impact observation
L: ↓ internal validity
Strength of Non-PPT Observation:
P: reduced chance of researcher bias
E: observer not part of group
E: ↑ objectivity as researcher’s own thoughts and behaviours ↓ likely to impact observation
L: ↑ internal validity
Weakness of Non-PPT Observation:
P: less likely to gain an in-depth understanding of the group’s behaviour
E: as they’re not part of the group (context)
E: may miss important aspects e.g feelings/motivations (context)
L: ↓ internal validity
How are behaviour categories used in practice?
- Observer will record behaviour on a video camera or watch behaviour in person.
- Create a tally chart to record the behaviour which includes the operationalised behaviour categories.
- Tally when a relevant behaviour is shown on the chart.
Event Sampling Definition:
Observer decides on specific events (behaviour categories) relevant to the investigation. Relevant event are recorded every time they happen within a set period of time
Strength of Event Sampling:
useful when behaviour happens infrequently → ppts watched over period of time + behaviour is recorded each time it occurs → researchers less likely to miss behaviours → unlike TS, in which if behaviour is infrequent it will be missed
Weakness of Event Sampling:
observer may miss some behaviours (context) as they can’t tally in time if the behaviour is complex/happens very often → unlike TS, researcher only tallies at set time intervals and is therefore less likely to miss these behaviours easier to focus on the behaviours you’re observing and forget all other behaviours
Time Sampling Definition:
Observer tallies behaviours on a set time interval, and would ignore all other behaviours that don’t occur at the interval e.g 1:00 to 1:30, interval = every 5 minutes, 6 behaviours recorded, all other behaviours ignored
Weakness of Time Sampling:
not useful when behaviour happens infrequently → behaviour only recorded on set interval, ignored everytime else → researchers more likely to miss behaviours → unlike ES, in which behaviour is recorded each time it occurs so it won’t be missed
Strength of Time Sampling:
↓ amount of time observer has to observe behaviours for (context) → only observe in set time intervals → however since behaviour is only being tallied at set time intervals it may not be representative of the observations as a whole.
