observations

• what is an observation?

  when a psychologist watches & records naturally occuring spontaneous behaviour
• 3 features of observations?

  1. location
  2. participants awareness
  3. researcher involvement
• what is location?

  where study is conducted

  1. naturalistic
  2. controlled
• explain naturalistic?

  takes place in participants natural environment

  may not be aware they are being observed so will behave more naturally
• * high ecological validity for naturalistic?

  are conducted in natural setting & so tasks that are completed are realistic

  less likely to suffer from demand characteristics & have realistic behaviour which reflects real world

  can generalise findings to real life settings​
• X lack of control for naturalistic?

  are conducted in natural setting meaning that experimenter has little control over extraneous variables which could impact accuracy of results

  ? valid - means it is difficult to establish a cause & effect relationship
• explain controlled?

  takes place in some form of controlled environment which allows control over variables
• * high internal validity for controlled?

  researcher has control over evs & results will be accurate as nothing else is affecting them

  * valid - cause & effect relationship can be established
• X low external validity for controlled?

  participants behaviour could be unnnatural & could suffer from demand characteristics & guess the aim

  ? valid - difficult to generalise results to real life setting
• what is participant awareness?

  do participants know they are being watched

  1. covert
  2. overt
• explain covert?

  participants are unaware they are in the study & behaviour is observed in secret

  researcher is not visible
• explain overt?

  participants know they are being observed & have given informed consent beforehand
• * reduced demand characteristics for covert?

  participants do not know they are being watched & so will not change their behaviour so realistic & natural results will be produced

  * ecological valid - results will be realistic & representative of real world
• X unethical for covert?

  deception - participants being lied to about the real aim of study they are unaware of what they are being observed on & can not give fully informed consent​

  ? valid - there are more ethical ways to conduct observations & can overcome some issues by using debrief/presumptive consent
• * more ethical for overt?

  participants are aware they are being watched so there is no deception & can give fully informed consent

  * valid - research is being obtained through ethical means as the participants is aware & this will encourage them to take part in future research
• X demand characterisitics for overt?

  as they are aware they may change their behaviour to suit aim of study/ act unnaturally

  ? valid - participants behaviour will be unrealistic so results will not be accurate
• what is researcher involvement?

  what the psychologist does
• name 2 types of researcher involvement?

  1. participant
  2. non participant
• explain participant observations?

  researcher becomes part of group they are studying so that participants will not suspect them being observed & researcher can gain better understanding
• explain non participant observation?

  when researcher remains separate from those they are studying & records behaviour in a more objective manner
• * high internal validity for participant?

  researcher is within observation themselves which means they will have some control over extraneous variables & events that happen in the study

  * valid - increase in control over evs so can establish cause & effect relationship
• X lack of objectivity for participant?

  deception - due to participants being lied to about real aim of study they are unaware of what they are being observed on & can not give fully informed consent

  ? valid - there are more ethical ways to conduct research
• * objectivity for non participant?

  researcher is not involved in observation themselves which means can look at study from an unbiased point of view rather than being influenced by people they are observing

  * valid - results will not be affected by researcher bias & results will be accurate
• X lack of internal validity for non participant?

  less control over evs that may occur during study so other variables other than iv will affect dv

  ? valid - cannot establish true cause & effect relationship
• 2 ways data can be collected?

  1. structured - using pre determined list of behaviours & sampling methods - quantitative - reduces researcher bias as theyre looking for something specific & not using opinion to decide what they consider as a specific behaviour
  2. unstructured - direct observation, no plan - qualitative
• 2 sampling methods for observations?

  1. event
  2. time
• explain event sampling?

  counting number of times a particular behaviour/event occurs in an individual/group
• explain time sampling?

  recording behaviour within pre established time frame
• pro of event sampling?

  useful when target behaviour happens quite infrequently & could be missed if time sampling was used
• con of event sampling?

  if specified behaviour is too complicated the observer may overlook important details
• 2 pros of time sampling?

  1. good to use if there are multiple observations occuring at same time
  2. effective for ongoing behaviour - smiling,laughing,talking
• con of time sampling?

  those instances when behaviour is being sampled using time sampling may not be representative of observation as a whole