Observational Studies involve watching and recording people's behaviour.
Observations - Strengths:
Allows psychologists to observe actual behaviour, not just what people say they would do
Potentially captures spontaneous and unexpected behaviour
Potentially allows us to study areas of behaviour that would otherwise be unethical to study.
Observations - Weaknesses:
Observer bias - Observer may be swayed by their expectations and only record data they deem relevant. (This can be overcome by using more than 1 observer)
May be subjective as observer may only record data they think is relevant
Provides information about what people do, not necessarily what they think or feel.
