Observational Designs

• Behavioural Categories are a method of oberving behaviour where a target behaviour is broken down into components that are observable and measurable
• Behavioural categories allow behaviours to be operationalised to make data collection more structured and objective
• Behavioural categories must be clear and unambiguous
• Unstructured Observations are where the observer writes down everything they see
• Unstructured observations produce a greater richness and depth of detaul
• Unstructured observations have a greater risk of observer bias
• Unstructured observations are difficult to analyse as they produce qualitative data
• Structured Observations are where target behaviours are simplified into behavioural categories
• Structured observations make recording data simpler and more systematic
• Structured observations produce quantitative data which is easier to analyse
• Continuous Recording is a method of unstructured observations where all instances of the target behaviour are recorded
• Event Sampling is a method of structured observations where a target behaviour is first established and the researcher records this event every time it occurs
• Time Sampling is a method of structured observations where a target individual/group is first established and the researcher records their behaviour in a fixed time frame
• Event sampling is useful when the event happens fairly infrequently
• If the event is too complex then the observer may overlook it
• Time sampling is useful for reducing the number of observations that have to be made
• Time sampling may be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole