observational techniques

    Cards (26)

    • what are the six types of observational design?
      naturalistic, controlled, covert, overt, participant, non participant
    • naturalistic observation - takes place in the real world, the participants are more likely to spend time in their homes, school or work as they go about their daily lives
    • naturalistic observation (pro) - high realism: participants are likely to show more naturalistic behaviour, can be generalisable to other situations
      • leading to high ecological validity
    • naturalistic observation (con) - have less control over extraneous variables
    • naturalistic observation (con) - lack of control over the research situation
      • replication of the study will be difficult
    • controlled observation (pro) - aspects of the environment are controlled in an attempt to give the participants the same experience
      often conducted in a lab and uses a standardised procedure
    • controlled observation (con) - behaviour may not be generalizable to real life due to the artificiality of the environment
      • leading to low ecological validity
    • controlled observation (pro) - the researcher selects which participants to observe and standardised the procedure
      • good control over extraneous variables
    • naturalistic vs controlled
      controlled observations have better control over extraneous variables than naturalistic observations
      naturalistic observations have higher ecological validity than controlled observations
    • covert observation - the participants are not aware that they are being observed and they can’t see someone taking notes / recordings
      the observer may be physically present
    • covert observation (pro) - participants are less likely to display social desirability bias, or be influenced by investigator effects
    • covert observation (pro) - removes demand characteristics
      • leading to high internal validity
    • covert observation (con) - less ethical than overt observations as informed consent can't be contained and no right to privacy
    • overt observation - the participants can see the researcher and are aware their behaviour is being observed
    • overt observation (pro) - more ethical than covert observations because informed consent can be obtained
    • overt observation (con) - more likely to be effected by investigator effects or social desirability bias
    • overt observation (con) - demand characteristics
    • participant observation - the researcher joins in the group being observed and takes part in the group’s activities and conversations
    • participant observation (pro) - by taking part, the researcher builds rapport (insight and understanding) into the behaviour of the participants
    • participant observation (pro) - more trust and comfort could lead to the particiapnts' behaviour occurring more naturally
    • participant observation (con) - the participants are more likely to be influenced by investigator effects
    • participant observation (con) - interpretation of behaviour is biased seeing as it is only from the participants' perspective
      • researchers may lose objectivity
      • 'going native'
    • non participant observation - the researcher is separate from the participants recording observations w/o taking part in the groups activities
    • non participant observation (pro) - the researcher is more likely to remain objective in their interpretation of the partcipants' behaviour
    • non participant observation (pro) - less chance of participants 'going native'
    • non participant observation (con) - may lose the valuable insight to be gained in a participant observation as they are far too removed from the people + behaviour they are studying