Research Methods

• Naturalistic Observation:

  Watching and recording behaviour in a natural situation where the researcher does not influence the situation or ppts in any way

  E.g. watching infants at play at a nursery
• Naturalistic Observation

  Strengths :

  • Researcher will not affect results/influence behaviour
  • ecological validity (measure of how test performance predicts behaviours in real-world settings)

  Weaknesses

  • ethical considerations; privacy, informed consent

  - 
• Controlled Observation

  This involves watching and recording behaviour in an environment which has been regulated and controlled by the researcher (e.g. in a lab).
• Controlled Observation

  Strengths

  • more control
  • easier to replicate
  • low ecological validity

  Weaknessses

  • Demand characteristics

  (high risk that participants will change their natural behaviour in line with their interpretation of the aims of a study)
• Covert Observation 

  • This is when participants are being observed without their knowledge
• Covert Observation:

  Strengths:

  • Higher levels of validity as participants are unaware they are being observed which rules out demand characteristics (the observer effect)

  Limitations :

  • Unethical as does not have participants informed consent 
• Overt Observation 

  • This is when participants know they are being observed 
• Overt Observation:

  Strengths:

  • Ethical, participants have given informed consent to be observed

  Limitations

  • Social desirability is likely, where participants present their 'best selves' to the researcher 
  • Demand characteristics, known as the observer effect, are more likely which impacts the validity of the results
• Participant Observation 

  • The researcher joins the group being observed and becomes involved with them 
  • The group being observed may not realise that the observer is not really 'one of them'
• Particpant Observation:

  Strengths 

  • The researcher is able to build a rapport with the participants, meaning the participants are more likely to have open conversations and act in a natural way 
  • Gives a first hand insight into behaviour

  Limitations 

  • There are ethical considerations with this type of observation such as deception and right to withdraw because the participants may not know that they are being observed, despite the researcher's participation
• Non - participant Observation 

  • The researcher remains separate from the participants 
• Non - participant observation:

  Strengths 

  • The researcher is more likely to remain objective whilst observing and recording the participants behaviour 

  Limitations 

  • The researcher is not able to build rapport with the participants and so they are less likely to open up completely or enough to show the full natural behaviours 
• Lab Experiment

  These are conducted under controlled conditions, in which the researcher deliberately changes something (I.V.) to see the effect of this on something else (D.V.).
• Strengths of Lab Experiments :

  
  

  Strength of lab experiments is that researchers have a high level of control over variables, which allows them to establish cause-and-effect relationships more confidently.

  
  

  Limitations:

  
  

  • Demand characteristics may be an issue as participants know they are in a study and so may alter their behaviour which impairs the validity of the study
  • This method often lacks ecological validity due to the artificial nature of the procedure
• Natural Experiment

  • These are typically carried out in a natural setting, in which the researcher measures the effect of something which is to see the effect of this on something else (D.V.).
  • The researcher does not manipulate the independent variable to measure the outcome
• Natural Experiment

  
  

  Strengths

  • Allow research in areas that controlled experiments could not conduct research, this could be due to ethical or cost reasons
  • 
    
  • High ecological validity as they are conducted in a natural setting with natural behaviours being exhibited

  Limitations:

  
  

  • Lack of reliability as incredibly unlikely to be able to replicate the same situation again to test
• Field Experiments 

  • The experiment is conducted in a naturalistic setting e.g. a supermarket, a school
  • An independent variable is manipulated by the researcher (as in laboratory experiments) but not in a lab setting
• Field Experiments:

  Strengths:

  • Likely to have higher ecological validity as it is a real life setting
  • Participants are less likely to show demand characteristics as they are less likely to know what is expected from them and are often in their 'natural' environment

  Limitations:

   

  • Harder to randomly assign participants and so means it is more likely a change could happen due to participant variables, rather than what the researcher is measuring 
  • Harder to control extraneous variables within the experiment, which could change the measurement of the dependent variable
• 1. Event Sampling: a target behaviour/event is recorded every time it occurs e.g. dissent in football players during a match might involve counting the number of times the players disagreed with the referee in a football match.
• Time Sampling: observations are made at regular intervals e.g. once every 15 mins. You observe all behaviour
• Event Sampling:

  Strengths:

  • Does not ignore Important Behaviours

  Weaknesses:

  • May suffer from observer bias
  • might miss out on other behaviours that could be important
• Time Sampling

  Strengths:

  • Reduces observer bias (when the person observing something sees it in a way that matches what they expect or believe, rather than what is actually happening.)

  Weaknesses:

  • Likely to miss out on important behaviours of interest