Methods of Data Collection

• The self-report technique is when participants are asked to provide information about their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. If participants are asked to write down their responses to a list of questions, then the researchers use a questionnaire. If participants are asked questions directly, face-to-face, then the researchers are conducting an interview.
• What 3 key things do you have to think when performing an observational technique?

  • What type?
  • How aware?
  • What role?
• What is the observational technique?

  Where researchers observe participants, and measure or record their behaviour.
• What do you have to decide when performing an observational technique?

  1. Type of observation
  2. Awareness of participant
  3. Role of the researcher
• What is a controlled observation?

  • This is when researchers conduct observations of participants in a controlled environment
  • Involves the researcher standardizing the procedure and selection of the participants
  • Might lack ecological validity
  • This means that researchers have control over extraneous variables.
• What is a naturalistic observational study?

  A naturalistic observation is conducted in a natural everyday life setting.

  
  

  One pro of naturalistic observations is that they have high ecological validity.

  
  

  However, one con of naturalistic observations is that they have less control over extraneous variables.
• What is an overt observation?


  where participants know they are being observed
• What is a covert observation?


  where participants does not know they are being observed
• What is the advantage of using a covert observation?

  That participants are less likely to display social desirability bias or be influenced by investigator effects.
• What is the disadvantage of using a covert observation?

  They are less ethical, as participants can't give informed consent.
• What is a participant observation?

  Where a researcher takes part in the activity that the participants are doing.
• What is a non-participant observation?


  Where a researcher doesn't take part in the activity that the participants are doing.
• What is an advantage of participant observations?

  The researcher may gain more insight and understanding into the behaviors of the participants by taking part in the activities.
• What is the disadvantage of participant observations?

  The students are more likely to be influenced by investigator bias.
• When researchers break down the behavior they want to measure into smaller behaviors we say that they are using behavioral categories. Behavioral categories help researchers operationalize their dependent variable.
• What is event sampling?


  When researchers focus on one or more specific, operationalized behavior, and count up every time the behavior occurs.
• What is time sampling?


  When researchers categorize behaviors at regular intervals, like every 30 seconds.
• What is the order that a person must do to conduct an observation study?

  • First, they need to decide whether to conduct a controlled or naturalistic observation.
  • Second, they need to decide whether it will be a covert or overt observation
  • Finally, they need to decide on the role of the researcher in the study: whether it will be a participant or non-participant observation.
  • Researchers also have to decide what behavioral categories to use, and whether to use time or event sampling.
• Like everyone else, researchers have prior beliefs that influence the way they interpret what they see, therefore they many not be objective when making observations.
• What is one limitation of the observational technique?

  The tendency for the researcher to see what they expect to see when conducting observations, making them less accurate and objective.
• One thing that helps to reduce observer bias in observations is to break down the behavior into behavioral categories.
• Overall what 2 limitation is there for the observational technique?

  
  

  A first limitation is that the results might be affected by observer bias the tendency for researchers making observations to see what they expect to see when conducting observations, making them less objective and less accurate.

  
  

  A second limitation is that it doesn’t tell us much about people’s thoughts and feelings.
• What is inter-relater reliability?


  A measure of how similar the data collected by different observers are and it assesses the external reliability of observations in an observational study.