Observational design

• Inter-observer reliability

  • Single observers may miss important details or may only notice events that confirm their hypothesis.
  • To make data more unbiased, observations should be carried out by at least 2 researchers.
  • Then data is compared to check for consistency.
• Behavioural categories

  The target behaviour to be observed should be broken up into a set of observation categories.
• Limitations of behavioural categories

  • Difficult to make clear as categories should be self-evident and not overlap which isn’t always possible to achieve.
  • There should not be a ‘dustbin category’ as all forms of behaviour should be on the list.
• Event sampling

  A target behaviour is recorded every time it occurs.
• Strength of event sampling

  Useful for infrequent behaviour as these behaviours could be missed using time sampling.
• Limitation of event sampling

  Complex behaviour is oversimplified, and if the event is too complicated it may be overlooked which can affect the validity of the findings.
• Time sampling

  Observations are made at regular intervals.
• Strength of time sampling

  Reduces the number of observations rather than recording everything that is seen, therefore the observation is more structured.
• Limitation of time sampling

  May be unrepresentative as the researcher may miss important details outside of the timescale, meaning the findings may not reflect the whole behaviour.