evaluating observation

• Overt observation suffers from the Hawthorne effect,where people change their behavior if they are being watched.
• Participant observation can lead the researcher to become too emotionally involved in the participants,and not be able to view them scientifically.
• Observations produces highly valid-qualitative data-especially participant observation.
• But some samples can be very difficult to access. For example,children and prisoners are hard to observe.
• Covert observation is unethical because participants have not given informed consent.