observations

• techniques - naturalistic observation

  watching and recording natural situation where researcher doesn't influence situation of participants in any way - aims to record real life behaviour e.g. watching infants play in nursery

  strengths - high ecological validity - low demand characteristics

  weaknesses - low internal validity - difficult to replicate
• techniques - controlled observation

  watching and recording behaviour in environment which has been regulated and controlled by researcher (e.g. in laboratory) - allows researcher to test specific situations whilst also reducing influence of extraneous variables

  strengths - high control (internal validity) - easy to replicate

  weaknesses - low ecological validity - high demand characteristics
• overt observations


  when participants are made aware their behaviour is being watched and recorded regardless of setting - as awareness often impacts how naturally participants behave observers try to be as unobtrusive as possible

  strength - ethical (can observe in non public places)

  weakness - high demand characteristics
• covert observations 


  when participants aren't made aware their behaviour is being watched and recorded - in a covert observation participants won't have given informed consent to take part - behaviour observed in secret like a balcony or hidden camera

  strength - low demand characteristics

  weakness - lack of informed consent
• non participant observations


  when researcher remains separate from people they are studying and record behaviour in a more objective manner - observer watches behaviour from a distance and doesn't interact with people being observed - more common than participant observations because it may be impractical or impossible to join particular groups

  strength - low investigator effects

  weakness - lack of first hand insight
• participant observations 


  when observer is part of the group being observed - observer watches behaviour fro within the social situation being studied acting as one of the group and interacting with group being observed (may effect objectivity) e.g. joining a criminal gang

  strength - gives first hand insight into behaviour

  weakness - suffers from investigator effects
• observer bias


  when observers expectations influence what the researcher sees or hears or the data they record - makes observation less objective and reduces the internal validity of the findings
• design - event sampling 


  involves continuously watching a certain behaviour and counting the number of times that event occurs in a target group or individual - ensures no behaviours are missed and generates a great deal of data for analysis

  strength - doesn't overlook important behaviours

  weakness - might suffer from observer bias
• design - time sampling 


  involves watching and recording behaviour at specific time intervals - e.g. recording what the target individual or group are doing every 30 seconds or every minute

  strength - reduces observer bias

  weakness - might overlook important behaviours
• behavioural categories


  dividing target behaviour like stress into a subset of specific, observable behaviours - e.g. affection broken down into 'hugging' 'kissing' and 'holding hands'