observational techniques

• observation w/ Bobo: in the study by Bandura et al the behaviour of the children was observed at the end to determine how aggressive they were (DV), the toys were arranged in a fixed order for each child
• observation w/ Bobo: the experimenter sat quietly in the corner working while the child played for 20 minutes, the child was observed through a 1 way mirror by another researcher, a second observer was present for half of the participants and recorded his observations independently, this enabled inter-observer reliability to be calculated
• observation w/ Bobo: the observer did not know which condition the child has participated in (except if the child had been in one of the sessions w/ the male model who was 1 of the observers) the observers recorded what the child was doing every 5 seconds (providing 240 observations)
• observation w/ Bobo: responses were recorded in the following categories and produced an 'aggression score' for each child
• observation w/ Bobo: imitative aggression responces = physical any specific acts imitated, verbal aggression any phrases imitated, non-aggressive verbal responses such as saying 'he keeps coming back for more'
• observation w/ Bobo: partially imitative responses = mallet aggression uses mallet on toys other than Bobo, sits on Bobo doll but not aggressively
• observation w/ Bobo: non-imitative aggressive responses = punches Bobo doll, non-imitative physical and verbal aggression, aggressive acts directed at toys other than Bobo saying hostile things not said by the model, aggressive gun play
• observations should be consistent (i.e. reliable) which means that ideally 2 observers should produce the same record, the extent to which 2 (or more) observers agree is called inter-observer reliability, a general rule is that if there is more than 80% agreement on the observations the data have high inter-observer reliability
• naturalistic and controlled observation: in a naturalistic observation behaviour is studied in a natural situation where everything has been left as it is normally, in other words the researcher doesn't interfere in any way with what is happening
• there are 6 types of observation: naturalistic, controlled, overt, covert, participant and non-participant
• naturalistic and controlled observation: e.g. might include watching an infant playing in their normal (i.e. 'natural) environment, this might be a nursery school if that is an environment that the infant is used to
• naturalistic and controlled observation: observing an animal in a zoo could be considered a naturalistic observation because the environment is normal to them
• naturalistic and controlled observation: in a controlled observation some variables in the environment are regulated by the researcher, reducing the 'naturalness' of the environment and most importantly the naturalness of the behaviour being studied
• naturalistic and controlled observation: participants are likely to know they are being studied and the study may be conducted in a laboratory
• naturalistic and controlled observation: a controlled observation allows the researcher to investigate the effects of certain things on behaviour e.g. in Bandura's study of social learning theory various toys were present to see how the children would interact w/ these (this study was an experiment and observation was used to assess the DV)
• naturalistic and controlled observation: such 'things' are not the same as IVs unless another group of participants had a different set of toys as a comparison
• overt + covert observation: in both naturalistic and controlled observations the person being observed may be aware of the observations, this is called an overt observation since this is likely to have an effect on the naturalness of participants' behaviour observers try to be as unobtrusive as possible
• overt + covert observation: they may even way 1 way mirrors to they are hidden from view, but the study would still be classed as overt if participants know beforehand that they were being observed
• overt + covert observation: in a covert observation participants do not have any knowledge of being observed, at least not before or during the study they may be informed afterwards
• participant + non-participant observation: in most cases an observer is merely watching (or listening to)the behaviour of others and acts as a non-participant, the observer observes from a distance and does not interact w/ the people being observed
• participant + non-participant observation: the alternative is participant observation, in this case the observer is part of the group being observed, in both covert and overt observations the observer may be a participant unbeknownst to the people being observed
• observational studies in general S: observational studied have high validity they record what people actually do rather than what they say they do
• observational studies in general S: observations may capture spontaneous and unexpected behaviour
• observational studies in general S: observations are often used as a way to measure the DV in an experiment and therefore are a fundamental method of gathering data
• observational studies in general L: there is the serious issue of observer bias, it is difficult to be objective when making observations because what people observe is distorted by their expectations of what is likely or what they would hope to see, using more than 1 observer may reduce the risk of observer bias affecting the validity of the observations
• observational studies in general L: only observable behaviour is recorded and not information about what people think or feel , therefore data from observations must be interpreted carefully
• naturalistic and controlled observation S: naturalistic observation gives a realistic picture of spontaneous behaviour therefore it is likely to be high in ecological validity (though this may be less so if participants know they are being observed)
• naturalistic and controlled observation S: in a controlled observation an observer can focus on particular aspects of behaviour
• naturalistic and controlled observation L: in a naturalistic observation there is little control of all the other things that are happening, which may mean that something unknown to the observer may account for the behaviour observed
• naturalistic and controlled observation L: in a controlled observation the control comes at the cost of the environment feeling unnatural and participant's behaviour also being less natural as a result, therefore there is a trade-off between ecological validity and control
• overt + covert observation S: in covert observations participants are unaware of being observed and thus their behaviour is more natural
• overt + covert observation L: for overt observations participants are aware of being studied which may affect the naturalness of their behaviour - they may respond to demand characteristics
• overt + covert observation L: in covert observations there are important ethical issues - it is acceptable to observe people in a public place as long as the behaviours being observed aren't private ones, such as kissing your boyfriend
• overt + covert observation L: covertly observed participants by definition can't give consent although it may be possible to seek retrospective consent, both methods have contrasting strengths and limitations
• participant + non-participant observation S: participant observation may provide special insights into behaviour from the 'inside' that may not otherwise be gained
• participant + non-participant observation S: in non-participant observation observers are likely to be more objective because they are not part of the group being observed
• participant + non-participant observation L: participant observation is more likely to be overt and thus have issues of participant awareness
• participant + non-participant observation L: non-participant observation is more likely to be covert and then there are ethical issues, researchers therefore need to weigh up these strengths and limitations when designing observational research