observational design

• Behavioural categories

  The target behaviour to be observed should be broken up into a set of observable categories. This is similar to operationalisation.

  1. Limitation - Difficult to make clear and unambiguous. Categories should be self-evident and not overlap, not always possible to achieve. Smiling and grinning would be poor categories.
  2. Limitation - Dustbin categories. All forms of behaviour should be in the list and not one dustbin. Dumped behaviours go unrecorded.
• Event sampling

  A target behaviour/event is recorded every time it occurs.

  1. Strength - Useful for infrequent behaviour. The researcher will still pick up behaviours that do not occur at regular intervals. Such behaviours could easily be missed using time sampling
  2. Limitation - Complex behaviour oversimplified. If the event is too complex, important details may go unrecorded. This may affect the validity of the findings.
• Time sampling

  Observations are made at regular intervals

  1. Strength - reduces the number of observations. Rather than recording everything that is seen data is recorded at certain intervals. The observation is more structured and systematic.
  2. Limitation - May be unrepresentative. The researcher may miss important details outside of the timescale. May not reflect the whole behaviour.