Observational Designs

Cards (7)

  • What is an unstructured observation?
    The researcher will note down any behaviours that are of interest as they occur, there are no predetermined set of behaviours to look out for.
  • What are the two types of structured observations?
    Event and time
  • What is a structured event observation?
    The researcher identifies a target behaviour (event) and then records each time this event occurs during the observation.
  • What is a structured time observation?
    The researcher records the behaviour of the group or individual in a fixed time frame (e.g. every 60 seconds)
  • What is a strength and limitation structured event observation?
    Strength - can detect infrequent behaviours
    Weakness - it's more complex - important details may be overlooked
  • What is a strength and limitation structured time observation?
    1. Strength - reduced workload, not as many observations have to be made
    2. Limitation - unrepresentative
  • What do you write about and decide when making a observational study?
    • Identify the type of observation:
    Natural/controlledovert/covert, ppt/non-ppt
    • Then structured or unstructured? If given choice pick structured
    • If unstructured:
    No further points needed.
    • If Structured:
    Decide whether to use time or event sampling, always give a
    justification for your answer.
    Create a behavioural checklist with operationalised categories.