Observational Designs

• 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/controlled, overt/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.