Observations

• Participant: observer has direct contact with the group of people they are observing. The researcher becomes a member of the group they are researching 
• Participant Advantages:

  as the researcher can experience the situation participants are going through, it gives them an increased insight to the experience -> increased validity of the findings
• Participant Disadvantages(2):

  The researcher may come to identify too strong with those in the study, which may cause them to lose objectivity

  The line between being a researcher and a participant becomes blurred 
• Natural: spontaneous behaviour is recorded in a natural setting
• Natural Advantages:

  high external validity, as findings can be generalised to everyday life -> behaviour is studied within the environment where it would usually occurred 
• Natural Disadvantages:

  Lack of control over variables, making replication difficult
• Covert: where the researcher does not tell the participants that they are being observed until after the study is complete.

  -> this could cause ethical problems or deception and consent 
• Covert Advantages:

  no participant reactivity because they do not know they are being observed

  all behaviour observed is natural -> increases the validity of the data
• Covert Disadvantages:

  Not ethical, as participants do not know they are being watched
• Non- participant: researcher does not have direct contact with people being served. The observation of participants' behaviour is from a distance
• Non-Participant Advantages:

  allows researcher to maintain an objectivity psychological distance from their participants, so less danger of them going "native"
• Non-Participant Disadvantages:

  Researchers may lose valuable insight in a participant observation as they are too far removed from the people and behaviour
• Controlled: behaviour is observed under controlled lab conditions
• Controlled Advantages:

  no extraneous variables, so replication is easy
• Controlled Disadvantages:

  May produce findings that cannot be applied to real life settings
• Overt: where a researcher tell the participants that they are being observed and what they are being observed for 
• Overt Advantages:

  Is ethical because participants have agreed to be observed 
• Overt Disadvantages:

  May produce findings that are not accurate, demand characteristics