Observations Research Methods

Learning Objectives :

To have an understanding of observation techniques.

To know the strength's and limitations of this type of study.

In pairs Imagine that you were going into the Big Brother house.

Brainstorm ways that you would change your behaviour.

What wouldn’t you do? What would you do? Discuss in pairs. 5 minutes. http://www.online-stopwatch.com/bomb-co

untdown/

Starter

When conducting participative observational research the observer must be involved in the study groups everyday activities. They will notice how they behave and how they speak.

A Number of issues can arise through this method.

Observational Research

Non- participant: watches from a distance and is not directly involved with participants.

Participant : Researcher interacts with the study group being observed.

Two types of participant observation: 1) Covert – subjects do not know they are being studied. 2) Overt - Subjects are aware they are being studied.

Observational methods

Research ethics :Duty of care the researcher owes to participants.Ethical principles : Participants should be fully informed. Participants should not be harmed. Participants should not be specifically

identified.

Ethics in Observational research.

This is a conflict between the ethical principles and the aim of the research.

If the researcher asks for consent to observe the participant's then they may act differently – Demand characteristics.

If they don’t ask and participants are being observed they may act more naturally.

Ethical Dilemma

Participant observation doesn't work unless the researcher gains access to the group.

Many groups don't want to be studied. May be hard to get a true representation

of the group. Participant observations maybe more

effective as a longitudinal study.

Access

Researchers want to observe people within their natural environment.

They may want to take notes of what they say and do but also they may want to record information- this can be an ethical issue.

Sometimes the observer must play an active role within the group rather in order to gain more information.

Conducting the experiment

Getting access – You may not be able to access the environment you wish to observe.

Staying in - hard to maintain trust and keep up your false identity.

Getting out : Not easy to stop participating with group.

Problems

Sampling observational data – Event sampling (keeps count each time a behaviour occurs – problems with this? Inter-rater reliability?) and time sampling (records behaviours during set time intervals)

Unstructured observations (records all relevant behaviour but has no system – like Rosenhan)

Structured observations (need to develop behavioural categories like Bandura)

How to make observations

Strengths and Weaknesses?

High Validity Can study social interaction both verbal and

non verbal. Empathy Researcher can see from the same

perspective as the group. Develops trust therefore more information

could be shared. Revealing secrets etc.

Strengths

Low reliability. Hard to replicate. Often samples are not representative-

difficult to generalise. Time consuming Lots of pressure on individual Data will be hard to quantify.

Limitations

Design your own observational study.Include :Who you are going to observe.What your looking for.Benefits of this type of study.Problems you may face – ethics.

Task