Observation

Front 1

Theory testing and Exploratory

Back 1

extent to which the study is testing a theory and exploring an issue (may generate formal research hypotheses)

Front 2

Experimental and Naturalistic

Back 2

observation in lab or controlled condition, criticized bc behaviour does not reflect real life.

observation in real world and is unobtrusive or immersed "going native" - inability to draw cause and effect

Front 3

Structured and Unstructured

Back 3

decide what to measure before it begins - no clear structure before hand may record everything "running record"

Front 4

Participant and Non

Back 4

The complete participant - fully involved and conceals observations - ethical issue and may cause bias and lose objectivity

Participant as an observer - take on or have meaningful role & observational role not wholly concealed

Observer as participant - join group with intention to observe can often be marginalised also relatively detached from group

The complete observer - no contact often through vid and observations

Front 5

Running record -ves and +ves

Back 5

can't observe everything lots of behaviours occur at same time, have to transfer data into analysable form

behaviour of a single child, event sampling: capturing rare events

Front 6

Before

After

Back 6

Antecendents & consequences

Front 7

Sampling

Back 7

rather than record everything try sample behaviour - single representation of something much larger

Front 8

Molar level and Molecular level

Back 8

Molar - large behavioural units (child displays aggression)

Molecular - child bites other kid

level of observation

Front 9

non-verbal behaviours

Back 9

bodily movements, gestures, expressions, and rate of movement

Front 10

spatial behaviours

Back 10

proximity, moving towards or away

Front 11

extralinguistic

Back 11

speaking rate, loudness, interruptions

Front 12

linguistic

Back 12

content of talk, detail and coherence

Front 13

Operational definitions

Back 13

is a clear, concise detailed definition of a measure

Front 14

Frequency sampling

Back 14

how often a behaviour occurs that is being measured rate per minute, per hour

Front 15

Duration sampling

Back 15

gives frequency, percentage of total time and duration - easier with longer behaviour, might need multiple observers.

neither sampling tells you the intensity or type of behaviour

Front 16

Ratings of behaviour

Back 16

0= standing still, 1= light activity such as walking etc. - require subjective evaluation minimise this through clear guidelines and operational definitions or compare ratings from multiple observers

Front 17

Example of multiple methods

Back 17

once an hour tally number of cows...interval

write down in detail behaviour of cow in stream...event sampling

Front 18

Observer effect

Back 18

being observed can effect the way people behave - reduced by unobtrusive observation, habituating participants to your presence

Front 19

Expectancy bias

Back 19

see what you want to see - use blind observers

Front 20

Observer bias

Back 20

a second observer can influence the accuracy and reliability of the observer

Front 21

Observer drift

Back 21

measurement of behaviour may change over time

Front 22

The degree to which observers agree is

Back 22

inter-rater and intra rater reliability

Front 23

inter-rater

Back 23

degree of agreement among raters

Front 24

intra-rater

Back 24

degree of agreement among repeated test administered by single observer

Front 25

inter-observer

Back 25

% agreement = no of times observer agree / number of opportunities to agree x 100