Teacher needs Maths test – click here for copy Maths test Mark Scheme – Click here for copy MWBs and pens Notes: There is a lot to go through here, so push through the lesson ASAP after maths test.

Research Methods and Statistics Maths Skills - Test Observational research

But first - Homework Make sure you complete homework for lesson 4 on psych205 – memory Also Tracking test in 4 lessons time on everything you’ve studied so far. A tracking test tests you on your knowledge

The Maths test Answer all the questions. You have 35 minutes. Read the questions cqarefully and be thorough in your working and answers. Check answers. Mark scheme – click here Make sure you have recorded your score on your progress cards

Core skills: Three before me Research tells us that teachers just telling students things does not help students learn that well. You learn much better if you find out for yourself We like to practice ‘three before me’, in other words, try three resources to find something out before you ask the teacher. For example, notes, textbook, colleague, then me. After looking at the answers of the maths test, is there anything you don’t understand? Try the three before me on questions that you didn’t get right. Psychology can be challenging, so once you have tried the three resources, you may still need some clarification. Now it’s time to ask the teacher. Anyone still have any questions for me to help you with?

Define the types of Observations 1. On MWBs, identify six types of observation (without notes) Divide into six groups and define your type of observation on the BWBs (without notes) Group 1: Naturalistic Group 2: Controlled Group 3: Non-participant Group 4: Participant Group 5: Overt Group 6: Covert

Which is which Use three post-its, rip them in half so each half has some glue on it, and write the six examples below, one on each half. Go and stick it on the board which best matches the example (maybe some debate here) The researcher is… Secretly filming the participants’ behaviour Watching people at the shopping centre Recording in full view of the participants Setting up the environment for the study Joining the same club as the participants Recording participants from a distance

Answers Secretly filming the participants’ behaviour – Covert Observation Watching people at the shopping centre – Naturalistic Observation Recording in full view of the participants – Overt Observation Setting up the environment for the study – Controlled Observation Joining the same club as the participants – Participant Observation Recording participants from a distance – Non Participant Observation Anyone disagree? If so, what is your justification?

Observations usually use a number of these types together. For example, if a researcher joined a motorbike club, without telling any of the club, to observe their behaviour at social gatherings, this would be a? Participant, covert and naturalistic observation…

Choose the three types for each of the examples below. Up for the challenge? Try and do this on your own first, then see if you have the same answers as your friends. 1. A researcher secretly joins a religious cult to see if people are being brainwashed. 2. A researcher watches primary school children through a two way mirror in a playroom she set up to investigate behaviour, they know she is watching 3. A researcher observes the crowd at a football match on hidden CCTV cameras. 4. A researcher observes student behaviour during lunch breaks by enrolling on a course and pretending to be a mature student. He sits on a table on his own in the lunch room and watches. 5. Researchers observes student behaviour in an A-level class by watching a randomly selected lesson, sitting at the front of the room. Participant-covert-naturalistic Controlled-overt-non participant Non-participant -covert-naturalistic participant-covert-naturalistic Non-participant-overt-naturalistic

Three more definitions On your own on mini-white boards, what is meant by… Behavioural categories? Time Sampling? Event Sampling?

Three more definitions Behavioural categories: specific behaviours, list of relevant behaviours, mutually exclusive Time sampling: regular time interval, specific behaviour, ex. every ten seconds Event Sampling: records each relevant behaviour, time interval irrelevant

Core skills 3 - Evaluation Evaluation is key to success as a psychology student; you get more marks for evaluation than you do for description. Evaluation means assessing the ‘value’ of a theory, study, research method or anything else in psychology. Students can consider the value of something by giving positive or negative comments. For example, “the study is problematic because the small sample of participants means the findings cannot be generalised to a wider population” or “naturalistic observations are considered valuable because they allow the recording of natural behaviour free from researcher influence” Don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of practice to develop your evaluative skills over the next 20 months

Core skills 3 - Evaluation Discuss in pairs… Why do you think behavioural categories are important? To make it easier to interpret what is happening. Ex. ‘affection’ is hard to define and therefore difficult to observe, so breaking into simpler parts, such as ‘kissing, hugging, holding hands is easier to record. Why do you think time sampling is problematic? Behaviour that occurs outside the specific time interval will not be recorded, so important behaviour may be missed Why do you think event sampling is problematic? There maybe too much information to record at one time, so important behaviour may not be recorded.

Lets do an observation Divide into groups with at least four people. Those being observed are going to discuss what they did on holiday for three minutes Two of you volunteer to be observed and two or three of you volunteer to be the researchers.

The observers You will use the grid given by the teacher to tick what they are doing at a specific time interval (15 seconds) You will know when 15 seconds passes because you will hear a beep The teacher will start the students talking then start the timer, record from the first ‘beep’

Participants You will have a conversation about what you both did over the holiday. You may wish to decide who is going to begin. Try not to be too shy and just imagine you are in the canteen having a chat. Your data will remain confidential and will be destroyed at the end of the lesson Remember that you may wish to keep some things secret from your class mates, we don’t want to know everything!

Research assistant (teacher) Give the grid out to the researchers Use the 15 second interval timer from the link below. Make sure the sound is loud enough for the researchers to hear. Time for three minutes only https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOh- Lgz-eYg

Evaluation Observers: Compare your findings, are they the same? In other words, do you have inter-rater reliability? Observers: Was anything difficult? Participants: how did you feel?