1. 7.Naturalistic Methods What is naturalistic research, and why it is important? What is ecological validity, and why do naturalistic research designs have it? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an acknowledged or unacknowledged participant in observational research? What are case studies? What are their benefits and drawbacks? How are behaviors systematically coded to assess their reliability and validity? What is archival research, and what types of questions can it be used to answer?

2. Naturalistic Research and Ecological Validity Naturalistic Research Ecological Validity Research designs which describe and measure the behavior of people or animals as it occurs in their everyday lives. The extent to which the research is conducted in situation that are similar to the everyday life experiences of the participants (Aronson & Carlsmith, 1968)

3. Observational Research Research involving observation of behavior and recording of those observation in an objective way. Commonly used in psychology, anthropology, sociology, and many other fields. Research Used Unacknowledged Participants Research Used Acknowledged Participants Observers may obtain Ps’ natural reactions. X 1) Ethical Problems. 2) The activity of the observer may influence the process being observed. Researchers obtain data that require official permission X Reactivity

4. Case Studies A descriptive record of one or more individual’s experiences and behavior.

5. Systematic Coding Methods (1) What do you observe? (a) Define behavioral categories based on your theory or prediction. (b) Define exactly what behaviors are to be coded. (2) How do you record the observation? (a) Media: Video Recording, Tape Recording, etc. (b) Dependent Variables: Duration, Frequencies, etc. (3) What sampling strategies do you use? (a) Event Sampling? (b) Individual Sampling? Example: Rogoff (1990)

6. Archival Research Research involving analysis of any type of public records of behavior such as government records (e.g. wills, criminal records), newspaper articles, speeches, and letter of public figures, television and radio broadcasts. Content Analysis Analysis involving systematic coding of archival data. It includes the specification of coding categories and the use of more than one rater. Lee, Hallahan, & Horzog (1996)

7. Naturalistic Research Chart What kind of data are you going to obtain? Audio-Visual RecordsRecords of public behavior Observational Research Is the data single case? Yes Case Studies No Do participants know the observation? Yes Acknowledged Ps Research No Unacknowledged Ps Research Archival Research

8. Class Assignment: Video Analysis Tobin, Wu, & Davidson (1989). Preschool in Three Cultures: Japan, China, and the United States. Tasks (1) Watch the video and find the similarities and differences among these three cultures. (2) Using the observation sheet, create some behavioral categories that describe the setting or feature of the setting you think are significant (e.g. playground, lunch time, or structural features) (3) Discuss the teacher’s educational strategies and how they differ concerning to the culture?