1. Learning Objectives ALL will know the types of observation methods Most will understand the strengths and weaknesses of each type of observation. STARTER Think back to the strange situation. Discuss and write down the answers: A)What type of method was used in this study to gather the data? B)Can you remember the 2 different types of this method? Observations – Methods & Techniques 10 mins

2. Controlled Observation Naturalistic Observation The behaviour being studied is not interfered with but how you record what you see might be structured. The behaviour being studied is structured by you as well as those observing. E.g. the strange situation pp’s had to follow 8 episodes and the observers had 5 behaviours they had to rate every 15 seconds.

3. TASK 1 Work with a partner and take it in turns to observe each other. One person is person A and one is person B Person A should have a difficult task to do (answering some questions in the book) Person B should have a boring task. Each person has 2 minutes doing the task while the other person notes down aspects of the person’s behaviour

4. Task - Draw a table on across 1 page: TypeDescribeStrengths (AO1)Weaknesses (AO2) Controlled Naturalistic

5. TypeDescribe (A01)Strengths (A02)Weaknesses (A02) Controlled Researcher in some way manipulates the behaviour of the observers or the observed. Operationalised behavioural categories are also used. High levels of control over extraneous variables, so can establish a cause and effect relationship between IV and DV, therefore increasing the internal validity High reliability as everything is controlled, this means the research can be repeated consistently  May get demand characteristics where participant changes behaviour based on clues given off by the researcher.  Ethical issues – lack of informed consent if the person doesn't know they are being watched, they may get upset when they find out and withdraw their data

6. TypeDescribe (A01)Strengths (A02)Weaknesses (A02) Controlled Researcher in some way manipulates the behaviour of the observers or the observed. Operationalised behavioural categories are also used. High levels of control over extraneous variables, so can establish a cause and effect relationship between IV and DV, therefore increasing the internal validity High reliability as everything is controlled, this means the research can be repeated consistently  May get demand characteristics where participant changes behaviour based on clues given off by the researcher.  Ethical issues – lack of informed consent if the person doesn't know they are being watched, they may get upset when they find out and withdraw their data

7. Naturalistic Watching natural behaviour in a natural environment. No intervention or manipulation from the researcher. No room for demand characteristics as people don't know they are being watched, meaning ptt’s will not display demand characteristics. High ecological validity as its a real/natural environment – so you can generalise the results beyond the setting of the study  Naturalistic observations are almost impossible to replicate consistently this makes it lack reliability  Ethical issues – lack of informed consent when they don’t know they are being watched, meaning ptt’s may get upset when they find out and withdraw their data

8. Naturalistic Watching natural behaviour in a natural environment. No intervention or manipulation from the researcher. No room for demand characteristics as people don't know they are being watched, meaning ptt’s will not display demand characteristics. High ecological validity as its a real/natural environment – so you can generalise the results beyond the setting of the study  Naturalistic observations are almost impossible to replicate consistently this makes it lack reliability  Ethical issues – lack of informed consent when they don’t know they are being watched, meaning ptt’s may get upset when they find out and withdraw their data

9. Which one’s which

10. Dr. Frost was interested in observing the effect of females’ provocative dancing on levels of male aggression. A night club in Manchester was chosen for the observation. On Friday night, two observers rated how provocative females’ dancing was and counted the number of scuffles between males. On Saturday night, the observers sent in a female dance group who were instructed to dance twice as provocatively as the females did on Friday night. Again, they counted the number of scuffles between males. The results showed that the more provocative the females’ dancing, the more aggressive males were.

11. Dr. Smith was interested in observing the level of road rage in city centre areas compared to the countryside. She waited until 100-cars had passed her in Leeds city centre and Saddleworth moor and counted the number of times that a car horn was sounded. Results showed that road rage was more common in city centre areas than in the countryside.

12. Prof. Johnson was interested in observing the effects of oxygen on student alertness in class. He chose two A-level History classes of equal size and counted the number of times students yawned in an hour. After each lesson had finished, he went in to each room and collected a sample of the air. Results showed that one classroom had less oxygen in the air than the other, and this caused students to yawn more than those in the other classroom.

13. Dr. Greene was interested in the relaxation effects of music on people who use public transport. She selected two trains travelling from London to Manchester and played classical music in one train, then rock music in the other train. Results showed that people who listened to classical music were significantly more likely to close their eyes or fall asleep than those who listened to rock music.

14. Structured Observations unstructured Observations Uses ‘systems’ to organise observations Behavioural categories. Decide how to record the behaviour you are interested in. Sampling procedures. Who you are observing and when. The researcher records all relevant behaviour but has no system. The behaviour studied is largely unpredicatable Problem with this is too much to be recorded. Behaviours recorded will be most be visable not the most important ones.

15. Sampling procedures in structured observations. You have to be selective about the data you collect as if you watched someone continously it would take forever to write down. Event Sampling – Counting the number of times a certain behaviour occurs in an individual/s. Time Sampling – Set a timeframe to record behaviours. E.g every 30 seconds. Tick what you see.

16. HW - Thursday Research structured and unstructured observations. Create colourful revision materials on types and techniques of observations and their strengths and weaknesses. This could be in the form of a leaflet or poster. Revision diagrams with notes.

17. Plenary A Psychologist wishes to carry out a naturalistic observation on how aggressive toddlers are at a day care centre. Explain to the psychologist the benefits and drawbacks about this method (4 marks) Top your answer: I would tell the psychologist that a benefit of this method is…

18. I would tell the psychologist that a benefit of this method is participants will not show demand characteristics, I would tell the psychologist that a benefit of this method is high ecological validity, as people do not know they are being observed, meaning their behaviour will be natural as its set in a real environment, therefore the results can be generalised beyond the setting of the study.

19. I would tell the psychologist that a drawback of this method is that they lack reliability, I would tell the psychologist that a drawback of this method is that ethical issues may arise, as no extraneous variables are controlled, meaning they are almost impossible to replicate. such as informed consent as participants don’t know they are being watched, meaning when they find out they may get upset and want to withdraw their data.