Observational Design

Structured and Unstructured Design:Unstructured observation is where the observer writes down everything they see. This produces accounts of behaviour that are rich in detail. This method is appropriate for small scale observations that involve few participants e.g. observing the interaction between a couple and a therapist doing marriage counselling More detailed accounts Greater risk of observer bias Researcher may only record those behaviours that 'catch the eye' and these may not be the most important or useful Reduces qualitative data which is harder to record and analyse Structured observations are where the observer records behaviour from a pre-determined list of behaviours. Sometimes there is too much going on in a single observation for the researcher to record it all. Therefore it is important to simplify the target behaviours that will become the main facts of the investigation e.g. if the target behaviour was aggression and the setting was a school playground, the specific acts (verbal/physical) that make up the target behaviour would need to be clearly defined. Makes the recording of data easier Data produced is likely to be numerical making it easier to analyse and compare Reduced risk of observer bias

Behavioural Categories:In order to produce a structured record of what a researcher observes it is necessary to break the target behaviour up into a set of behavioural categories. Target behaviours to be studied should be clearly defined and made observable and measurable e.g. the target behaviour 'affection' can be broken down into hugging, kissing, holding hands, smiling etc. Categories need to be observable, measurable and self-evident (should not require further investigation) Categories should not overlap

Sampling Methods:In unstructured observations, all behaviour is recorded however for complex behaviours this isn't always possible. The researcher should use a systematic way of sampling; either event or time sampling. Event sampling involves counting the number of times a particular behaviour occurs in a target individual/group Useful when target behaviour doesn't happen very often If the behaviour is too complex the observer may overlook important details Time sampling involves recording behaviour within a pre-established time frame e.g. every 5 minutes Reduces the number of observations that have to be made Data sampled may be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole

Inter-observer reliability:If researchers conduct observations on their own they may miss important details or may only notice behaviours that confirm their hypothesis. This introduces bias into the research process. To make data more objective and unbiased, observations should be carried out by at least 2 researchers. However it is important that pairs of observers are consistent in their judgements and that only data recorded is the same or very similar. Observers must be trained to establish inter-observer reliability; Observers should familiarise themselves with the behavioural categories to be used They then observe the same behaviour at the same time perhaps as part of a small scale pilot study Observers should compare the data they have recorded and discuss any differences in interpretations Finally observers should analyse the data from the the study. Inter-observer reliability is calculated by correlating each pair of observations made and an overall figure is produced