PSYC 217 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Nonprobability Sampling, Feral Child, Naturalistic Observation
Document Summary
When doing naturalistic observation, there is a lot that can go wrong as there are multiple distractions that can cause the behaviour other than the independent variable. Systematic observation however involves observations of specific behaviours in a more controlled setting and coding is often introduced to categorise what is being observed. It allows us to control distractions, observations, the environment, and interactions. There are two ways to code information: qualitative + quantitative. Developmental psychologists use systematic observation a lot to study how children react in certain situations. Although so(cid:373)e s(cid:272)ie(cid:374)tists (cid:396)ely o(cid:374)ly o(cid:374) the (cid:374)u(cid:373)(cid:271)e(cid:396)s a(cid:374)d statisti(cid:272)s, they do(cid:374)"t tell us the e(cid:374)ti(cid:396)e pi(cid:272)tu(cid:396)e. it"s valuable knowledge to know the qualitative information. Furthermore, this type of research is essential for formulating new hypotheses which further enhance our scientific knowledge. It gives us rich i(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)atio(cid:374) that (cid:374)u(cid:373)(cid:271)e(cid:396)s (cid:272)a(cid:374)"t p(cid:396)o(cid:448)ide us as seen in the case studies mentioned below.
