PSY 2174 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Observational Study, Participant Observation, Social Anthropology
9 Apr 2020
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Chapter 7 - observational methods: watching and being with people. Procedure using observation in some way that may or may not be part of the experiment. Study is solely observational and does not include any experimentation. Informing people that they are the object of observation. Produces immediate data on real behaviour rather than possible distorted self-reports. Reactivity effects (people"s behaviour could be affected by the awareness of being observed) Can gather data on behaviour that is not amenable to experimentation (e. g. , playground aggression; many kinds of infant behaviour) Possible inability to identify cause and effect (children who watch more violent tv shows may display greater playground aggression, but this aggression could be a cause of the show selection) If conducted in field settings, can gather data on completely genuine behaviour unconstrained by laboratory or other artificial settings. Can be very time-consuming (especially participant observation) compared with the experiment or questionnaire study.
