PSY311H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Ethology
Document Summary
Very difficult to do, very problematic, a lot of time. More natural and realistic than experiment or questionnaire. Appropriate for studying children because they are prone to behaving differently in an. Exploration: to determine whether or not a phenomenon exists. Description: examining a phenomenon to more fully define it or to differentiate it from other phenomena. Prediction: identifying relationships that enable us to speculate about one thing by knowing about some other thing. Descriptive methods are always popular as a result of: Urgent and applied need for descriptive information about age changes. Influence of ethology (description, classification, and analysis of animal behavior) Electronic recording which permits observation and analysis of complex behavior. The study of behavior in its natural setting (also called field study). Often a descriptive method: unnatural setting. up by experimentation. Diary descriptions: recording of developmental changes that occur. Demands prolonged and frequent contact with the child. Specimen descriptions: similar, in the sense that they are narrative records.
