PSYC 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Naturalistic Observation, Observer-Expectancy Effect, Participant Observation
Document Summary
Watching animals or humans behave in their normal environment. Limitations and ways of minimizing them: observer effect: tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when they know they are being observed. Participant observation: a naturalistic observation in which the observer becomes a participant in the group being observed (to reduce observer effect: observer bias: tendency of observers to see what they expect to see. Blind observers: people who do not know what the research question is (to reduce observer bias) Watching animals or humans behave in laboratory setting. Advantages: control over environment, allows use of specialized equipment. Limitations: arti cial situation that may result in arti cial behavior. Advantages: data from large numbers of people, study covert behaviors (get private information) Limitations: people are not always accurate, small variations in wording used or order of questions can affect outcomes, researchers have to ensure representative sample if interested in generalizing.
