Naturalistic Observation CHpt 12

Behavior list

List of predefined behaviors that the observer is trained to spot

Direct unobtrusive Measures

include hidden video or audio recordings or behavior samples.

Survey

is a structured set of questions or statements given to a group of people to measure their attitudes, beliefs, values, or tendencies to act.

Naturalistic Observation

is to study the behaviors of people or animals as they act in their everyday environments.

What occurs in Naturalistic observation involving animal and the experimenter's presence?

The subject realizes the presence of an outsider, observer hope the animal will become habituated to their presence that they will behave normal again

Self- selection Bais

Then the results of those who reply are reported, usually in a way implying that the results are valid. The person reporting the survey will try to impress you with the total number of returns rather than the representativeness of the sample.

Unobtrusive Measures

These are measures taken of behavior, either directly or indirectly, when the subject is unaware of the measurement being made.

Participant Observation

researchers will join a group being observed, or at least make their presence known to the group

Event Sampling

selects a specific set of events for observation of behavior; others are ignored.

Participant Reactivity

that is, your behavior would be influenced by the knowledge that you were being observed and recorded.

Stratified sample

the proportions of important subgroups in the population are represented precisely.

Cluster sample

the researcher randomly selects a cluster of people all having some feature in common.

Simple Random sample

this means each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected as a member of the sample.

Indirect unobtrusive measures

record events and outcomes one assumes resulted from certain behaviors even though the behaviors themselves were not observed.

Inter- Rater Reliability

refers to statistical measurements that determine how similar the data collected by different raters are. A rater is someone who is scoring or measuring a performance, behavior, or skill in a human or animal.

Inter-Observer Reliability

form of reliability is usually measured in terms of the percentage of times that observers agree.

Convenience Sample

group of individuals who meet the general requirements of the study and are recruited in a variety of nonrandom ways. Often they are from the "subject pool"—general psychology students being asked to participate in a study or two.

What are two strategies in which the observed behavior won't be affect by the experimenter's presence?

- the observer is hidden from those being studied - observer may not be present at all

Time Sampling

Behaviors are recorded in predefined times and only at those times. These times can be selected according to some rule, or they may be randomly selected.

Observer Bias

Having preconceive ideas about what will be observed and having those ideas color one's observation