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Goals of Research. Description Collecting systematic observations Prediction Establish relationships among variables Correlational research Explanation Establish cause and effect relationships Experiments Intervention Address a real-life problem Program Evaluation.
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Goals of Research • Description Collecting systematic observations • Prediction Establish relationships among variables Correlational research • Explanation Establish cause and effect relationships Experiments • Intervention Address a real-life problem Program Evaluation
Naturalistic Observation • Learning about behavior in a real-life setting • Observation without intervention vs. • Observation with intervention
Observation without Intervention • Situation not controlled by the researcher • Situation not created by the researcher
Advantages of Naturalistic Observation • Ecological Validity • External Validity • Can observe behaviors in situations it might be unethical to create
Threats to Observational Research • Reactivity • Ex. The Hawthorne Effect (Homans, 1965)
Social Roles of Participants Weber & Cook (1972) • Good Subject Role • Faithful Subject Role • Negativistic Subject Role • Apprehensive Subject Role
Avoiding Reactivity • Unobtrusive Observation • Deception • Directing the subject’s expectations away from the true purpose of the study • Subject is blind about their role • Double-blind study
Data Collection in Observational Studies • Narrative Record • Videotape and audio recordings • Quantitative measures of behavior
Quantitative Measures • Sampling • Representative samples • Methods of sampling • Time sampling • Event sampling • Situation sampling
Recording Quantitative Data • Coding
Observation with Intervention • To cause an event that occurs infrequently or that occurs under conditions that make it difficult to observe. • To investigate the limits of a response by varying the stimulus conditions • To arrange the situations so that conditions can be controlled and consequent behaviors can be easily observed.
Types of Observation with Intervention • Participant Observation • Disguised • Undisguised • Structured Observation • Field Experiment