Participant, Nonparticipant, Naturalistic, Overt And...

Mani Kallupurackal Evaluate participant, nonparticipant, naturalistic, overt and covert observations Participant Become part of the group you observe Form relationships with group members- may become subjective as they develop personal relationships with the members Record data on what they say, how they interact Be reflexive Researcher must reflect on their interpretation and how they are affected by joining the group Can get detailed knowledge about a group of people or phenomenon- because of the people unaware that they are being observed Attempts to reduce researcher bias because researcher is not supposed to impose their views Can provide holistic picture of a group of people or phenomenon because many aspects and characteristics can be included Problematic to record data immediately so there can be memory distortions Problematic to record data objectively since humans interpret situations in their own way Time-consuming and demanding physically and psychologically Mental resources used to become part of the group and investing in them Researcher can lose objectivity There is a risk of going native Balance detachment to retain objectivity with involvement with the group Non-participant Observer is not part of the participants, but may be in the same room. Take notes on what they say and how they interact Overt observation the participants are aware But then participants know they are being watched and may be reactive and invalidate data Covert observation theShow MoreRelatedObservational Techniques in Psychology946 Words   |  4 Pagesincluding naturalistic and controlled observations, non-participant and participant observations, structured and unstructured observations. Naturalistic observation is a research method commonly used by psychologists and other social scientists. This technique involves observing subjects in their natural environment. This type of research is often utilized in situations where conducting lab research is unrealistic, cost prohibitive, or would unduly affect the subjects behavior. Naturalistic observation