...Observations Naturalistic observations- Naturalistic relates to an unchanged, normal environment within which the subject of the study functions. Observation stands for the requirement of watching how someone behaves in order to gather data. Naturalistic observation, therefore, is a method of observing people in their normal environment it rrefers to gathering data without interfering with the current behaviour. Advantages- It is all natural behavior: When there is no effect on the behaviors of the subject, the data collected is much more honest. People show their true feelings, reactions, and behaviors when they are not being examined or observed. It aids research validation: Naturalistic observation is used to confirm results from experiments that have already been done. They help to check or disprove this data because it gives a truly precise account of results. Portrays things in the view of the real world: The tests can be directed in a real world setting. This makes the answers that are gained much more relevant to the hypothesis’s impact in true, real life settings. This is a type of view that is much more problematic, or nearly impossible, to get with other types of experiments and observations that can be done. It allows you to study unethical topics: It allows the researcher to gather valuable data, without intruding the emotional wellbeing of the subject Disadvantages- Outside influences: When doing the observation you have no control over the effects...
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...P3: Compare different research methodologies for health and social care. In this assignment I will compare different research methodologies for health and social care. The methodology is the overall approach you select to conduct your research – for example, whether you will use a scientist or social; science methodology. It includes the specific methods you will use and the literature search to contextualise your project within existing knowledge and understanding of the subject. Primary research involves seeking new knowledge that has not been previously published. The researcher gathers new data from participant or by examining objects, material or data in a different way from previous studies. Primary research in health and social care often involves gathering data from individuals. Surveys using questionnaires and interviews are commonly used techniques and participants may be users of services or members of the public. Secondary research is about finding out new information or understanding, a researcher needs to know what the existing information and understanding about the topic is, as published in books, journals and on the internet. Secondary research is essential for any research project. All researchers need to read widely around their subject of interest sp that they are aware not just of long-established knowledge but also of new knowledge that is emerging while they are doing their own research. Quantitative research involves numbers and measuring quantities...
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...Examine the reasons why some sociologists choose not to use overt observation when conducting research There are several types of observation to distinguish between. Firstly, non-participation observation where the researcher simply observes the group or event without taking part in it, for example, using a two-way mirror to observe children playing with toys. There is also participant observation where the researcher actually takes part in the event or the everyday life of the group while observing it. Secondly there is overt observation, in which the researcher makes their true identity known to those being studied and the sociologists is open about what they are doing. On the other hand, there is covert observation in which the study is carried out under cover. The researcher’s real identity and purpose are kept concealed from the group being studied. The researcher takes on a false identity and role, usually posing as a genuine member of the group. Sociologists face two main issues when conducting a participant observation study; getting in, staying in and getting out of the group being studied and whether to use covert or overt observation. To do a study, the sociologists needs to first gain entry to a group and some groups are easier to enter than others, for example, joining a football crowd is likely to be easier than joining a criminal gang. Making the initial contact with the group may depend on personal skills, having the right connections or even by pure chance...
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...Evaluate the advantages that some sociologists see in using participant observation in their research. (16 marks) A participant observation refers to when the researcher joins in with group he or she is studying. This method is usually favoured by interpretivists as they can understand the meaning behind the behaviour of the group they observe. By putting themselves in the shoes of the participants they can understand why people act in certain ways. This could be particularly helpful in understanding behaviour which is very removed from our normal lives, for example gang behaviour. There are two types of observation, covert and overt. In a covert observation the participants do not know you are observing them for research. In overt observations the participants do. An advantage of participant observations is that they are valid. What people say they do in a questionnaire and what they actually do in real life are not always same thing. By contrast, by observing people we can obtain rich qualitative data that provides a picture of how they really live. Supporters of participant observation such as interpretivists argue that this is the methods main strength and most of its other advantages are linked to this. However a disadvantage of participant observation is practical issues. For example it is very time consuming because it can take years. The researcher also needs to be trained so they are able to recognise aspects of the situation which are sociologically significant and...
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...Unit Aims This unit aims to develop learners’ understanding of the purpose of research in the health and social care sectors. Learners will be able to explore different research methodologies, enable them to plan and conduct their own research relating to a health or social care issue and evaluate the success of the outcomes. Unit Objectives 1 Understand the function of research in health and social care 2 Understand ethical issues relating to research in health and social care 3 Understand research methodologies relevant to health and social care 4 Be able to plan for a research project 5 Be able to conduct research relevant to a health and social care context 6 Be able to interpret research findings WHAT IS RESEARCH? Research is a planned process in which information is collected systematically for a specific purpose, analysed and reported. Research can have many different functions in health and social care. Functions of Research In pairs read through the following study and discuss the function(s) that the research can be used for. Aim: Hofling (1966) aimed to discover whether nurses would comply with an instruction which would involve them having to infringe both hospital regulations & medical ethics. The intention was to test the strength of the doctor-nurse relationship, regarding how far a nurse would go to comply with doctor’s orders against their own code of professional conduct. Procedure: ...
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...conducting research. 1. You are conducting research on sex differences in e-mails. Your hypothesis is that men use more declarative statements and women use more questions. Answer each of the following questions. * What might be the advantages of using the archival method? The archival method is advantageous in this situation because of the possible availability of existing data that can be used. The use of census documents, college records etc. could provide valuable information to confirm the theory that men use declarative statements and women ask questions. Additionally, the archival method can be less expensive. * What might be the disadvantages of using the archival method? The disadvantage to this method is the possibility of the lack of usable data to support the statements or that the data could be inaccessible. 2. Now imagine that you are conducting research on the length of time it takes customers to select items in a grocery store. Assume that your hypothesis is that people will spend more time deciding on more expensive items than on cheaper items. * What might be the advantages of using naturalistic observation? When observing customer behaviors when selecting expensive items the advantage of the naturalistic...
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...With reference to item D, it is seen that the elderly are an increasingly large social group. Using participant observation means that the researcher can achieve a first-hand perspective on the elderly population’s experiences. Participant observation has many advantages. It indulges the researcher into achieving valid research and the participation means that in the meantime questions can be raised that were never initially considered beforehand. Another advantage is researchers can examine the experiences and issues that the elderly people face, as they play a part of their lives. On the other hand to produce qualitative research, the researcher would have to carry out participant observation in several care homes to analyse the treatment towards different social classes and obtain broader research on how gender and ethnicity may impact elderly experiences. However a disadvantage of this is that it would be extremely time consuming. With doing participant observation the characteristics of the researcher are also important. Characteristics as to whether the researcher is bias can dominate the findings, as a stereotypical view will remove validity, also the researcher’s age can impact the findings because of the views elderly people may hold, and for example they believe that young people are immature and disobedient. The case of the investigation is sensitive for many reasons; therefore the researcher would have to be capable of building a rapport with the individual. However...
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...What is Psychology? * Psychology – Scientific study of behavior and mental processes. * Behavior - outward or overt actions and reactions. * Mental processes - Internal , covert activity of our minds. * Psychology is a science * Prevent possible biases from leading to faulty observations * Precise and careful as they can. Psychology’s Four Goals * Description * What is happening? * Explanation * Why is it happening? * Theory - general explanation of a set of observations or facts * Prediction * Will it happen again? * Control * How can it be changed? Structuralism * Structuralism - focused on structure or basic elements of the mind. * Wilhelm Wundt’s psychology laboratory * Germany in 1879 * Developed the technique of objective introspection – process of objectively examining and measuring one’s thoughts and mental activities. * Edward Titchener * Wundt’s student; brought structuralism to America. * Washburn * Titchener’s student; first woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. * Structuralism died out in early 1900s. Functionalism * Functionalism - how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play. * Proposed by . * Influenced the modern fields of: * Educational psychology * Evolutionary psychology * Industrial/organizational psychology Gestalt Psychology * Gestalt – “ an organized whole ”...
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...Kimberly Greenway Liberty University What is a case study? In psychology a case study is an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles. A case study analyzes the subject’s life to understand pattern and causes of behavior. What are some reasons for using a case study approach? Case studies can be used to collect data that involves a person’s individual behavior. This allows a person to obtain a detailed profile of the person being studied. This can provide clear insight for further or future research. Case studies allow researchers a possibility to investigate which is impossible in a laboratory where other research may be conducted. What are advantages and disadvantages of this approach? Some advantage of case studies can help generate new methods that may help or be tested later by other research methods. Case studies can provide detailed information, as wells as in depth information on individuals. Also, some unusual cases can help give a clear understanding on some situations or problems that are unethical so they may be studied in other ways. Some disadvantages of this approach are that vital information may be missing, or may be difficult to interpret. Someone’s memory may be selective or even inaccurate. The case study may also be difficult to replicate and can be very time consuming. Another disadvantage is it may also be difficult to draw definite cause-effect conclusions from your case study. There...
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...Methods Overt observation- the researcher makes their true identity and the truth as to what they are carrying out known to the people or subject being studied. It avoids ethical problems of deceit It allows them to ask obvious questions that would seem strange if they were using overt observation The observer can record research openly They can use interview methods The disadvantages: A group may refuse researchers study on their group The group or subject may act differently ‘’we only show you want you want to see’’ Covert observation- the researcher hides their true identity as a researcher from the group being studied Practical issues- it reduces the risk of altering peoples behavior and sometimes is the only way to get valid information Laud Humphreys (1970) study of gay men in toilets It requires the researcher to keep up an act, which could potentially be blown at any small mistake, which could determine the results of the study. (Could be practically dangerous if in a gang as violence or physical harm could come to the researcher) Ethical issues: Some people find it immoral to deceive people and obtaining information from them by pretending about who they are. Some researchers may have to abruptly leave a group without an explanation They may have to participate in violent or immoral or illegal activities They may have legal duty to report them Advantages of participant observation: 1. validity 2. insight 3. flexibility 4. practical...
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...Examine the advantages and disadvantages of using both positivist and interpretivist methods of research (20) Positivism is a theoretical point of view which concentrates on social facts, scientific methods and quantitative data. The research methods that are commonly used by positivists are questionnaires, structured interviews, structured non-participant observation and official statistics. These methods are used as they are objective and reliable. One sociological study that used positivist methods was Durkheim’s Suicide Study. Durkheim used official statistics to study suicide and demonstrate society as a science with its own distinct subject matter. One advantage of using positivist methods of research is that the data is that the data is easy to analyse. Using quantitative data means that there is less information which makes it easier to categorise and therefore makes it easy to create tables and graphs allowing easy analysis and making trends more identifiable. Also with the data being easy to analyse and categorise it also makes it easy for comparisons to make against existing research and data. A second advantage of using positivist methods of research is that the data is high in reliability. Positivists often use questionnaires and structured interviews to test reliability as the questions are controlled and therefore can be repeated. Research is considered reliable if other researchers can find similar results asking the same questions and showing consistency...
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...5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Participant Observation DeMUNCK and SOBO (1998) provide several advantages of using participant observation over other methods of data collection. These include that it affords access to the "backstage culture" (p.43); it allows for richly detailed description, which they interpret to mean that one's goal of describing "behaviors, intentions, situations, and events as understood by one's informants" is highlighted (p.43); and it provides opportunities for viewing or participating in unscheduled events. DeWALT and DeWALT (2002) add that it improves the quality of data collection and interpretation and facilitates the development of new research questions or hypotheses (p.8). [13] DeMUNCK and SOBO also share several disadvantages of using participation as a method, including that sometimes the researcher may not be interested in what happens out of the public eye and that one must rely on the use of key informants. The MEAD-FREEMAN2)controversy illustrates how different researchers gain different understanding of what they observe, based on the key informant(s) used in the study. Problems related to representation of events and the subsequent interpretations may occur when researchers select key informants who are similar to them or when the informants are community leaders or marginal participants (DeMUNCK & SOBO, 1998). To alleviate this potential bias problem, BERNARD (1994) suggests pretesting informants or selecting participants...
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...Business Research Method RES/320 Business Research Methods Chapter 7: 2. How do data from qualitative research differ from data in quantitative research? The difference in data from qualitative research and data from quantitative research is found in their root words, quality and quantity. Qualitative research data is the opinions of a certain group. This research also captures the why, would, and how the target audience react to certain issues, situations, and/or products. The data is really useful and in-depth and used primarily by focus groups and interviews. Quantitative research data is truly about numbers, statistics. Therefore, the researchers have to make an effort to contact as many people as they can to get a realistic conclusion of what the surveyors are attempting to convey to the researchers. The researchers need to know who, when, how many, and how often, etc.? The data is collected through telephone, postal, face-to-face, back of the receipt, and online surveys. Researchers will have to understand that conducting qualitative and quantitative data simultaneously is an option to gather adequate data to obtain the necessary information for a productive solution. Chapter 7: 5. Assume you are a manufacturer of small kitchen electrics, like Hamilton Beach/Proctor Silex, and you want to determine if some innovative designs with unusual shapes and colors developed for the European market could be successfully...
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...series of ‘snippets’ of information that should broaden and deepen students’ knowledge of this subject area. This document is designed primarily to extend students’ learning and should be completed in conjunction with other course material such as textbooks. Students should click on the links and answer the questions, expanding the boxes as they go. |Participant observation, grounded theory and action research | | | |Click on the Wikipedia entry for participant observation: | |http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participant_observation | | | |What is participant observation? | | | | ...
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...Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research Methods There are a number of observational methods when conducting research. Generally, they are split into either qualitative or quantitative methods. Qualitative methods collect data in which the data cannot be quantified. Quantitative methods collect data which is then statistically analyzed. Each method each has its own advantages and disadvantages. As Cozby (2009) indicates, qualitative research focuses on behavior in natural settings. Sample sizes are smaller however, more in-depth information is gathered (Cozby, 2009). This information, or data, is then interpreted by researchers (Cozby, 2009). As listed in Table 1, naturalistic observation or field observation is a type of qualitative research. Conversely, quantitative research focuses on “specific behaviors that can be easily quantified,” (Cozby, 2009). Numerical values are assigned to the responses in data collection, and as such can be represented in a statistical analysis (Cozby, 2009). Empirical research is considered quantitative research. Two examples of quantitative methods to study giftedness include case study method and sampling method. For example, a perceived gifted child could be identified and observed at several developmental points in his or her life. In this way, data on all behaviors and actions that supersede normal expectations could be noted and recorded. A good example of a qualitative method for studying giftedness is psychobiography (Tewksbury...
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