1. Research Methods

2.  To have an understanding of observation
techniques.
 To know the strength's and limitations of this
type of study.

3.  In pairs Imagine that you were going into
the Big Brother house.
 Brainstorm ways that you would change
your behaviour.
 What wouldn’t you do?
 What would you do?
 Discuss in pairs.
 5 minutes.
 http://www.online-stopwatch.com/bomb-
countdown/

4.  When conducting participative observational
research the observer must be involved in the
study groups everyday activities. They will
notice how they behave and how they speak.
 A Number of issues can arise through this
method.

5.  Non- participant: watches from a distance
and is not directly involved with
participants.
 Participant : Researcher interacts with the
study group being observed.
 Two types of participant observation:
1) Covert – subjects do not know they are
being studied.
2) Overt - Subjects are aware they are being
studied.

6. Research ethics :Duty of care the researcher
owes to participants.
Ethical principles :
 Participants should be fully informed.
 Participants should not be harmed.
 Participants should not be specifically
identified.

7.  This is a conflict between the ethical
principles and the aim of the research.
 If the researcher asks for consent to observe
the participant's then they may act differently
– Demand characteristics.
 If they don’t ask and participants are being
observed they may act more naturally.

8.  Participant observation doesn't work unless
the researcher gains access to the group.
 Many groups don't want to be studied.
 May be hard to get a true representation of
the group.
 Participant observations maybe more
effective as a longitudinal study.

9.  Researchers want to observe people within
their natural environment.
 They may want to take notes of what they
say and do but also they may want to record
information- this can be an ethical issue.
 Sometimes the observer must play an active
role within the group rather in order to gain
more information.

10.  Getting access – You may not be able to
access the environment you wish to observe.
 Staying in - hard to maintain trust and keep
up your false identity.
 Getting out : Not easy to stop participating
with group.

11.  High Validity
 Can study social interaction both verbal and
non verbal.
 Empathy
 Researcher can see from the same
perspective as the group.
 Develops trust therefore more information
could be shared. Revealing secrets etc.

12.  Low reliability.
 Hard to replicate.
 Often samples are not representative-
difficult to generalise.
 Time consuming
 Lots of pressure on individual
 Data will be hard to quantify.

13.  “ Glasgow gangs” James Patrick (1973)
 “ Wheeling and dealing” Alder (1985)
 “Italian gangs” (1973) William F Whyte
 “ Cocaine Kids” ( 1986) Williams.

14.  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=
2218940492996010738
 During the video you are going to take
notes on :
 Who is he studying?
 How is he doing it?
 Any problems?
 Any ethical issues ?
 Strengths of the study

15. Design your own observational study.
Include :
Who you are going to observe.
What your looking for.
Benefits of this type of study.
Problems you may face – ethics.
Due in 17th October.