Contents

100 PART II: Descriptive MethodsHartup’s study shows how naturalistic observation can be a useful methodof gaining knowledge about children’s aggression within moral and ethicalconstraints.Observation with Intervention• Most psychological research uses observation with intervention.• The three methods of observation with intervention are participantobservation, structured observation, and the field experiment.• Whether “undisguised” or “disguised,” participant observation allowsresearchers to observe behaviors and situations that are not usually open toscientific observation.• If individuals change their behavior when they know they are beingobserved (“reactivity”), their behavior may no longer be representative oftheir normal behavior.• Often used by clinical and developmental psychologists, structuredobservations are set up to record behaviors that may be difficult to observeusing naturalistic observation.• In a field experiment, researchers manipulate one or more independentvariables in a natural setting to determine the effect on behavior.It’s not a secret. Scientists like to “tamper” with nature. They like to intervenein order to observe the effects and perhaps to test a theory. Intervention, ratherthan nonintervention, characterizes most psychological research. There arethree important methods of observation that researchers use when they chooseto intervene in natural settings: participant observation, structured observation,and the field experiment. The nature and degree of intervention varies acrossthese three methods. We will consider each method in turn.Key ConceptKey ConceptParticipant Observation In participant observation, observers play a dual role:They observe people’s behavior and they participate actively in the situationthey are observing. In undisguised participant observation, individuals who arebeing observed know that the observer is present for the purpose of collectinginformation about their behavior. This method is used frequently by anthropologistswho seek to understand the culture and behavior of groups by livingand working with members of the group.In disguised participant observation, those who are being observed do notknow that they are being observed. As you might imagine, people do not alwaysbehave in the way they ordinarily would when they know their behavioris being recorded. As we’ll discuss later in this chapter, a major problem whenobserving behavior is reactivity. Reactivity occurs when people react to thefact they are being observed by changing their normal behavior. Remember,researchers want to describe people’s usual behavior. Therefore, researchersmay decide to disguise their role as observers if they believe that people beingobserved will change their behavior once they know their activities are beingrecorded. Disguised participant observation raises ethical issues (e.g., privacyand informed consent) that must be addressed prior to implementing the study.We have considered these ethical issues in Chapter 3 and will discuss them furtherlater in this chapter.