Contents

CHAPTER 4: Observation 133indirect observation. Direct observation in a natural setting without interventionis called naturalistic observation. Observation with intervention can takethe form of participant observation, structured observation, and field experiments.An important advantage of indirect observational methods is that theyare nonreactive. Reactivity occurs when people change their behavior becausethey know they are being observed. Indirect, or unobtrusive, observations canbe obtained by examining physical traces and archival records. Physical tracesinclude use traces (natural or controlled) and products. Archival data are therecords of the activities of individuals, institutions, governments, and othergroups. Problems associated with physical traces include potential biases inhow traces accumulate or survive over time, and problems with archival datainclude selective deposit, selective survival, and the potential for spuriousrelationships in the data.In observational studies, behavior can be recorded either with a comprehensivedescription of behavior or by recording only certain predefined units ofbehavior. Narrative records are used to provide comprehensive descriptionsof behavior, and checklists typically are used when researchers are interestedin whether a specific behavior has occurred (and under what conditions). Frequency,duration, and ratings of behavior are common variables examined inobservational studies. The analysis of narrative records involves coding as onestep in data reduction. Content analysis is used to examine archival records.How quantitative data are analyzed depends on the measurement scale used.The four measurement scales are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. When anominal scale is used to record behavior (e.g., present, absent), data are summarizedusing proportions or percentages to indicate relative frequency of behavior.When describing ordinal data, researchers often describe results accordingto the percentage of people who ranked items first among a set of items. Whenbehavior is measured using interval and ratio scales, data are summarized usingthe mean and standard deviation. It is essential to provide measures of observerreliability when reporting the results of an observational study. Depending onthe level of measurement used, either a percentage agreement measure or a correlationcoefficient can be used to assess reliability.Possible problems due to reactivity or observer bias must be controlledin any observational study. One form of reactivity is when participants payattention to the demand characteristics of a research situation to guide theirbehavior. Observational methods in which the participants are not awarethey are being observed (e.g., disguised participant observation, unobtrusivemethods) limit reactivity; in other situations, participants may adapt to thepresence of an observer. Observer bias occurs when researchers’ biases determinewhich behaviors they choose to observe and when observers’ expectationsabout behavior lead to systematic errors in identifying and recordingbehavior (expectancy effects). Important steps in reducing observer bias are tobe aware of its presence and to keep observers blind regarding the goals andhypotheses of the study. Ethical issues must be considered prior to beginningany observational study. Depending on the nature of the observations, ethicalissues might include deception, privacy, informed consent, and the risk/benefit ratio.