Observing Behavior People do observation in daily life context for safety or for proper behavior. However, there are differe

Observing Behavior
    Good morning, everyone! Today we’ll look at how to observe behavior in research. Perhaps you would say it’s easy in that there’s nothing extraordinary. Yes, you may be right. All of us observe behavior every day. For example, when traveling in another country, we can avoid embarrassment by observing how people behave in that culture. And failing to be observant while walking or driving can be life-threatening.
    We learn by observing people’s behavior. Researchers, too, rely on their observations to learn about behavior, but there are differences. For instance, when we observe casually, we may not be aware of factors that bias our observations. And, and when we rarely keep formal records of our observations, instead, we rely on our memory of events. Observations in research, on the other hand, are made under precisely defined conditions, that is, in a systematic and objective manner, and with careful record-keeping. Then how are we going to conduct observations in our research studies and what do we need to do in order to make a scientific and objective observation?
    Now as you remember, the primary goal of observation is to describe behavior. But it is, in reality, impossible to observe and describe all of a person’s behavior. So we have to rely on observing samples of people’s behavior. In doing so, we must decide whether the samples represent people’s usual behavior. Thus, we’ll first take a brief look at how researchers select samples of behavior. Before conducting an observation or study, researchers must make a number of important decisions. That’s about when and where observations will be made. As I’ve said before, the researcher cannot observe all behavior. Only certain behaviors occurring at particular times in specific settings can be observed. In other words, behavior must be sampled. In this lecture, I’ll briefly introduce two kinds of sampling, that is, time sampling and situation sampling.
    Now first, time sampling. Time sampling means that researchers choose various time intervals for their observation. Intervals may be selected systematically or randomly. Suppose we want to observe students’ classroom behavior. Then in systematic time sampling, our observations might be made during five twenty-minute periods beginning every hour. The first observation period could begin at 9 a.m., the second at 10 a.m. and so forth. However, in random sampling, these five twenty-minute periods may be distributed randomly over the course of the day; that is to say, intervals between observation periods could vary, some longer, others shorter.
    One point I’d like to make is, systematic and random time sampling are not always used in isolation. They are often combined in studies. For example, while observation intervals are scheduled systematically, observations within an interval are made at random times. That means the researcher might decide to observe only during fifteen-second intervals, but randomly distributed within each twenty-minute period.
    Now let’s come to situation sampling. Then what is situation sampling? It involves studying behavior in different locations and under different circumstances and conditions. By sampling as many different situations as possible, researchers can reduce the chance that their observation results will be particular to a certain set of circumstances and conditions. Why? Because people, or for that manner animals, do not behave in exactly the same way across all situations. For example, children do not always behave the same way with one parent as they do with the other parent, and animals do not behave the same way in zoos as they do in the wild. So by sampling different situations, a researcher can make more objective observations than he would in only a specific situation.
    Having discussed ways to sample behavior in research, we are now moving on to another issue, that is, what researcher should do to record behavior as it occurs, that is, whether researchers are active or passive in recording behavior. This refers to the methods of observation. Observational methods can be classified as observation with intervention, or observation without intervention.
    Observation with intervention can be made in at least two ways — participant observation and field experiment. In participant observation observers, that is researchers, play a dual role. They observe people’s behavior and they participate actively in the situation they are observing. If individuals who are being observed know that the observer is present to collect information about their behavior, this is undisguised participant observation. But in disguised participant observation, those who are being observed do not know that they are being observed.
    Another method of observation with intervention is field experiment. What is a field experiment? When an observer controls one or more conditions in a natural setting, in order to determine they’ve effect on behavior, this procedure is called field experiment. The field experiment represents the most extreme form of intervention in observational methods. The essential difference between field experiments and other observational methods is that researchers have more control in field experiments.
    Now let’s take a look at observation without intervention. Observation without intervention is also called naturalistic observation, because its main purpose’s to describe behavior as it normally occurs, that is, in a natural setting, without any attempt by the observer to intervene. An observer using this method of observation acts as a passive recorder of what occurs. The events occur naturally and are not controlled by the observer.
    OK, in today’s lecture we have focused on how to make decisions of sampling before beginning our observation, and what we can do during observation. I hope what we’ve discussed will help you in your future research design.