Our tendancy to volunteer, give to charity and vote comes from our parents, says Ben Ambridge. Do you believe in love at first sight? Your eyes meet… Could this be the one? Answer these simple questions to find out just how romantic you are, says Ben Ambridge. Are you and your partner a good match? Do you vote the same way and have similar personalities? Ben Ambridge reveals whether these things matter in a relationship.
Do you choose emotions over logic? Ben Ambridge reveals the link between acquiescence and life chances. How Neanderthal are you… and can you blame your DNA? Feeling positive? This can be an important part of a needs assessment, especially if we have an observation plan. We also use observation to observe or watch the implementation process, to see who is participating and who is not. We oftentimes use observation to compare what people are doing with what they saying, and to add depth to our evaluation.
According to Bernard , participant observation gives us a unique understanding of the research or project community, as you get an intuitive understanding about the culture from participating in it. Schensul and LeCompte tell us that participant observation gives us an intuitive and intellectual grasp of the ways that society is organized and prioritized, and how people relate to each other. For evaluators, this includes what is culturally appropriate, what projects might work, how a project is working during its implementation, and what the impact of the project is.
When we engage in participant observation, our hope is to be accepted as an insider, or to get to the backstage where you are a true participant. Bernard tells us that participant observation involves getting close enough to people so that they feel comfortable telling us about their lives, thus countering the observer effect we get in observation and participant observation, and allowing us to gain an emic understanding.
Evaluators use participant observation in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of projects. We also use participant observation to help craft our later research including interview questions.
In the implementation phase , we use participant observation to improve an ongoing activity, such as a training workshop, as we monitor it.
We might ask if participants are engaged, and if not, why not, and what can we do about it. Very important, we use participant observation to add validity to our monitoring efforts. Participant observation helps us to see and understand what people are doing, which we can compare to what people are saying. It helps us to see if people are doing something different from what they say that they do. Similarly, we use participant observation to add depth to our evaluations , as it allows us to witness and understand behavioral or attitudinal change.
We see and understand how participants are using their new skills, for example. As above, it also adds validity to our evaluation efforts if we can compare what people say with what they do.
Participants are randomly allocated to each independent variable group. Rather than writing a detailed description of all behavior observed, it is often easier to code behavior according to a previously agreed scale using a behavior schedule i.
The researcher systematically classifies the behavior they observe into distinct categories. Coding might involve numbers or letters to describe a characteristic, or use of a scale to measure behavior intensity. The categories on the schedule are coded so that the data collected can be easily counted and turned into statistics.
For example, Mary Ainsworth used a behavior schedule to study how infants responded to brief periods of separation from their mothers. During the Strange Situation procedure infant's interaction behaviors directed toward the mother were measured, e. The observer noted down the behavior displayed during second intervals and scored the behavior for intensity on a scale of 1 to 7. Sometimes the behavior of participants is observed through a two-way mirror or they are secretly filmed.
This method was used by Albert Bandura to study aggression in children the Bobo doll studies. A lot of research has been carried out in sleep laboratories as well. Here electrodes are attached to the scalp of participants and what is observed are the changes in electrical activity in the brain during sleep the machine is called an electroencephalogram — an EEG.
Controlled observations are usually overt as the researcher explains the research aim to the group, so the participants know they are being observed. Controlled observations are also usually non-participant as the researcher avoids any direct contact with the group, keeping a distance e. Controlled observations can be easily replicated by other researchers by using the same observation schedule. The four types of observational roles we discuss here are based on the distinctions made by the sociologist Raymond Gold in but apply to any field of research.
This is a detached observer where the researcher is neither seen nor noticed by participants. Sort of Big Brotherish, most likely.
However, in public places like coffee shops, office building lobbies, airports, subway stations, or even public bathrooms the complete observer role may be the only means to collect the type of data you need. And with the ubiquity of video cameras, remote observation remains a viable option. Here the researcher is known and recognized by the participants and in many cases, the participants know the research goals of the observer.
There is some interaction with the participants but the interaction is limited. Here the researcher is fully engaged with the participants. She is more of a friend or colleague than a neutral third party. While there is full interaction with participants, they still known that this is a researcher. This method is often used when studying remote indigenous populations or inner-city cultures.
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