Chapter 1: OBSERVATION METHODS

Research
- It is the investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of
facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical
application of such new or revised theories or laws (Merriam-Webster)
- It is the formal, systematic application of scholarship, disciplined inquiry, and most often
the scientific method to study of problems (Fraenki & Wallen, 2010)

Observation method refers to a research technique used to systematically collect data by

directly observing subjects or phenomena of interest.

Observation
- is the act of watching, checking, monitoring, and noting events or any activities being
observed.
- allows researchers to gather information about behaviors, interactions, and other
aspects of interest in a natural setting.

Non-Reactive Observation
- Also called as unobtrusive observation, is a type of observation that does not
require the researcher to intrude in the research context.
- Non-reactive methods deal with non-reactive data.

Characteristics:
● Researchers observe without actively engaging with subjects.
● Subjects are often unaware of being observed.
● Data collection occurs without direct influence on the subjects.
● Captures behavior in natural settings.
● Reduces risk of observer bias or participant reactivity.
● Allows for the study of long-term or historical trends.

Physical traces - these are physical remains of human activity, it could also be
remnants, fragments and products of past behavior. Note that in this type of
method, people who are “observed” are not present when the data are collected.

Archival research – a collection of private or public documents or artifacts that a

researcher can use as data.

Content Analysis – process of making inferences based on objective coding of

archival data.
Reactive Observation
- does not require the researcher to intrude in the research context depending on
the design of the research.

Characteristics:
● Researchers actively engage with subjects.
● Participants are aware of being observed or manipulated.
● Researcher influence may affect the behavior or responses of the
subjects.

Advantages:
● Allows for direct interaction and control over variables.
● Can provide detailed and specific data.

Disadvantages:
● May introduce bias or alter the natural behavior of subjects.
● Participants may respond in ways they think are expected.
● Ethical concerns regarding consent and manipulation.

Naturalistic observation – it involves observing individuals in their natural

setting. The researcher makes no manipulation of variables or take effort in
controlling the activities of people or things being observed. (can be reactive or
non-reactive)

Experiments - Participants are typically aware that they are part of

an experiment, and their behavior may be influenced by the
experimental conditions or the researcher's instructions.

Structured Interviews - Conducting interviews with participants where the

interviewer asks predetermined questions and interacts directly with the
interviewee. The presence of the interviewer and the structured nature of the
questions can influence the participant's responses.

Systematic Observation – involves specification of the exact actions,

attributes or other variables that are to be recorded precisely how they are to
be recorded.

Ethnography / participant observation – This type of method is concerned with

experience as it is lived, felt or undergone, and thus involves a concern with
phenomenological consciousness.
 Participant Observation - Engaging in participant observation involves actively
participating in the activities of the group being studied while also observing and
recording their behavior and interactions.

Degree of Observer Participation

There are four different roles that a researcher can take, ranging on a continuum
from complete participant to complete observer.

Complete Observer – This is a detached observer and the participants are not
aware that they are under observation and the identity of the observer is neither
seen nor noticed by the participants. This role is a good way of minimizing the
Hawthorne effect as the participants are more likely to act naturally.
- Henry A. Landsberger coined the term 'Hawthorne Effect'. It is a type of
human behavior reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their
behavior in response to their awareness of being observed.

Observer as Participants - Here the researcher is known and recognized

by the participants and in many cases, the participants know the research goals
of the observer. Although there is some interaction with the participants but the
interaction is limited. The researcher’s aim is to play a neutral role as much as
possible.

Participant as Observer - 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.

Complete Participant - This is a fully embedded researcher, almost like a

spy. Here the observer fully engages with the participants and partakes in their
activities. Participants aren’t aware that observation and research is being
conducted, even though they fully interact with the researcher. This has
sometimes been referred to as “going native,” in reference to performing
indigenous fieldwork (PhD Sauro, 2015).

Observation method is the most convenient, traditional and commonly used in all psychological
research. There are still concepts that are needed to watch when the researcher will utilize
observation in data gathering or data analysis – these are observer effect and observer bias.
Chapter 2: SURVEY RESEARCH

Survey Research
- A survey is a research method used to collect data from a sample of individuals to gather
information, opinions, attitudes, or behaviors related to a specific topic or set of topics.

Two Important Characteristics of Survey Research

Self-reporting
- Survey researchers ask their participants to report directly on their thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors.

Sampling
- Strong preference for large random samples because they provide the most
accurate estimates of what is true in the population.

Note: Most surveys are non-experimental. They are used to describe single variables
and also to assess statistical relationships between variables

Two Methods in Survey Research

Longitudinal Survey Research

- Involves conducting survey research over a continuum of time and spread across
years and decades.

Cross-Sectional Survey Research

- Researchers conduct a cross-sectional survey to collect insights from different
respondents at a particular time interval.

Probability Sampling
- Probability sampling is a sampling method in which the researcher chooses the elements
based on probability theory.
- Comprises sampling techniques that gives all the subjects the equal chance of being
selected to participate in the research making it more desirable as it allows more
generatability as compared to non-probability sampling approach.

This is done by:

(1) defining the population of the desired study,
(2) select an unbiased method for selecting subjects, and
(3) random sampling where each one has the same possibility of being randomly
chosen.

Sampling Techniques
 Simple Random Sampling
- The portion of the whole population is selected in an unbiased way.

Systematic Random Sampling

- A sampling technique in which the researcher/s have the full list of the population
being studied and selects the members of the sample through a system of fixed
intervals.

Stratified Sampling
- In this procedure, the population is divided into different subgroups (strata)
afterwards, a random sample is taken from each “stratum.”

Cluster Sampling (Multi Staged)

- In this method, larger clusters of individuals are randomly sampled to come up
with a selection of another set of clusters. Afterwards, the cluster will gain be
randomly sampled giving each member of the cluster an equal chance to be
selected.

Non-Probability Sampling
- Non-probability sampling is a sampling method where the researcher uses his/her
knowledge and experience to form samples.

Quota Sampling
- Researchers create a sample with a target number made up of individuals that
are intended to mirror the characteristics of the population. Hence, samples
reflect the proportion of the sample but individuals are not selected randomly.
- Less time to consume and it is seen to be more convenient to the researcher.
- The sample might not be a good representative of the population because it lacks
random selection.

Convenience Sampling (Accidental)

- From the term “convenient” where researchers makes use of groups who happen
to be available at the time of data gathering.
- It is less expensive.
- This limits the generalizability of the results as the researchers has no control of
the representativeness of the sample.

Purposive Sampling
- Also known as deliberate, judgmental, selective, or subjective sampling because
the individuals selected are the individuals according to the needs of the study.
- It is easier to make generalizations about your sample because they are the
direct subject of interest.
 - Researchers should be cautious in generalizing results when purposive sampling
is employed as unintended biases may occur for the lack of random sampling.

Snowball Sampling (Referral or Chain Sampling)

- This technique is done by having existing participants recruit/ refer future
subjects that are deemed fit with the criteria set by the researcher.
- It allows the reach of population that are hard to find/ access.
- Under and over representation of a sample is a risk.

Survey Research Scales

- There are four main levels of measurement

Nominal Scale
- A nominal scale associates numbers with variables for mere naming or labeling,
and the numbers usually have no other relevance. It is the most basic of the four
levels of measurement.
- Examples: include hair color, gender, marital status, etc.

Ordinal Scale
- The ordinal scale has an innate order within the variables along with labels. It
establishes the rank between the variables of a scale but not the difference value
between the Variables.
- Example: 1st, 2nd, 3rd

Interval Scale
- The interval scale is a step ahead in comparison to the other two scales. Along
with establishing a rank and name of variables, the scale also makes known the
difference between the two variables. The actual zero value is absent.
- Example: Degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit

Ratio Scale
- The ratio scale is the most advanced measurement scale, which has variables
that are labeled in order and have a calculated difference between variables. the
actual zero value is present.
- Example: zero kilograms meant an absence of weight. (nonexistent)

Process of Implementing Survey Research Methods

1. Decide survey questions: Brainstorm and put together valid survey questions that are
grammatically and logically appropriate.

2. Finalize a target audience: Send out relevant surveys to the target audience and filter out
irrelevant questions as per the requirement.
3. Send out surveys via decided mediums: Distribute the surveys to the target audience and
patiently wait for the feedback and comments- this is the most crucial step of the survey
research.

4. Analyze survey results: Analyze the feedback in real-time and identify patterns in the
responses which might lead to a much-needed breakthrough for your organization. GAP, TURF,
Conjoint analysis, Cross tabulation, and many such survey feedback analysis methods can be
used to spot and shed light on respondent behavior.

Effects on Questionnaire Responses

Order Effects
- Order effect refers to the phenomenon where the sequence or order of items or
questions in a survey influences respondents' perceptions, judgments, and
responses.

Primacy Effects
- The primacy effect refers to the tendency for individuals to better remember and
give more weight to information that they encounter first in a series.
- Respondents may give more weight to their initial impression of the phone's
design when considering subsequent questions about its features, performance,
and price.

Recency Effects
- The recency effect is a cognitive bias in memory recall where individuals tend to
remember and give more weight to information that they encountered most
recently. This phenomenon can influence various aspects of decision-making,
perception, and judgment.

Writing the Survey Questionnaires

- Questionnaire items can be either open-ended or closed-ended.

Types of Items

Open-ended items simply ask a question and allow participants to answer in whatever
way they choose.

Closed-ended items ask a question and provide a set of response options for
participants to choose from.
● All closed-ended items include a set of response options from which a participant
must choose.
● Closed-ended items are more difficult to write because they must include an
appropriate set of response options.
 ● They are also much easier for researchers to analyze because the responses
can be easily converted to numbers and entered into a spreadsheet.

Scaling
- definition

Types of Scales

Likert Scale
- A Likert scale presents respondents with a statement or series of statements,
often related to a particular topic or construct.
- Respondents indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with each
statement using a scale, typically ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly
Agree."
- The Likert scale is named after its creator, Rensis Likert, an American social
psychologist who developed this method of measuring attitudes and opinions in
the 1930s.

Rating Scale
- Presents respondents with specific attributes, characteristics, or dimensions that
they are asked to evaluate or rate.
- Rating scales can be used to measure a variety of constructs, including
satisfaction, frequency of behavior, importance of features, and performance
evaluations.
- Rating scales may include different formats, such as numerical scales (e.g., 1 to
5), semantic differential scales (e.g., poor to excellent), or visual analog scales
(e.g., slider bars).
- Unlike Likert scales, rating scales focus on specific attributes or dimensions and
typically do not involve statements about attitudes or opinions.

How to write Effective Items

- hadgad

Principles in Item Writing

- The variables you are going to study must be operationally defined.
- It must be based on a theoretical or conceptual framework.
- Psychological processes have different constructs and it would help to narrow
down to just one construct.

A rough guideline for writing questionnaire items is provided by the BRUSO

model. B- RIEF, R- ELEVANT, U- NAMBIGUOUS, S- PECIFIC, O- BJECTIVE
 Brief
- Short and direct to the point.
- They avoid long, overly technical, or unnecessary words. This makes them easier
for respondents to understand and faster for them to complete.

Relevant
- If there are variables that you will not use in your study, do not include them in
the questions.

Unambiguous
- Your questions should only be interpreted in ONE way.

Specific
- It should be clear to respondents what their response should be about and clear
to researchers what it is about.
- A common problem here is when closed-ended items are “double-barreled.” They
ask about two conceptually separate issues but allow only one response.

Formatting the Questionnaire

- Writing effective items is only one part of constructing a survey questionnaire. For one
thing, every survey questionnaire should have a written or spoken introduction that
serves two basic functions:
- One is to encourage respondents to participate in the survey.
- The second function of the introduction is to establish informed consent.
- After the instruction, provide a clear instruction for completing the questionnaire.
- Start with the most important items.
- Items should also be grouped by topic or by type.
- Demographic items are often presented last because they are least interesting to
participants but also easy to answer in the event respondents have become tired or
bored
- Any survey should end with an expression of appreciation to the respondent.