Author Question: Why might a researcher decide to use unstructured observations early in a research program but ... (Read 26 times)

jCorn1234 · **on:** Jul 13, 2018

Why might a researcher decide to use unstructured observations early in a research program but change to structured observations later?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Differentiate among continuous real time measurement, time-point sampling, and time-interval sampling.

What will be an ideal response?

nmyers · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 13, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Unstructured observations generally provide a broader scope of observation, so if a researcher did not have a good idea of what behaviors might be the most important and most interesting, it would be a good idea to monitor a large sample of different behaviors. When it becomes clearer what behaviors are going to be most useful to observe and study, then more focused, structured observations will provide the greatest payoff with less attention to behaviors that are less relevant for the research program.

Answer to Question 2

(a) Continuous real-time measurement involves recording how long behaviors persist during the observation period.
(b) Time-point sampling involves selecting points in time to observe behavior to see if a particular behavior is occurring.
(c) Time-interval sampling involves determining whether a critical behavior has occurred within a particular time interval.