1. Chapter 7 Naturalistic Methods

2. Naturalistic Research Designed to describe and measure the behavior of people or animals as it occurs in their everyday lives. Recorded as it occurs Recorded by others Recorded by video

3. Ecological Validity An advantage of naturalistic research is that it has ecological validity. Ecological validity refers to the extent to which the research is conducted in situations that are similar to the everyday life experiences of the participants

4. Observational Research Observational research involves making observations of behavior and recording those observations in an objective manner

5. Unacknowledged Participant When an observer infiltrates an environment, without letting the people who will be observed know, that they are being observed. Ethics problems May become too personal for observer Observer may influence the processes that are observed

6. Acknowledged Participant When an observer enters an environment and lets the people who will be observed know that they are being observed. Reactivity Reactivity may decrease over time if the observer is eventually accepted by the community being observed

7. Alternatives to Acknowledged and Unacknowledged Use of one-way glass Recording activities without interaction

9. Case Studies Descriptive records of one or more individuals’ experiences and/or behavior. Qualitative Jean Piaget, Sigmund Freud

10. Systematic Coding Methods Deciding What We Observe Systematic Observation - involves specifying ahead of time exactly which observations are to be made on which people and in which times and places. These decisions are made on the basis of theoretical expectation about the types of events that are going to be of interest.

11. Archival Research Archival Research – based on an analysis of any type of existing records of public behavior. Newspaper Articles Speeches Letters of Public Figures TV & Radio Broadcasts Internet Websites Existing Surveys

12. Question 1 Discuss the situations (3) in which a researcher may choose to use a naturalistic research approach and the questions such an approach can and cannot answer.

13. Question 2 What are the pros and cons of a researcher’s decisions about observing versus participating and about being acknowledged versus unacknowledged in naturalistic observation?

14. Question 3 Explain what a case study is. What are the limitations of case studies for the study of human behavior?

15. Question 4 What kinds of questions can be answered through archival research, and what kinds of data might be relevant?