naturalistic observation and case-study research descriptive methods
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Naturalistic Observationand Case-Study Research
Descriptive Methods
Naturalistic Observation Examples
Charles Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle (the basis for his theory of natural selection)
Jane Goodall's study of chimpanzees Dian Fossey’s study of the mountain gorillaAdeline Levine’s study of the Love CanalRosenhan’s study of psychiatric hospitalization
Case-Study Examples
Sigmund Freud’s study of patients, which formed the basis for his psychoanalytic theory
E. L. Witmer’s study of children in the first psychology clinic in North America
Jean Piaget’s study of the development of children, which led to numerous theories of child development
When to use Descriptive Methods
Studying natural flow of behavior
New research area
Testing feasibility of a procedure
Testing generalizability of laboratory findings
Problem Statementsand Hypotheses
Problem statements are often general and flexibleOften evolve to
accommodate new results
Unable to test causal hypotheses with descriptive methods
Value of these methods
Provide new descriptive information
Can negate a general proposition
Low cost
Challenge of Descriptive Research
Can be very difficult to observe behavior in natural surroundings
Often we are not sure what behaviors are important until after we have observed for a while
Without the controls of the laboratory, participants are free to do what they want to do, and not what we are hoping to observe
Evaluating the Data
The data from descriptive research is a rich set of information
Must be cautious in interpreting data
Limitations:Poor representativenessPoor replicabilityLimitations of the observerGoing beyond the data
Poor Representativeness
Small samples; non-randomly selected
Rarely do the samples represent the population
Dangerous to generalize findings to the general population
Poor Replicability
In descriptive researchProcedures are often not specified They may change as the study continuesThey are often unique to the observer
Therefore, replication is very difficult
Limitations of the Observer
Observational skills of the researcherEx. specificity of observation procedures
Specific procedures decrease flexibilityNon-specific procedures increase possibility of
experimenter biases (experimenter reactivity)
Going Beyond the Data
One must be careful in drawing strong conclusions (don’t “over-interpret”)