Systematic Observation

  • Careful observation of one or more particular behaviours to quantify behaviours
  • Less global, more interest in specifics
  • Hypotheses are made in advance
  • More focused on observational method
    e.g., Video and coding of child’s play, interested in sequence and order of play behaviours
  • To observe and code specific behaviour, quantified using coding system

Coding System – A description of a set of behaviour of how they are coded, with clear operational definition (need to be simple and categorised)

Issues in Systematic Observation

  • Reactivity is also a problem here, but time with cameras usually solves problem
  • Inter-rater reliability – coders need to agree on coding method
    • More reliable with more coders
  • Better to look at segments of behaviour across time

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