Designing an observation
Collins teaches at Riverdale school and has been asked to conduct a
covert observation of student helping behaviour towards new students.
Describe how Collins could conduct an observation of student helping.
Hypothesis: Collins can come up with a directional hypothesis that "Students
will offer more help to a new student in crutches than a student wearing
headphones".
Sample: Collins could obtain his sample through opportunity sampling where
students who are available at different sections of the school where he will
do his study on Monday and Friday at 10:00am during break time will be
included in the study. The students will be made up of Year 9-13 high school
students who attend Riverdale High where Collins teaches between the ages
13-18. This type of sampling is less time consuming and easy to obtain
participants.
Method: Collins could use a controlled covert observation as the observers
will remain hidden from the view of the participants and therefore will not
be aware they are being watched. Collings could use an event sampling
technique to collect data as the observers will record the frequency of a
behaviour based on the category. Collins could use two observers who are his
students and will be seated near the quad or on a bench in the field
pretending to study while they collect data to increase inter-rater
reliability. The design will be an independent measures design in two
conditions; the crutch condition and the headphone condition, where the IV
will be type of student, operationalised by walking with a crutch or wearing
headphones and the DV will be operationalised through observation of
helping behaviour based on set behaviour categories.
, Procedure: Collins could use two stooges (new students) who can be called
out of class before break time and given instructions about what to do. A
stooge who is a new student in black crutches can pretend to fall down and in
other trials the stooge wearing JBL headphones will fall. This can be done in
different sections of the school (the quad and the field) on two different
days.
The two observers will collect data based on structured behaviour
categories provided.
1. Time it took for the first student to help a crutch or headphone new
student
2. The number of students who helped him/her up.
3. The probable year group the student is in.
4. The gender of the helper.
5. They will note down comments made by students.
The stooge can be instructed to lift themselves up from the floor if no one
offers to help after 3 minutes. The students could be debriefed about the
study in assembly, that they were involved in a study on helping and how they
helped and that the identity of those who participated will be kept
anonymous- confidentiality.
Data: Collins could collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The
numerical data from the behaviour categories can be summed up in seconds
for time taken, counting the number of helpers, the gender of helpers and
the year group of the helpers. A mean can be calculated across all these
variables and presented on a bar chart that will show comparisons between
helping for the crutch condition and headphone condition across gender,
year group and number of helpers. The higher the variable on the Y axis
shows that the condition had more helping. The qualitative data will be
Collins teaches at Riverdale school and has been asked to conduct a
covert observation of student helping behaviour towards new students.
Describe how Collins could conduct an observation of student helping.
Hypothesis: Collins can come up with a directional hypothesis that "Students
will offer more help to a new student in crutches than a student wearing
headphones".
Sample: Collins could obtain his sample through opportunity sampling where
students who are available at different sections of the school where he will
do his study on Monday and Friday at 10:00am during break time will be
included in the study. The students will be made up of Year 9-13 high school
students who attend Riverdale High where Collins teaches between the ages
13-18. This type of sampling is less time consuming and easy to obtain
participants.
Method: Collins could use a controlled covert observation as the observers
will remain hidden from the view of the participants and therefore will not
be aware they are being watched. Collings could use an event sampling
technique to collect data as the observers will record the frequency of a
behaviour based on the category. Collins could use two observers who are his
students and will be seated near the quad or on a bench in the field
pretending to study while they collect data to increase inter-rater
reliability. The design will be an independent measures design in two
conditions; the crutch condition and the headphone condition, where the IV
will be type of student, operationalised by walking with a crutch or wearing
headphones and the DV will be operationalised through observation of
helping behaviour based on set behaviour categories.
, Procedure: Collins could use two stooges (new students) who can be called
out of class before break time and given instructions about what to do. A
stooge who is a new student in black crutches can pretend to fall down and in
other trials the stooge wearing JBL headphones will fall. This can be done in
different sections of the school (the quad and the field) on two different
days.
The two observers will collect data based on structured behaviour
categories provided.
1. Time it took for the first student to help a crutch or headphone new
student
2. The number of students who helped him/her up.
3. The probable year group the student is in.
4. The gender of the helper.
5. They will note down comments made by students.
The stooge can be instructed to lift themselves up from the floor if no one
offers to help after 3 minutes. The students could be debriefed about the
study in assembly, that they were involved in a study on helping and how they
helped and that the identity of those who participated will be kept
anonymous- confidentiality.
Data: Collins could collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The
numerical data from the behaviour categories can be summed up in seconds
for time taken, counting the number of helpers, the gender of helpers and
the year group of the helpers. A mean can be calculated across all these
variables and presented on a bar chart that will show comparisons between
helping for the crutch condition and headphone condition across gender,
year group and number of helpers. The higher the variable on the Y axis
shows that the condition had more helping. The qualitative data will be
