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Research methods in clinical psychology:
An introduction for students and practitioners
Chris Barker, Nancy Pistrang, and Robert Elliott
CHAPTER 7
Observation
Advantages of observation
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Direct, objective measure of behaviour
Assesses behaviour in its context
Examines sequence over time
Does not require participant's awareness
of behaviour
Disadvantages of observation
• Potential reactivity
• Only good for overt behaviours (but can
observe “verbal behaviour”)
Qualitative observation
• Participant observation
• Text-based methods
Participant observation
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Roots: ethnographic approach in anthropology
Researcher is “immersed” in setting
Systematic, usually unstructured, observation
Detailed records (“field notes”), generally from
memory
– “If it’s not written down, it never happened”
• Examples:
– Goffman (1961) “Asylums”
– Taylor & Bogdan (1998)
Participant observation (ctd.)
• Methodological problems
– reactivity
– observer bias
• Ethical issues
– covert observation
– witnessing illegal or immoral behaviour
Text-based research
• Close study of communication (written
or spoken)
• Many sources of text
• Focus on structure of communication
– underlying assumptions and meanings
• Discourse analysis
Discourse analysis
• Several different versions (from sociology,
linguistics, etc.)
• British psychologists influenced by Potter and
Wetherell's (1987) approach:
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Works from detailed transcripts
Functionalist: what language does
“Discourse repertoire”
“Subject positioning”
• Examples:
– Madill & Barkham (1997)
– Harper (1994)
Quantitative observation:
background
• Behavioural observation:
– eliminate inferences
• Psychotherapy process research:
– objective record of interaction
• Content analysis:
– mass media research
Quantitative observation: methods
• Narrative recording
– qualitative record
• Event recording
– overall frequency data
• Interval recording
– frequency within intervals
• Time sampling
– record at specific times
/ctd.
Observation methods ctd.
• Sequential act coding
– code behaviours in order
• Duration recording
– record times taken
• Global rating scales
– overall judgement
• Environmental measures
– overall activity patterns
Pragmatics of observation
• Define behaviours
– level of inference
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Develop coding manual
Recruit and train raters
Check reliability
Code actual data
Continuously monitor reliability