Question

Dr. Krishnan is going to observe and record children’s play behaviour at a nursery school without attempting to influence or control the behaviour. Which method of research is involved? Explain the process and discuss its merits and demerits.

Answer 1

Observation Method

Explanation:

• Dr. Krishnan will utilize a non-member observation method to watch and record kids' play conduct at a nursery school without endeavoring to impact or control the conduct. She will sit toward the edge of the play school and will watch the conduct of youngsters, their cooperation with other kids and instructors, how they play and respond to winning and losing. The kids won't know that they are being watched. Hence, she will record her perceptions in a document. She will examine and close it and afterward attempt to coordinate her decision with the theory.  
• Merits of non-member observation method: The specialist watches the individuals and their conduct in a naturalistic circumstance as it happens.  
• Demerits of non-member observation method : This technique is time taking, work escalated and powerless against the specialist's predisposition. The perceptions are impacted by the individual qualities and translations of the observer

Answer 2

Naturalistic observational research

Explanation:

Process

• The naturalistic method is commonly used by educational and social psychologists to perform behavioural studies on a large group of participants in their natural setting.  
• In the given case, Dr Krishnan is observing the children in their nursery where they will be free and their normal behaviour can be easily observed.
• Further, he is observing children on a selective criterion,  only their play behavior, without influencing or controlling their behavior. This approach is called a non-participant approach where the researcher does not become a part of the research.  

Merits:

• The researcher can observe the natural flow of the participant’s behavior in their setting  
• The research can be used to generate new ideas as it is based on real situations and first-hand observation of a behavior
• Studies which could not be done through laboratory experimentation due to formal or ethical rules can be done through natural observation
• Provides multiple opportunities for data collection

Demerits

• Control of other variables is difficult which may bias the results
• The data collected may be inaccurate sometimes and hence cannot be taken as confirmed data
• Time-consuming research and subjective
• The information gathered might not be valuable