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Researchers utilizing the observational method can exert varying amounts of control over the environment in which the observation takes place. This makes observational research a sort of middle ground between the highly controlled method of experimental design and the less structured approach of conducting interviews.
Anthropological survey paper from 1961 by Juhan Aul from University of Tartu who measured about 50 000 people. In fields such as epidemiology, social sciences, psychology and statistics, an observational study draws inferences from a sample to a population where the independent variable is not under the control of the researcher because of ethical concerns or logistical constraints.
Observational research is a method of data collection that has become associated with qualitative research. [1] Compared with quantitative research and experimental research, observational research tends to be less reliable but often more valid [citation needed]. The main advantage of observational research is flexibility.
Quantitative psychological research findings result from mathematical modeling and statistical estimation or statistical inference. The two types of research differ in the methods employed, rather than the topics they focus on. There are three main types of psychological research: Correlational research; Descriptive research; Experimental research
The other method of observational research is non-participant observation. In particular naturalistic methods are methods that simply study behaviours that occur naturally in natural environments—with no manipulation by the observer. [13] [14] The events studied must be natural and not staged.
Most of these methods are considered to be particularly unobtrusive, since the processes that they study are generally natural (i.e. eye gazing), and do not interfere with the decision process. [4] Process-tracing in psychology can consist of various methods, namely observational, experimental, physiological, or neuroscientific. [5]
Naturalistic observation, sometimes referred to as fieldwork, is a research methodology in numerous fields of science including ethology, anthropology, linguistics, the social sciences, and psychology, in which data are collected as they occur in nature, without any manipulation by the observer.
A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of observational study, although it can also be structured as longitudinal randomized experiment. [1]