![]() Third, collecting unobtrusive measurements without arousing participants’ suspicions may be difficult in such situations (e.g., a simulated bar), participants are likely to be guessing at experimenters’ hypotheses. Second, researchers must expend considerable effort to obtain an unobtrusive measurement administering a self-report scale to alcohol treatment participants is much easier than creating a simulated bar or observing individuals drink on weekend nights at an actual restaurant or bar. Alcohol consumption in a bar, for example, will be influenced by one’s physiological and psychological states as well as the social context. First, the behavior of individuals in naturalistic or contrived situations, for example, is unlikely to be a direct reflection of a single construct. A video description of unobtrusive measurement can be found here.įour important problems accompany many attempts at unobtrusive measurements (Kazdin, 1992). ![]() In all cases, such data collection occurs without the awareness of the participant, thereby decreasing problems with reactivity, the tendency for individuals to change their behavior when they are aware of being observed. Simple observation (described in an earlier section) indicates that an observer watches and records behaviors of interest to the observer. Physical traces are artifacts left by persons (in garbage, for example) indicative of some activity or characteristic. Observation in contrived settings indicates that an observer collects data in a setting, such as a laboratory, established by the researcher for unobtrusive observation alcohol researchers, for example, have set up simulated bars to observe participants’ drinking under varied conditions. ![]() Archival records refers to stored information typically put to a use for which the data were not originally intended (e.g., school records used in a research study). (1981) described four types of unobtrusive measurement: Archival records, observation in contrived settings, physical traces, and simple observation. Definition: Measurement that occurs when the participant is unaware of being observed.ĭescription.
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