Research Methods--Observation

Write the best observational method (and a short description of how you would do the study with specific suggested measures) for each study.

Overt participant observation

Covert participant observation

Nonparticipant observation

Indirect or archival observation

Case study

Deviant case analysis

1. You’re interested in studying how many students read the Northern Iowan.

2. You’re interested in the causes of obsessive compulsive disorder in a client you’ve been seeing for two years.

3. You want to learn how fraternities affect university socialization.

4. You are interested in the matching hypothesis of attraction (that people generally choose partners that are at about the same level of attractiveness as themselves).

5. You want to study how cult leaders induce people to follow them.

6. You want to study the causes of alcoholism. You have two twins available to observe—one is an alcoholic and one isn’t.