A developmental psychologist is conducting a structured observation of toddler playgroups to investigate prosocial behaviour. She decides to record every instance of a child offering a toy to another child during a 20-minute play session.
Which observational sampling technique has the psychologist used, and what is a major limitation of this technique?
Time sampling, because the observation is restricted to a 202020-minute play window; a limitation is that it is difficult to record complex interactions accurately.
Event sampling, because every occurrence of the target behaviour is recorded; a limitation is that if several children engage in the behaviour at the same time, some instances may be missed.
Time sampling, because the researcher observes at set intervals within the 202020 minutes; a limitation is that behaviours occurring outside the intervals are ignored.
Event sampling, because the study focuses on a specific social event; a limitation is that it only yields qualitative data which cannot be easily analysed.
644 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Research methods and techniques. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.