SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION

SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION

Observational methods in psychological research entail the observation and description of

a subject’s behavior. Researchers utilizing the observational method can exert varying amounts
of control over the environment in which the observation takes place. Naturalistic observation is
an observational method that involves observing people’s behavior in the environment in which
it typically occurs. Thus, naturalistic observation is a type of field research (as opposed to a type
of laboratory research). Jane Goodall’s famous research on chimpanzees is a classic example of
naturalistic observation.

Observation method is the most commonly used method especially in studies relating to
behavioral science. In a way we all observe things around us, but this sort of observation is not
scientific observation. Observation becomes a scientific tool and the method of data collection
for the researcher, when it serves a formulated research purpose, is systematically planned and
recorded and is subjected to checks and controls on validity and reliability.

Under the observation method is the information is sought by way of investigators on

direct observation without asking from the respondent. For instance, In a study relating to
consumer behavior, with investigated instead of asking the brand of wrist watch used by the
respondent, may himself look at the watch. The main advantage of this method is that subjective
bias is eliminated, if observation is done accurately. Secondly the information obtained under
this method relates to what is currently happening; it is not complicated by either the past
behavior of future intentions or attitudes. Thirdly, this method is independent of respondents
willingness to respond and as such is relatively less demanding of active corporation on the part
of respondents as happens to be the case in the interview of the questionnaire method this
method is particularly suitable in studies which deal with subjects (i.e, respondents) who are not
capable of giving verbal reports of their feelings for one reason or the other.

The characteristics of observation method of data collection are:

It involves both mental and physical activity. The observer may see many things but
attention has to be drawn only on the items useful / relevant for the study. Observation is made
on selective basis i.e, the researcher selects a relevant sample. Observation takes place in natural
surroundings. It helps the researcher to determine the reality by himself or herself. It avoids
manipulations. The collection and recording of data is not selective, it is done as it is observed in
natural environment rather than creating an artificial/laboratory environment. It involves few or
no controls on the surroundings. It could be observation of fewer items/subjects. It must serve
the formulated research purpose.

There are mainly two types of research, that is, quantitative research and qualitative
research Quantitative researchers typically start with a focused research question or hypothesis,
collect a small amount of data from each of a large number of individuals, describe the resulting
data using statistical techniques, and draw general conclusions about some large population.
Although this is by far the most common approach to conducting empirical research in
psychology.

Qualitative research originated in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology but is

now used to study many psychological topics as well. Qualitative researchers generally begin
with a less focused research question, collect large amounts of relatively “unfiltered” data from a
relatively small number of individuals, and describe their data using non-statistical techniques.
They are usually less concerned with drawing general conclusions about human behavior than
with understanding in detail the experience of their research participants. Most popular data
collection techniques of qualitative research are observation, interview, and document review.

One major purpose of observation is to capture and study human behaviour as it actually
happens. It helps to snapshot comprehension of the activities of the Persons in real life or social
life.

Types of observation

Casual and scientific observation: An observation can be sometimes casual in nature or

sometimes it may act scientifically. An observation with a casual approach involves observing
the right place and also at the right time by a matter of chance or by luck. Whereas a scientific
observation involves the use of the tools of measurement, but a very important point to be kept in
mind here is that all the observations are not scientific in nature.

Natural observation: A research method in which behaviorists study in the settings where
it usually occurs. While naturalistic observation is often used in the study of animal behavior it is
sometimes applied to human beings as well especially to behavior in public places such as
airports, shopping malls and hotel lobbies.

Subjective and objective observation: All the observations consist of the two main
components, the subject and the object. The subject refers to the observer and the object refers to
the activity or any type of operation that is being observed. Subjective observation involves the
observation of one’s own immediate experience whereas the observation involving the observer
as an entity apart from the thing being observed, are referred to as the objective observation.
Objective observation is also called as the retrospection.

Participant and non- participant observation: Participation by the observer with the
various types of operations of the group under study refers to the participant type of observation.
In participation observation, the degree of the participation is largely affected by the nature of
study and it also depends on the type of the situation and also on its demands. But in the non-
participant observation, non-participation of the observer in the activities of the group takes place
and also there occurs no relationship between the researcher and the group.

Controlled and non- controlled observation: Controlled observations are made under the
influence of some of the external forces and such observations rarely lead to improvement in the
precision of the results. But these observations can be very effective in the working of these are
made to work in the coordination with mechanical synchronizing devices, film recording etc.
Non- controlled observations are made in the natural environment and reverse to the controlled
observation. These observations involve no influence or guidance of any type of external force.

Purpose of Observation

• One major purpose of observation is to capture and study human behavior as it actually happens.

• Another purpose of observation is to provide a graphic description of real life that can be acquired
in other ways.

• Another purpose of observation is exploration.

Advantages

• It is direct and helps to study the behavior as it appears / occurs (collected in natural environment).
One need not ask anyone about the behavior but can do self-watching and collect the data.
• The data collected in a natural environment or situations is reliable.

• The data may be much more accurate as it is collected out of intimate and informal relationship.

• It is one of the best methods which can be adopted in a situation where people are unable to state
meaningfully, eg; studies about the children, tribal, animals etc.

Disadvantages

• This method is not useful to study the past events.

• It will not help to study the opinions. It may be difficult to structure the situation.

• Another limitation is stability of the conditions. Observation is difficult under unstable

conditions.

• The collected data may not be possible to quantify.

• The internal attitudes and opinions are difficult to study.

• The sample may have to be limited; unlike the questionnaire- where in number of respondents
from different places is difficult to study.

REFERENCES

Ahuja, R. (1999). Research methods. Jaipur and New Delhi: Rawat Publication.

Singh, A. K. (2019). Tests measurement and records methods in behavioral

sciences. (5thed.). New Delhi: Bharati Bhavan P&D.

Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. (2nd ed.). New Age
International (P) Ltd.
 BULLYING BEHAVIOURS AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOLERS

Olweus (1993), defined Bullying as follows; “a student is being bullied or victimized

when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or
more other students”. Whitney and Smith (1993) extended the definition of Olweus (1993) and
presented a new definition to the students in their study as follows;

“ We say a child or young person is being bullied, or picked on when another child or young
person, or a group of children or young people, say nasty and unpleasant things to him or her. It
is also bullying when a child or a young person is hit, kicked, threatened, locked inside a room,
sent nasty notes, when no one ever talks to them and things like that. These things can happen
frequently and it is difficult for the child or the young person being bullied to defend him or
herself. It is also bullying when a child or young person is teased repeatedly in a nasty way. But
it is not bullying when two children or young people of about the same strength have the odd
fight or quarrel “.

Characteristics of bully

A typical bully has been described by Olweus (1993) as a student who has aggressive
reaction pattern combined with physical strength. Pellegrini (1998) identifies bullies as
youngsters who systematically and repeatedly target another group of youngsters against whom
to aggress either directly and physically (e.g. hitting) or indirectly and relationally (e.g.
shunning). Bullies represent 7 to 15 percent of primary to secondary school population.
Although bullies have an average popularity in primary school, their popularity level decline
through the middle school to junior high school. However, their popularity never decreases to the
low level that is typical of the victim. Bullies report that they pick on victims because they do not
like them and it is victims’ fault. The general characteristics of this subtype that include
individuals who are both the target and perpetrators of bullying, are mostly defined as anxious,
depressive, hyperactive, and aggressively reactive persons.

There are several causes of bullying such as rage, increased anger, revenge, jealousy and
the urge to be in control. On the other hand, bullying has several severe effects such as self-
destruction behaviors, development of nervous habits, and the risk of developing anxiety or
depression or both. Violence among students at school is an ever-growing problem. Bullying can
be defined as all forms of repeated physical or mental violence performed by an individual on
another person who is not capable of defending him/herself. Aggressive behavior among
students is a universal problem, traditionally accepted as natural and usually disregarded or not
given proper attention by adults. Studies carried out during the past two decades showed that
bullying can have immediate and late negative outcomes for children and adolescents who are
directly or indirectly involved. The adoption of continued preventive programs in grade schools
and in junior high schools has demonstrated to be one of the most effective measures for the
prevention of alcohol and drug consumption and for the reduction of social violence. The
prevention of bullying among students represents an essential public health measure that may
allow for total children’s development, qualifying them for a healthy and safe social coexistence.

Types of Bullying

There are many different types of bullying that can be experienced by children and adults
alike, some are obvious to spot while others can be more subtle. The different types of bullying
that we look at below are some of the ways that bullying could be happening.

Physical Bullying

Physical bullying includes hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property.
Physical bullying causes both short term and long term damage.

Verbal Bullying

Verbal bulling includes name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist
remarks, or verbal abuse. While verbal bullying can start off harmless, it can escalate to levels
which start affecting the individual target.

Social Bullying

Social bullying, sometimes referred to as covert bullying, is often harder to recognise and can be
carried out behind the bullied person’s back. It is designed to harm someone’s social reputation
or cause humiliation.

Social bullying can include:

• Lying and spreading rumours

• Negative facial or physical gestures, menacing or contemptuous looks
• Playing nasty jokes to embarrass and humiliate
• Mimicking unkindly
• Encouraging others to social exclude someone
• Damaging someone’s social reputation or social acceptance.

The need of this study is to findout the difference between Physical and Verbal bullying
among male and female primary school students. Children who had vivid memories of being the
victim of an aggressive act manifested a high level of post-traumatic stress. Bullying behavior
among students is a universal problem.

AIM

To findout the difference between physical and verbal bullying among male and female
primary school students

METHOD

Sample

The participants of the study were selected through convenient random sampling. It is a
method adopted by researcher to collect data from conveniently available pool of respondents.
The sample taken were 5 male and 5 female primary school students. The study was conducted
in Kozhikode district.

Tools

Observation chart and writing materials.

Procedure

The data for the study was obtained from the schools in Kozhikode district. Non-
participant observational method were used in the study. The researcher selects 5 students from
each school for the observation. The observation took around 40 minutes for each individual.
The behavioral checklist is prepared and then the observation starts. Tally marks were given for
each behaviours. Verbal and physical bullying behaviours among primary school students were
marked down in the table.
 RESULT

Table 1. 1 shows the total score of verbal and physical bullying behaviour among primary
school students

Total
Categories Behaviours B1 G1 B2 G2 B3 G3 B4 G4 B5 G5 Raw
score

Teasing 1 1 1 1 4
Verbal
bulling Insulting 4 4

Name abuse 4 1 2 1 3 2 4 1 3 1 22

Intimidation 2 2 3 3 3 1 14

Total score 8 4 4 2 6 3 7 2 6 2 44

Beating 3 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 38
Physical
bullying Pushing 4 4 4 2 4 4 5 4 5 3 38

Hair pulling

Damaging 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 6
properties
 Total score 7 9 8 9 8 9 11 8 8 7 84

Table 1. 2 frequency of verbal and physical bullying among male and female students in their
corresponding variables

Categories Behaviours Total frequency Total frequency

score of Males score of Females
Verbal bullying Teasing 4 4
Insulting
Name abuse 16 6
Intimidation 11 3
Physical bulling Beating 18 20
Pushing 22 17
Hairpulling
Damaging properties 2 5

Table 1. 3 the total scores obtained in verbal and physical bullying among male and female
primary school students.

Types of Bullying Males Females

Verbal bullying 31 13

Physical bullying 42 42
 Total score 73 55

DISCUSSION

The aim of the study is to findout the difference between Physical and Verbal bullying among
male and female primary school students. Bullying is the behaviour of a person who hurts or
frightens someone smaller or less powerful, often forcing that person to do something they do
not want to do. Bullying can be defined as all forms of repeated physical or mental violence
performed by an individual on another person who is not capable of defending him/herself.

The study was conducted in Calicut through non-participate observation. Observed children
exhibited physical bullying and verbal bullying. But most commonly seen were physical
bullying. Physical bulling was exhibited by both male and female primary school students.
Verbal bullying was exhibited more by male students. Female students exhibited their bullying
behaviours through beating, pushing, and damaging properties. Male students exhibited their
bullying behaviours mostly through beating and pushing.

Table 1 shows the total raw score of verbal and physical bullying behaviour among primary
school students. The variables taken under verbal bullying were teasing, insulting, name abuse
and intimidation. The variables taken under physical bullying were beating, pushing, hair pulling
and damaging properties. The population taken is primary school students. Non-participate
observational method in natural setting classroom is used for the data collection. In verbal
bullying, the total raw scores obtained for males is 31 and females is 13. In physical bulling, the
raw scores obtained for both males and females is 42.

CONCLUSION

Physical bulling is most commonly seen in both male and female primary school students.
REFERENCES

Graesser. C, Jill Fitzgerald. J, An international Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology.

(2013). The American Psychological Association (Vol 105).

Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school:What we know and what we can do. Malden, MA: Blackwell
Publishing.

Singh, A.K. (2019). Tests, measurement and records methods in behavioral sciences. (5th ed). New
Delhi: Bharati Bhavan P&D.
 APPENDIX

Categories Behaviours B1 G1 B2 G2 B3 G3 B4 G4 B5 G5 Total

raw
score
Verbal Teasing | | | | 4
bullying
Insulting |||| 4

Name abuse |||| | || | ||| || |||| | ||| | 22

Intimidation || || ||| ||| ||| | 14

Total score 8 4 4 2 6 3 7 2 6 2 44
Physical Beating ||| |||| |||| ||||| |||| |||| |||| ||| ||| ||| 38
bullying
Pushing |||| |||| |||| || |||| |||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||| 38

Hair pulling

Damaging | || | | | | | 6
properties

Total score 7 9 8 9 8 9 11 8 8 7 84