Unobtrusive Measures of Behavior
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND OBJECTIVES
I. Overview
II. Physical Traces
A. Rationale
· The problem of reactivity (people changing their behavior because they know they are being observed) does not arise when unobtrusive measures of behavior such as physical traces are used.
· The investigation of physical traces represents a valuable component of the multimethod approach to hypothesis testing.
B. Types of Physical Traces
· Two categories of physical traces are “use traces” and “products.”
· Use traces reflect the physical evidence of use (or nonuse) of items and can be measured in terms of natural or controlled use.
· By examining the products people own or the products produced by a culture, researchers test hypotheses about attitudes and preferences.
C. Problems and Limitations
· Before concluding that a measure of physical traces is a valid indicator of behavior or attitudes, a researcher should make sure no sources of bias exist.
· Validity of physical-trace measures can be ascertained by examining converging evidence.
III. Archival Data
A. Rationale
· Archival data comprise the records or documents of the activities of individuals, groups, institutions, and governments, including running records, news media, and other types of records; archival data can consist of public or private documents.
· Archival data are used to test hypotheses as part of the multimethod approach, to establish the external validity of laboratory findings, and to assess the effects of natural treatments.
· Archival data represent a rich, plentiful source of observations for psychological studies.
B. Content Analysis
· Content analysis refers to the process of making inferences based on objective coding of archival records.
· Steps for content analysis include identifying a relevant source of archival data, sampling data from the records, and then coding the contents of the records.
· Coding in content analysis involves classifying events and behaviors from archival records into clearly defined categories and recording the amount of time or words devoted to events and behaviors.
· Trained coders use rating scales to make qualitative judgments about the contents of archival records.
C. Problems and Limitations
· Archival data may be biased due to selective deposit and selective survival.
· Selective deposit occurs when biases influence what information is recorded (deposited) in an archival record or whether a record is made at all; selective survival occurs when archival records are missing or incomplete.
· Archival records are subject to errors and changes in record-keeping procedures.
· Although archival data are considered nonreactive, reactivity can influence the production of archival records; this is particularly true for public records.
· When interpreting the results of correlational analyses of archival data, researchers must be alert to the possibility of spurious relationships.
IV. Ethical Issues and Unobtrusive Measures
· Unobtrusive measures such as physical traces and archival data represent an important research method because psychologists can use them to fulfill their ethical obligation to improve individual and societal conditions.
V. Summary
REVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
These review questions appear in the textbook (without answers) at the end of Chapter 6, and can be used for a homework assignment or exam preparation. Answers to these questions appear in italic.
1. Why are physical traces and archival data especially attractive alternatives to the direct-observation and survey methods of measuring behavior and attitudes?
Physical traces and archival data are especially valuable because they provide unobtrusive (nonreactive) measures of behavior. (p. 181)
2. Explain why researchers choose to use the multimethod approach to investigate a research question.
Multimethod approaches to hypothesis testing are recommended because they reduce the likelihood that research findings are due to some artifact of the measurement process, thereby increasing the validity of the research findings. (p. 182)
3. Identify the two kinds of physical-trace measures that are used by psychologists, and briefly describe how they differ.
Physical traces can be either use traces (physical evidence that results from use or nonuse of an item) or products (creations, constructions, or other artifacts of earlier behavior). Use traces can also be either natural or controlled. (pp. 183–184)
4. Explain how possible sources of bias can arise when physical-use traces are the dependent variable in a research study, and how the validity of these measures can be verified.
Possible biases exist in the way that physical-use traces are laid down and in the manner in which the traces survive over time. The validity of these measures can be verified by collecting independent evidence that will allow different interpretations for the changes in the physical traces to be dismissed. (pp. 185–187)
5. Describe three reasons researchers use archival data in their research, and provide a research example illustrating each of these reasons.
Archival data can be used to: (1) provide unobtrusive (nonreactive) measures to check the validity of other measures or as part of the multimethod approach [Frank & Gilovich (1988) study on the association of the color black and “badness”/aggressiveness]; (2) test the external validity of laboratory findings [Damisch, Mussweiler, & Piessner (2006) study showing that Olympic judges’ evaluations of performances are affected by what has become the performance]; (3) test hypotheses about previous behavior [studies of the “home advantage” in sports competitions]; and (4) assess the effect of a natural treatment [Friedman et al. (1995) study of the effects of parental divorce on children’s mortality rates of the gifted children Terman studied in a longitudinal study beginning in 1921]. (pp. 188–192)'
