Discuss the main observational methods used in personality assessment. What problems do we face in using these methods?

• Observational method is a very powerful tool of psychological enquiry. It is an effective method of describing behaviour.

• A scientific observation differs from day-to-day observation in many respects.

(i) Selection: Psychologists do not observe all the behaviour that they encounter. Rather, they select a particular behaviour for observation.

(ii) Recording: While observing, a researcher records the selected behaviour using different means, such as marking tallies for the already identified behaviour whenever they occur, taking notes describing each activity in greater detail using short hand or symbols, photographs, video recording, etc.

(iii) After the observations have been made, psychologists analyse whatever they have recorded with a view to derive some meaning out of it.

(iv) Observation is a skill. A good observation is a skill. A good observer knows what he/she is looking for, whom he/she wants to observe, when and where the observation needs to be made.

• Observation can be of the following types :

(a) Non-Participant vs. Participant Observation:

1. Non-participant observation

(i) To observe the person or event from a distance.

(ii) The observer may become part of the group being observed.

(iii) In the first case, the person being observed may not be aware that he/ she is being observed. For example, you want to observe the pattern of interaction between teachers and students in a particular class.

(iv) Install a video camera to record the classroom activities, which you can see later and analyse. Alternatively, you may decide to sit in a comer of the class without interfering or participating in their everyday activities. This type of observation is called non-participant observation.

2. Participations observation

(i) In participant observation, the observer becomes a part of the school or the group of people being observed.

(ii) the observer takes some time to establish a rapport with the group so that they start accepting him/her as one of the group members.

(iii) the degree of involvement of the observer with the group being observed would vary depending upon the focus of the study.

The advantage of the observation method is that it enables the researcher to study people and their behaviour in a naturalistic situation, as it occurs. However, the observation method is labour-intensive, time-consuming, and is susceptible to the observer's bias. Our observation is influenced by our values and beliefs about the person or the event.