Unobtrusive research refers to methods of collecting data that do not interfere with the subjects under study (i.e., methods are not obtrusive). Both qualitative and quantitative researchers use unobtrusive research methods. Unobtrusive methods share the unique quality that they do not require the researcher to interact with the people they are studying.
(Adapted rom Research Methods for the Social Sciences: An Introduction by Valerie Sheppard, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Content analysis is a research method that focuses on analyzing the content of recorded communication. It often involves analyzing primary sources such as social media posts, advertisements, news articles, literature, websites, datasets, or government documents. Content analysis can also be done with secondary sources such as research articles from journals.
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Autoethnography combines "self" with "cultural description" to analyze a researcher's own experiences. Researchers use self-reflection, writing, and personal stories to explore the cultural meaning behind their experiences. This method involves writing a focused account that analyzes the cultural significance of the researcher's experiences. Through this process, researchers can gain new insights about themselves and the topic they are studying. Unlike traditional research, autoethnography positions the researcher as the subject of their own study.
(Adapted from Consumer psychology: A study guide to qualitative research methods by Hackett, P. M. W., Jürgens, U. M., & Schwarzenbach, J., licensed under CC BY 4.0)
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Naturalistic observation is an observational method that involves observing people’s behavior in the environment in which it typically occurs. Jane Goodall’s famous research on chimpanzees is a classic example of naturalistic observation. Dr. Goodall spent three decades observing chimpanzees in their natural environment in East Africa. She examined such things as chimpanzee’s social structure, mating patterns, gender roles, family structure, and care of offspring by observing them in the wild. However, naturalistic observation could more simply involve observing shoppers in a grocery store, children on a school playground, or psychiatric inpatients in their wards. Researchers engaged in naturalistic observation usually make their observations as unobtrusively as possible so that participants are not aware that they are being studied.
(Adapted rom Research Methods in Psychology by Rajiv S. Jhangiani, I-Chant A. Chiang, Carrie Cuttler, & Dana C. Leighton, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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Archival research involves analyzing data that have already been collected for some other purpose. An example is a study by Brett Pelham and his colleagues on “implicit egotism”—the tendency for people to prefer people, places, and things that are similar to themselves. In one study, they examined Social Security records to show that women with the names Virginia, Georgia, Louise, and Florence were especially likely to have moved to the states of Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida, respectively. As with naturalistic observation, measurement can be more or less straightforward when working with archival data.
(Adapted rom Research Methods in Psychology by Rajiv S. Jhangiani, I-Chant A. Chiang, Carrie Cuttler, & Dana C. Leighton, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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