Naturalistic Observation, case study

Surprisingly, naturalistic observational research is difficult to do well. Methods have been constructed to guide the researcher, especially the beginning researcher, in the collection of data under naturalistic conditions. Most importantly for this method, the very presence of the investigator, as well as the data recording techniques that are used, must remain unobtrusive; that is, no characteristics of the observation itself should have any effect on the behavior of the organism under study. Advantages of …

…could the shear magnitude of the situation be completely understood. What was most interesting to note is that even though both children knew it was wrong, the fact that one was doing it justified to the other it was okay to also break the rules. Secondly, and perhaps even more distressing, was the act that was captured on film. Each child learning from the others failure continually attempting the task until it was successfully completed.