mini lecture

Observing BehaviourGood morning, everyone. Today we will look at how to observe behaviour in research. Perhaps you would say it is easy and there is nothing extraordinary. Yes, you may be right. All of us observe behaviour every day. For example, when traveling in another country, we can avoid embarrassment by observing how people behave in that culture. And failing to be observing while walking or driving can be life-threatening.We learn by observing people's behaviour. Researchers too rely on their observations to learn about behaviour,but there are differences. For instance, when we observe casually, we may not be aware of factors that bias our observations, and, [1]and when we rarely keep formal records of our observations. Instead, we rely on our memory of events. [2]Observations in research on the other hand are made under precisely defined conditions, that is, in a systematic and objective manner, and with careful record keeping.Then how are we going to conduct observations in our research studies, and what do we need to do in order to make a scientific and objective observation? Now, as you remember, the primary goal of observation is to describe behaviour, but it is in reality impossible to observe and describe all of a person's behaviour. So we have to rely on observing samples of people's behaviour. Doing so, we must decide whether the samples represent people's usual behaviour. Thus, we will first take a brief look at how researchers select samples of behaviour.Before conducting an observational study, researchers must make a number of important decisions, that's about when and where observations will be made. As I've said before, the researcher cannot observe all behaviour. Only certain behaviors occurring at particular times, in specific settings can be observed. In other words, behaviour must be sampled. In this lecture, I will briefly introduce two kinds of sampling, that is, time sampling and situation sampling.Now first, time sampling. Time sampling means that researchers choose various time intervals for their observation. Intervals may be selected systematically or randomly. Suppose we want to observe students' classroom behaviour. Then in systematic time sampling, our observations might be made during five 20-minute periods, beginning every hour. The first observation period could begin at 9 am, the second at 10 am and so forth. [3]However, in random sampling, these five 20-minute periods may be distributed randomly over the course of the day. That is to say, intervals between observation periods could vary-some longer others shorter. One point I'd like to make is systematic and random time sampling are not always used in isolation. They are often combined in studies. For example, while observation intervals are scheduled systematically, observations within an interval are made at random times. That means the researcher might decide to observe only during 15-second intervals that are randomly distributed within each 20-minute period.[4]Now let's come to situation sampling. Then, what is situation sampling? It involves studying behaviour in different locations and under different circumstances and conditions. By sampling as many different situations as possible researchers can reduce the chance that their observation results will be peculiar to a certain set of circumstances and conditions. [5]Why? Because peopleor for that manner animals do not behave in exactly the same way across all situations. For example, children do not always behave the same way with one parent as they do with the other parent, and animals do not behave the same way in zoos as they do in the wild. [6]So, by sampling different situations, a researcher can make more objective observations than he would in only a specific situation.[7]Having discussed ways to sample behaviour in research, we are now moving onto another issue, that is, what researchers should do to record behaviour as it occurs, that is whether researchers are active or passive in recording behaviour. This refers to the methods of observation. Observational methods can be classified as “observation with intervention”or “observation without intervention”. Observation with intervention can be made in at least two ways, participant observation and field experiment. In participant observation, observers, that is researchers, play a dual role: They observe people's behaviour and they participate actively in the situation they are observing. If individuals who are being observed know that the observer is present to collect information about their behaviour, this is undisguised participant observation. But in disguised participant observation, those who are being observed do not know that they are being observed.[8]Another method of observation with intervention is field experiment. What is a field experiment? When an observer controls one or more conditions in a natural setting in order to determine the effect on behaviour, this procedure is called field experiment. The field experiment represents the most extreme form of intervention in observational methods. The essential difference between field experiments and other observational methods is that researchers have more control in field experiments.Now let's take a look at observation without intervention. [9]Observation without intervention is also called naturalistic observation because its main purpose is to describe behaviour as it normally occurs, that is, in a natural setting, [10]without any attempt by the observer to intervene. An observer using this method of observation acts as a passive recorder of what occurs. The events occur naturally and are not controlled by the observer.OK, in today's lecture, we have focused on how to make decisions of sampling before beginning our observation, and what we can do during observation. I hope what we've discussed will help you in your future research design.Observing BehaviourPeople do observation in daily life context for safety or for proper behaviour. However, thereare d ifferences in daily-life observation and research observation.A. Differences----daily life observation- casual observation: no awareness of (1)________-(2) ________-dependence on memory----research observation- (3) ________- careful record keepingB. Ways to select samples in researchThe initial goal of observation: (4)________----time sampling- systematic: e.g. fixed intervals every hour- random: fixed intervals but (5)________Systematic sampling and random sampling are often used in (6)________.----(7)________- definition: selection of different locations- reason: humans’ or animals’ behaviour (8)________ across circumstances- (9)________: more objective observationsC. Ways to record behaviour (10)________This refers to (11)________.---- observation with intervention- participant observation: researcher as observer and participant- field experiment: researchers (12)________over conditions---- observation without intervention-purpose: describing behaviour (13)________- (14)________: no intervention- researcher: a passive recorderSo, in today's lecture, we have focused on how to make decisions of sampling beforebeginning our observation, and what we can do during observation.I hope what we've discussed will help you in (15) ______.There are differences between active learning and passive learning. Characteristics of active learners:I. reading with purposeA. before reading: setting goalsB. while reading: (1)________II. (2)________ and critical in thinkingi.e. information processing, e.g.-connections between the known and the new information-identification of (3)________ concepts (not understand)-judgment on the value of (4)________III. active in listeningA. ways of note-taking: (5)________B. before note-taking: listening and thinkingIV. being able to get assistanceA. reason 1: knowing comprehension problems because of (6)________B. reason 2: being able to predict study difficultiesV. being able to question informationA. question what they read or hearB. evaluate and (7)________VI. last characteristicA. attitude toward responsibility-active learners: accept-passive learners: (8)________B. attitude toward (9)________-active learners: evaluate and change behaviour-passive learners: no change in approachRelationship between skill and will: will is more important in (10)________ Lack of will leads to difficulty in college learning.Ability for learning. Active learners understand that the responsibility for learning must come from within, while passive learners often want to blame others for their lack of motivation, poor performance, time management problems and other difficulties that they might experience. When active learners don't perform as well as they've hoped, they evaluate why they didn't do well and change those studying behaviors the next time. Passive learners, on the other hand, often approach evey. course in the same manner, and then get angry with professors when their performance is poor. It is only when students accept the responsibility for their own learning that they can truly be called active learners.So, from what I have said so far, you can see that being an active learner involves both skill and will. By skill, I mean the tools to handle the studying and learning demands placed on you, like how to read with purpose, when and where to get assistance if you are having difficulty. By will, I mean the desire and motivation to follow through. Here I'd like to emphasize that skill is nothing without will. For example, you may have a friend who is knowledgeable, but not motivated in the classroom, even though he reads widely and can intelligently discuss a variety of issues, he does little school work and rarely studies. In other words, students, such as these, may have the skills to do well, but for some reason, they simply do not have the will. And because skill and will go hand in hand, unmotivated students, those who do not have the will, may experience difficulty in college.OK, today we discuss the differences between an active learner and a passive one, and some useful study strategies that may eventually help you become an active learner.How to Reduce StressGood morning! Today we look at how to reduce stress. As you all know, life always has stresses, Ur, things which are causing us stress and living without stress is virtually impossible. So, if we have to live with stress, we may as well find out more about what it is, how we can deal with it and so on.What is stress, then? The term was originally used in physics to describe the force exerted between two touching bodies. That was strictly a term describing a physical reaction. Then in the 1930s, a doctor named Hans Selye, S-E-L-Y-E, first used this term to describe a human’s reaction to a demand placed on it, pleasant or not. And he included in this response, things like accelerated breathing, accelerated heart rate, increased blood pressure, muscle tension and so on.Now, please notice that I said that stress can be pleasant or not, this response can also be pleasant or not. And stress can be both negative and positive.Let’s take a look at positive stress. Positive stress occurs in a life situation towards which one feels positively, things like Christmas or getting married are usually positive events, but still stressful, nonetheless.Another example is the pressure in a job can give some people incentive to work and excitement, but it still is stress. Negative stress is what most of us think of when we think of stress. And negative stress occurs logically enough in situations towards which one feels negatively. And those examples could be test-taking, a friend’s death and so on. But here a thing to remember is that stress in itself is not hazardous. Rather, the danger is in the individual’s reaction to the stress. So psychologists have found that if we develop appropriate ways to cope with stressful situations, individuals can reduce the physiological harm which is caused by stress, or which can be caused by stress. And that’s what I want to talk a bit about today - what are these appropriate ways to deal with stress, how to minimize any negative reactions.The first thing that most psychologists suggest is to learn to recognize your own stress signals. We all have different types of stress signals, but individuals should monitor themselves for stress signals, so that they can focus on minimizing or acknowledging the stress before it gets out of control.And common early signs for many people include irritability, insomnia, weight loss or even weight gain, smoking, drinking, increases in small errors, all kinds of things that people get which could be an early signal of stress.You can consider ways to protect yourself when you start seeing these signs coming on. So you might decide to withdraw from a stressful situation or reward yourself with equal amounts of low stress activity time. That’s really the first important way to deal with stress appropriately. The second important way to deal with stress is to pay attention to your body’s demands. Most psychologists are finding that a good exercise program, good nutrition, decreases the amount of stress, or the effect of stress on the body or in the mind. And this seems quite apparent because exercise can provide a stress-free environment away from your usual stresses and it keeps your body busy and preoccupied with non-stressful things. OK, the third thing to reduce stress is to make plans and act when appropriate. What is suggested is that rather than wasting energy on worrying, an individual can direct his or her energy to plan the steps and act.And often, just the planning of the action helps to reduce the stress, because it reduces the worrying. And also the results of the plans or action may serve to remove or weaken the original cause of the stress. Please notice that I just now said “when appropriate”. And this next suggestion has to do with that idea of when appropriate. The third suggestion was to make plans and act when appropriate,rather than just sit around and worry. But the fourth plan, or fourth idea, says to learn to accept situations which are out of your control. These two then go hand in hand. You can make plans and act when it’s appropriate, but when it’s not appropriate, or when it’s impossible, the only way is to learn to accept that some things are unchangeable and out of your hands.So, for example, if you are in traffic, lateness caused by traffic is out of your hands. There’s no sense in getting really crazy about that. If you do so, it only increases your stress to waste energy trying to resist what’s inevitable or what can’t be avoided. The last item that psychologists suggest is to pace your activities. By “pace”, I mean giving yourself some manageable tasks to do at a reasonable speed. That is, you go at a speed that you can handle, break your task into manageable parts, rather than try to deal with the whole task all at once. So, as an example in your lives as students, a whole term paper might feel overwhelming. But if you say to yourself, today I’m going to the library and gather resources, tomorrow, I’m going to read three articles, and so on, you’ll have broken this one large task, that’s writing a term paper, down into many smaller and more manageable tasks. This will certainly reduce your stress.OK. Having said all these, I want you to remember that the problem is not in the stressful experiences themselves. We all experience stress and stressful events. The problem is in our reactions to these experiences. And each of us has our own limits for stress and our own ways of coping with stress. So long as we have our own appropriate ways, stress or stressful situations can certainly be dealt with.OK. That’s all for today’s lecture. See you next week.How to Reduce StressI.Definition of stressA. (1)________ reactioni.e. force exerted between two touching bodiesB. human reactioni.e. response to (2)________ on someonee.g. increase in breathing, heart rate, (3)________or muscle tension II. (4)________A. positive stress- where it occurs: Christmas, wedding, (5)B. negative stress- where it occurs: test-taking situations, friend’s deathIII. Ways to cope with stressA. recognition of stress signals- monitor for (6)________ of stress- find ways to protect oneselfB. attention to body demand- effect of (7)________nutritionC. planning and acting appropriately- reason for planning- (8)________of planningD. learning to (9)________- e.g. delay caused by trafficE. pacing activities- manageable task- (10)________。