Effects of Instructional Set and Experimenter Influence On Observer Reliability, No. 11
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Date
1972
Authors
Taplin, Paul S.
Reid, John B.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oregon Research Institute
Abstract
A laboratory analog of naturalistic observation was used to examine the relationship of observer drift to instructional set and experimenter status. Three instructional sets (no check, random check, and spot check) and two levels of experimenter . status were studied . Results indicated a highly significant decrease in observer reliability coinciding with the shift from training to data collection. This performance decrement was observed in all three instructional set conditions. Within the spot-check condition, reliability on spot-check days was found to be significantly greater than mean reliability immediately before and after spot checks. Further results revealed that observers trained by the high status experimenter performed less reliably than observers trained by the other two experimenters. The possible implications of these results for future observational research, and suggestions for minimizing observer drift were discussed.
Description
25 pages
Keywords
observer reality, no check, spot check, reliability, experiment