Naturalistic Observation on Cara Essay

Alex is a seven year old Caucasian female. She is struggling emotionally and socially. She was held back in the first grade. Alex has been involved with The Department of Children and Families (DCF) since she was born. The mission statement of The Department of Children and Families is to, “Strive to protect children from abuse and neglect and, in partnership with families and communities, ensure children are able to grow and thrive in a safe and nurturing environment.” (Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "About the Department of Children & Families", 2015)

Naturalistic observation involves recording subjects' naturally occurring behavior while they are in their natural environment. This experiment revolves around this type of observation. Specifically, it involves the observation of the various human dyads (male-female, male-male, female-female,) social interaction, within in a public environment. Focal points of observation included conversation space (distance between individuals heads,), and body language.

The topic studied in this naturalistic observational research study was called “pick me up.” The purpose of this study was to place a note card on the ground labeled “pick me up” and observe the type of person that picked the card up. The research question was “Which gender will pick up the card more and which gender will react more?” The researchers had three hypotheses: (1) More women will smile when reading the card than men, (2) More men than women will notice the card and continue walking, and (3) More men than women will notice the card.

I observed a classroom of four-year-old students who are enrolled at the Child Development Center on the George Mason University campus. This observation lasted about fifteen minutes with a total of twelve students in the classroom. At the time of my observation the students were engaging in free playtime where they are allowed to play games, make crafts, and interact with their fellow classmates. I was seated in the corner of the classroom where the children could not easily see me or get distracted by me. I stayed seated throughout the whole observation so the students would not be affected by my presence. Many different activities were happening at the same time, but a couple standout situations reminded me of many subject areas we

Throughout this assignment, my perspective on the person I studied changed. I learned several things about their character and the behavior that they presented. This task showed me that by simply observing a person’s behavior, my perspective about them changes.

My observation locations are Starbucks and restaurant. I chose them as my observation location because those are the places where people normally talk, study, socialize and interact in a casual manner.

As told through her mother’s perspective, one will learn that Trina is a eighteen year old female of African-American decent and resides with her mother in Los Angeles, California. Trina’s parents, Keri and Clyde, provide their daughter with an upper/upper middle class lifestyle due to her father’s sudden successful career and her mother’s successful resale clothing business in Los Angeles. This well rounded and beautiful adolescent has recently graduated from high school with high grades and was accepted to Brown University, however, due to her summer manic episodes, Trina has not attended college yet.

In order to study human development and perform naturalistic observation I went to the mall. I selected a 9-year-old white girl as the subject for my observation. I observed the subject for 30 minutes. During my observation the subject was not interrupted and was not aware of my study.

Naturalistic observation is a research technique involving the observation of people or objects in their natural environments to gather data. When performing a naturalistic observation, it is key for the researcher to remain unavowed to the subject, or the result of the data could be skewed. When conducting a naturalistic observation to study the exercise times of young adult males versus older adult males, a good place to make observations would be at a gym, a popular hiking trail, or in a populated city (ex: downtown Washington, D.C.) where there are large sidewalks and plenty of room for foot traffic. Next, determine the variables. The measurable variables would be determined by witnessing a subject perform some sort of exercise, or any act that raises the heart rate above its natural rhythm on purpose at different times of day (ex: bike riding, running or jogging, roller blading, weight lifting, swimming, etc.). A record is kept regarding the execution of the variables, and after spending a viable amount of time collecting data from the subjects, the results of the study can be concluded. A possible result of the study could be that it is more common for older adult males to exercise early in the morning, while it is more common for younger adult males to exercise late in the evening.

During my naturalistic observation, I was at my sister’s softball game at the field behind Bridgeport Middle School. There were two identical twins little girls, who were three years old, playing together in the practice batting cage. In the beginning, they were walking around together, eating popsicles while they watched two other older kids, a boy and a girl most likely around the age range of five to seven, chasing each other. The older kids were playing tag and invited the twins to join them. From their facial expressions, it was obvious they were thrilled to play with them; however they were hesitant to run and chase the older kids. They stood at the starting location and watched as the other kids raced back and forth, and had to move

Thea wakes up first, so she wakes Lily up and they play on their floor for a while until Tom comes in and joins them, Toms says that it's good to let you child side out once in a while. Addison comes in the room and says that breakfast is ready and that everyone should come and sit at the table. Tom and the girl's go and sit at the table and it's full of food again.

For Life-Span Development class, on February 13, 2017, the class had the opportunity to observer the physical, cognitive and social development. In this observation the class Riley, a five month old, female toddler. As a class at the Dordt College, gave the class the opportunity to live observe in the child with the infant’s parent consent.

This paper is going to describe the behavioral and cognitive traits that can be inferred from that behavior of a two year old child that I observed in the park as she was playing with her mother. The child that I observed is a girl, has blonde hair and is physically well-developed for her age. She is around two, weighs approximately twenty (20) pounds and is about two (2) feet tall.

I begin observing Faith Sanchez a six-year-old, who is in the first grade at Emerson Elementary School on November 7, 2017 over the course of three days. The observation took place at the child’s home, where we had access to the materials needed for the different set of skills that I would be conducting during the observational period. The reason for observing Faith was to see if her Physical, Cognitive and Psychosocial domains are developing at the average range for a school age child or if she was showing signs of atypical development.

Observational research is type of correlational (i.e., nonexperimental) research in which a researcher observes ongoing behavior. There are a variety of types of observational research, each of which has both strengths and weaknesses. These types are organized below by the extent to which an experimenter intrudes upon or controls the environment.