Sample SAQ

The following sample is an exemplary SAQ - it should receive full marks.

One research  method used in the sociocultural approach is an observation.  Unlike an experiment, observations do not have an independent variable.  The goal of an observation is to see how people act in a given situation. This means that observations are often done under uncontrolled conditions.  In an observation, there is a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. An observation may be overt or covert. In an overt observation, the participants know that they are being observed.  In a covert observation, the participants do not know that they are being observed; in some cases, they are being deceived, and in other cases it is in a public space where consent would not be required.  An observation can also be naturalistic – done in a person’s natural environment – or in a lab.  Finally, it may be participant or non-participant.  In a participant observation, the researcher is part of the group that is being studied.  In a non-participant observation, the researcher does not join the group, but observes from outside the group.

Festinger carried out a covert, naturalistic participant observation in order to find out how members of a cult would behave when they found out that the world would not end on the day that they believed it would. Festinger and his team joined the cult in order to gather their data.  Obviously, they did not tell the cult they were doing this – so it was covert. They documented the conversations they had with the cult members, but in order to do this, they often had to take “bathroom breaks” to write everything down without being noticed.  When “doomsday” arrived, they found that the cult members rationalized their situation – believing that their prayers had saved the world.  In this way, it allowed them to save their self-esteem. 

The researchers used a covert observation because they would not have been able to observe the cult in any other way.  This group was a “closed” group, so by pretending to be interested in joining the cult, they were able to observe what they were doing.  In addition, a covert observation avoids demand characteristics – that is, the participants do not change their behaviour simply because they know that they are being observed. The study is naturalistic because it was done in the normal cult environment, and the participants were not tested in a lab.  Finally, the study was participant.  It would not have been possible to observe such a closed group from “outside” and by being part of the group, the researcher had more control.  He could ask direct questions and experience things more personally that were happening.

Sample SAQ: Festinger