Q.Dr. Krishnan is going to observe and record children's play behaviour at a nursery school without attempting to influence or control the behaviour. Which method of research is involved? Explain the process and discuss its merits and demerits.

Since Dr. Krishnan is watching children's real play behaviour in its natural school setting without trying to influence or control it, this is naturalistic observation. …

Dr. Krishnan's approach, watching and recording children's play behaviour at a nursery school in its natural setting, without trying to influence or control what happens, is an example of the observational method, and more specifically, naturalistic observation, since it is conducted in a real-life setting with no attempt at manipulation.

The process Dr. Krishnan would need to follow has three parts. First, selection: rather than trying to note down everything the children do, Dr. Krishnan would need to decide on a specific, well-defined aspect of play behaviour to focus on, such as cooperative play, aggressive play, or how children interact with a particular toy. Second, recording: this selected behaviour would need to be captured systematically, using tally marks each time it occurs, detailed field notes, or video recording, rather than relying on memory afterwards. Third, analysis: once the observations are recorded, Dr. Krishnan would analyse them afterwards to draw out patterns and meaning, rather than interpreting behaviour while still in the act of watching it.

The merit of this method is that, because the children are being watched in their natural nursery setting with nothing deliberately controlled or manipulated, the behaviour recorded is likely to be a genuine, authentic picture of how they actually play, rather than behaviour distorted by an artificial laboratory setting. …