Question

8. What is a drawback of a naturalistic study?

Answer 1

Answer:

The researcher lacks control over the research setting.

Explanation:

A naturalistic study consists in the systematic observation of human and animal behavior as it occurs naturally and spontaneously in their habitual environment. Although this type of study is very important for assessing the behavior of living things, there are many limitations that can undermine the promising outcome of this type of study.

This type of limitation is usually related to the lack of control that the researcher has with the research scenario. The result of this lack of control is:

• Control over foreign variables is limited, so no cause-effect relationship can be established: conclusions are assumptions.
• If participants are aware that they are being watched, their behavior will be less natural; If you are unaware that you are being watched and your behavior is not public, problems may arise that invalidate the observation (privacy violation).
• Where there is only one observer - as often happens - it is difficult to verify the authenticity and reliability of the data.