ISSUES RAISED BY ECOLOGICAL AND "CLASSICAL" RESEARCH EFFORTS

• Published in: Merrill Palmer Quarterly 1960-04, Vol.6 (3), p.145-152
• Main Authors: Gump, Paul V., Kounin, Jacob S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavior Problems; Child Development; Children; Conformity; Deviant Behavior; Dining halls; Ecological economics; Ecological psychology; Ecology; Environmental Factors; Freshwater ecology; Games; Research Methodology; Research studies; Teachers
• ISSN: 0026-0150; 0272-930X

A consideration of the potentialities and limitations of various methodologies of res on children's behavior. A general distinction between res methodologies is that obtaining between ecological (naturalistic) & classical (controlled) approaches. Ecological efforts select segments of naturally occurring habitats & record both habitat & behavioral data. The habitat segments may vary in size & complexity & may refer to particular incidents occurring within a milieu. Common to ecological studies is non-interference with either habitat condition or behavioral reactions. Classical methods of res conversely always interfere with either habitat conditions or behavioral reactions. Such efforts to narrow & control environments & responses often lead to clean independent-dependent variable relationships. However, the introduction of controls creates variables which often endanger such generalization. Classical approaches are esp limited when variables are prematurely selected. It is always possible that variables successfully manipulated in an experiment may occur with only slifht f in the natural milieu. Such variables possess low ecological validity. Ecological investigations are not without their own difficulties. Measurements of (total - sum) milieu & (total - sum) behavior response can be very expensive. Secondly, the recording of naturally occurring behavior necessarily means recording overt responses to environmental factors. Responses of interest may be covert; in these cases, interference with behavior, to the extent of employing interview techniques, seems required. In general the more specific & predetermined the variables of interest, the more classical methods are appropriate. There are times, however, when findings from a classical investigation require ecological approaches for their explication. AA.