时间取样观察法的优缺点及其适用性问题

Advantages and Disadvantages of Time Sampling and Its Applicability

关于社会行为发展的研究大都采用时间取样观察法。该方法用于估计实际行为出现的次数、频率和持续时间以及测量群体或个体的差异。但许多研究表明,时间取样观察法存在着一些不足与局限,如时间取样法不能精确地估计行为的频率和持续时间;对个体或群体差异的测量不准确等。而且,有些研究是不适合用时间取样观察法的。因此如果所取样的行为持续时间很短的话,研究者可以选择更为有效的观察法,如事件取样观察法、顺序取样法等来进行研究。

Studies of social behavior often employ observational sampling called time sampling. This method is used to estimate the frequencies of behavior and the duration of time a behavior takes and measure group or individual differences. However, many studies have demonstrated limitations with time sampling, such as, it is inaccurate for estimating actual duration or frequencies of behavior, and time sampling is inaccurate for estimating group and/or individual differences and so on. Moreover, it is also not appropriate to use time sampling in some cases. Therefore, we suggest that if the duration is very short, researchers can use observational sampling which is a more valid method, such as affair and sequence sampling.