There exist various ways of conducting research. One of them is naturalistic observation. Naturalistic observation is a research method mostly used by social scientist to collect data and observe objects in their natural habitats without altering the environment or triggering objects for result acquisition. This is the most appropriate method since the researcher gets first-hand information without necessarily inquiring. Naturalistic observation is more accurate. This is the most realistic since the animals or people under study are unaware that they are being watched. They tend to exhibit their natural behavior since no external forces are exerted on them thus giving accurate results
This research method is safe since the researcher does not interfere with the study subjects, some animals for instance lions and leopards can be fierce therefore it is safe to be studied without their consent and at a distant. Thus, the method can be the most appropriate. The method is also helpful in research validation. The method compares and validates the results that have been collected before with the current one. They help in confirming and disapproving any false information.
Naturalistic observation method aids in studying unethical subjects. The method enables in-depth study of various topics that are even emotional. The researchers gather the most valuable data without altering the emotional well-being of their targets. Therefore, the subjects will not trigger with their results. Research through naturalistic methods places things in their real worldview. Experiments are conducted in the natural settings thus rendering the results obtained more relevant to the hypothesis. Despite the fact that the method is very complicated to administer, it is the most efficient and accurate.
Naturalistic observation just like any other method has some weaknesses such as time-consuming. To get correct results, you have to conduct the same subject repeatedly for an extended time to avoid the biases of the results. It’s hard to keep it natural. It’s difficult to carry out experiment or examination about a subject without their knowledge. The observer will be at distant that may fail to get the full scope of what is happening .this drawback is as a result of objects obscuring the subject under study leading to biases of results.
Influence by outsiders also affects the research process. When conducting naturalistic observation, the researcher has no control of the surrounding influences to the subject. These disturbances easily affect the results of experiment thus rendering useless. The difference of opinions from the researchers has brought in many unanswered questions to this method. Both scientists and scholars look at things differently they can observe the same subject carry out the same experiment and draw a different conclusion from the same experiment. This will be difficult to choose the correct results from the trial.
The exercise is tedious to conduct. Researchers risk their lives in visiting the most dangerous places to conduct their research. Some subjects like when studying topics like the people’s behavior are unethical, and if a person gets to know that he is being considered secretly, the researcher will taste the waters. Natural observation method is important since it gives a chance to the researcher to discover new things about a subject, which would not have been obtained through other means. However, it has several drawbacks hence researchers have to analyses it keenly before applying it in conducting their research.
