The Efficacy of Variations of Observation and Data Recording on Trainee Performance.

The observer effect refers to an increase in a trainee's performance following an observation in which the trainee records data on the behavior of another individual performing that skill. We examined three variations of observation and data recording to teach guided compliance implementation. Experiment 1 investigated the effects of data recording during video observation. Experiment 2 examined whether recording the performance of a peer and providing feedback improved performance. Experiment 3 required participants to accurately collect data during video demonstrations. Across all experiments, we observed performance improvements for some but not all participants. Experimenter feedback was necessary for most participants to meet criterion levels. Hence, the observer effect was not consistently found. We discuss implications of these findings as they relate to previous research and apply to staff training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]