... understand aspects of our own behaviour. Study of simple organisms like sea slugs enables us to bypass the complexity of our own systems and reveal the neural mechanisms of learning. However we cannot necessarily generalise behaviours of one species onto our own as biological predispositions affect behaviour. There is also inherent hypocrisy in the study of animals as "We cannot defend our scientific work with animals on the basis of similarities between them and ourselves and then defend it morally on the basis of differences" (Ulrich 1991). An observational study is a form of research where data is collected through observation of the participants. No independent variable is manipulated but a dependant variable may be measured. It enables the collection of raw data and at the same time the study of the participant. Observational studies have high ecological validity and if the observer(s) remain undetected experimenter bias can be ...

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