Methods widely used in the natural and social sciences. Observational methods typically focus on naturally occurring behaviour, thus contrasting with experiments, which study responses to specially devised tests in a controlled setting. Observational studies may, like experiments, compare a target group (say of autistic participants) with a control group. The observational method usually involves coding of the observations, analysing this information either quantitatively (e.g. scoring or counting particular behaviours) or qualitatively (a more holistic appraisal).