Dr. Mayhew was interested in adolescents' reaction to disappointment. At the beginning of a local rock concert, Dr. Mayhew had the announcer broadcast that the band would perform an encore performance. All of the adolescents continued to stand and wait for the encore performance following the formal conclusion of the concert. Approximately 60 minutes later the announcer broadcast that the band already left and was unable to perform. Trained observers were placed throughout the concert arena and recorded the reactions of the adolescents in the audience following the news of the cancelled encore performance. The best description for this would be a(n):

In a contrived observation, the person who is used as the observer or the person carrying out the observation is the one who creates the scene or the setting for the gathering of information.

Such a setting gives the person control over getting useful information in a faster and in a more efficient manner.

Dr Mayhew has created the scene for this observation to get how the subjects would react using different observers.