Instead of creating an intervention or designing an observational study in which there is interaction with the participants (surveys, measurements, interviews, etc.), a naturalistic study simply involves the researcher observing and recording the behavior, phenomenon or activity that they are studying. Naturalistic research is usually a type of field research, something employed frequently by zoologists, naturalists, ethologists and similar researchers. However, it may be used for qualitative study of medical conditions, such as a naturalistic study of autistic children in a specific everyday environment.
