Ch3: Research Methods Flashcards
What is direct observation?
Researchers directly observing participants as they engage in relational or sexual situations.
Provides rich contextual info
Cons of direct observation:
Memory bias = salience preferences of researchers
Interpretation bias
cons of direct observation-how to help them?
Memory bias and interpretation bias
Memory bias: record sessions
Interpretation bias: operationalize behaviours
Interview cons
Memory bias/salience preferences
Responder bias! Participants responding in way that they think researcher wants them to respond!
Case study
Illustrating aspects of sexuality that may be unethical to replicate or study in an experiment
Case study cons (3)
Theoretical bias is a type of interpretation bias that can lead to researchers using case study to erroneously confirm their theory
Poor generalizability to rest of population
Lack of experimental design, lack of control group => can’t draw conclusions about causation
Content analysis
Analysis of overarching themes in a text or set of observations (eg. Interviews)
Common method of doing content analysis
Focus groups! Interviewing groups of people, eg. female arousal
Content analysis cons
Difficult to quantify???
Correlational Methods
:)
Correlational research: definition and primary weakness
Examines relationship btwn 2+ variables
Cons: causation can’t be inferred
Survey is a type of ___ research.
Correlational
Survey has 2 types of questionnaires. What are they?
Standard and unstandardized.
Standard: standard set of questions and fixed set of answers
Unstandardized: standard set of questions but room for individual answers
Survey: pros & cons
Pros: inexpensive; anonymous, hopefully more honesty
Cons: memory bias, responder bias, demand characteristics
Archival data-mining is a form of ___ research
Correlational
Is archival data-mining quantitative or qualitative?
Can be both!
Quantitative: old data sets
Qualitative: old diary entries :O
Pros and cons of archival data-mining
Pros: convenient, good for past conditions or an individual’s past history
Cons: incomplete and out of date records
True experiment vs. Quasi-experiment
Quasi has standard procedure but no random assignment.
True has manipulated variable, dependant variable, control for confounds, and random assignment.
Psychophysiological methods
:)
Quantitative sensory testing
Tests ind’l responses & thresholds to stimuli, under varying internal states and conditions.
Quantitative sensory testing is good for…
Studying pain disorders such as vaginismus and dyspareunia
Vaginismus:
Marked fear and/or tightening of pelvic floor muscles, making intercourse difficult or impossible.
After arousal, women need ___ pressure to detect touch, while men need ____.
Less, more.
Dyspareunia
Genital and/or pelvic pain during or after PIV
