methods in attachment research

Question 1

what type of technique do researchers rely on when studying babies and small children?

Answer 1

the observational technique

Question 2

what is a frame-by-frame analysis?

Answer 2

when observing babies and small children, researchers have to focus on the small details. for instance where is the baby looking at each point in time and facial expressions. researchers record the behaviour on a camera and make detailed observations of behaviours displayed on each frame.

Question 3

what can frame-by-frame video analysis lead to?

Answer 3

lead to more reliable observations

Question 4

what is a longitudinal study?

Answer 4

where researchers investigate the same participants at multiple time points.

Question 5

what type of study is a longitudinal study?

Answer 5

it is known as an observational study however they don’t have to be observational. they may use the self-report technique.

Question 6

longitudinal study strengths

Answer 6

• it allows researchers to have a deep insight into behaviour and how it changes over time
• it gives the researcher insights into how early experiences shape behaviour
• by studying behaviours at multiple time points researchers can see if results are reliable across time

Question 7

longitudinal study weaknesses

Answer 7

• attrition —> when, across the study, the researcher loses some of their participants from the sample

Question 8

when is a natural or quasi experiment used?

Answer 8

because attachment reserchers often study independent variables that would be unethical to manipulate, they often conduct quasi or natural experiments.

Question 9

when is an animal study used?

Answer 9

because attachment researchers often study independent variables that would be unethical to manipulate, the alternative is to conduct animal studies.

Question 10

animal studies strengths

Answer 10

• instead of just relying on natural or quasi experiments that have lots of extraneous variables, we can still directly test cause and effect

Question 11

animal studies weakness - generalisability

Answer 11

• the results of animal studies may not generalise to humans because animals are very different to humans

Question 12

animal studies weakness - ethical issues

Answer 12

• might not always be considered ethical as they might cause distress to the animal. if we argue the studies don’t cause distress to the animals then this implies animals are different to humans which limits the generalisability of the findings. on the other hand, many researchers argue the benefits outweigh the negative impacts and even if animals are quite different to humans, they have sufficiently similar behaviours and genes that make the results still valid

Question 13

animal studies weakness response - ethical issues

Answer 13

• on the other hand, many researchers argue the benefits outweigh the negative impacts and even if animals are quite different to humans, they have sufficiently similar behaviours and genes that make the results still valid