Methods: primary/secondary data & meta-analysis Flashcards
What is primary data?
Data collected directly first hand
What are examples of ways to collect primary data?
Observations
Interviews
Questionnaires
Experiments
What examples are there of primary data in clinical psychology?
Carlsson - 14 studies carried out himself
Seidman - post-mortems (NTs)
Meltzer - APs, placebo vs APs
What are the strengths of primary data in clinical psychology?
Reliable - e.g. using same questionnaire on mental health such as the DSM
More up to date - may be important when researching the most current types of treatments for mental disorders
What are the weaknesses of primary data in clinical psychology?
Subjective - e.g. if treatment for Sz is found not to be effective in some cases, this may be overlooked
Costly & time consuming - e.g. studying effectiveness of medication with only one patient wouldn’t be useful
What is secondary data?
Data which has already been analysed and published
What are examples of ways to collect secondary data?
Statistics/reports
Correlation
Meta-analysis
What examples are there of secondary data in clinical psychology?
Carlsson - use of other peoples studies
Eaton - social causation hypothesis
Bond - ACT
What are the strengths of secondary data in clinical psychology?
Larger database - conducting interviews with a large number of Sz patients would be difficult, but using results from previous research males this process easier
Information immediately available - e.g. Carlsson was able to review existing data and draw conclusions easily
What are the weaknesses of secondary data in clinical psychology?
Validity may be questioned - don’t know whether data collected from Sz patients was done in an objective manner
May be out of date
What is a meta-analysis?
Researcher collates findings of multiple studies and draws a conclusion
What are examples of meta-analysis in clinical psychology?
Bond
Eaton
Carlsson
What are the strengths of meta-analysis?
Large database
Save time/money
What are the weaknesses of meta-analysis?
Validity
Publication bias - findings may be distorted since only published studies will be included in the sample
