Research Methodology and Ethics Flashcards
(28 cards)
What are the ethical guidelines for conducting a study?
Informed consent
Participation in a study must be voluntary
Participants must fully understand the nature of their involvement
Protection from harm
Participants must be protected from physical and mental harm at all times
Including possible negative long-term consequences of participating in a study
Right to withdraw
It must be clear to the participants that they are free to withdraw from the study any time they want
Confidentiality and anonymity
Nobody outside the experiment should know the names of the participants, or know what results were obtained from each participant
Deception
In many cases revealing the true aims of the experiment would change the participants behaviour, so in some research deception is part of the process
Researchers must be careful and if deception is used, it must be kept to the necessary minimum
Debriefing
After the study the participant must be fully informed of the nature and true aims of the study and how the data will be used and given an opportunity to withdraw
What are the main ethical considerations to be addressed when reporting results?
Anonymity and confidentiality
Participants’ personal informations (or informations that could easily lead to their identification) should not be disclosed
Transparency in data collection and use
Any potential limitations and biases should be stated in the report
Social implications of reporting scientific results
Researches should consider whether reporting certain results could lead to harm or misuse
Researchers should ensure findings do not cause distress to individuals or groups involved
State the sampling methods used in research.
Random sampling
Stratified sampling
Convinience (opportunity) sampling
Self-selected sampling
Snowball sampling
Outline random sampling, include the strengths and limitations.
Every member of the target population has an equal chance of becoming a part of the sample.
Strengths:
* Sample is representative of the target population.
* A random sample of sufficient size is a good representation of a population, so the results are easily generalizable.
Limitations:
* Not always possible for practical reasons.
* Expensive and time-consuming.
* There is no guarantee that the people you randomly choose will agree to participate.
Outline stratified sampling, include the strengths and limitations.
Process of obtaining a stratified sample:
1. Decide the essential characteristics the sample has to reflect.
2. Study the distribution of these characteristics in the target population.
3. Recruit participants in a way that keeps the same proportions as is observed in the target population.
Strengths:
* Ensures that the essential characteristics of the target population are fairly and equally represented in the sample.
Outline convinience sampling, include the strengths and limitations.
The researchers recruit participants that are more easily available, ex. university students.
Strengths:
* Quick and easy to obtain participants.
* Useful when wide generalization of findings is not the primary goal of the research.
Limitations:
* Lacks of representatives.
Outline self-selected sampling, include the strengths and limitations.
Participants volunteer to take part in the experiment.
Strengths:
* Quick and easy to obtain participants.
Limitations:
* Lacks of representatives, people who volunteer may be more motivated than the general population or they may be looking for incentives.
Outline snowball sampling, include the strengths and limitations.
The process starts with a small group of initial respondents (seeds). These initial respondents then refer the researcher to other potential respondents they know within the target population. Those respondents then refer the researcher to others, and so on. This process continues until the desired sample size is reached.
Strengths:
* Enables access to hidden populations
* Saves money and time
Limitations:
* Not always representative of the greater population
* Since current participants select other members for the sample, bias is likely.
Types of participant bias.
Acquiescence bias - a tendency to give positive answers whatever the question
Social desirability bias - participants’ tendency to respond or behave in a way that they think will make them liked or accepted
Dominant respondent bias - may occur in a group interview setting when one of the participants influences the behaviour and response of the others
Sensitivity bias - participants’ tendency to answer regular questions honestly, but distort their responses to questions on a sensitive subjects
Types of researcher bias.
Confirmation bias - occurs when a researcher has a prior belief and uses the research in an unintentional attempt to confirm it. It may influence the way the questions are worded, etc.
Leading question bias - occurs when respondents in an interview are inclined to answer in a certain way because the wording of the question encourages them to do so
Question order bias - occurs when responses to one question influence the participants’ response to the next one
Sampling bias - occurs when the sample is not adequate for the aims of the research
Biased reporting - occurs when some findings of the study are not equally represented in the research report
List qualitative research methods.
Observations
Focus groups
Semi-structured interviews
Case studies
Observations can be:
1. Laboratory vs Naturalistic
2. Covert vs Overt
Overt -participants are aware that they are being observed.
Covert - researchers don’t inform the members of a group about the reason for their presence and that they are being observed.
3. Structured vs Unstructured
In a structured observation information is recorded systematically in a standardized way.
Unstructured observations don’t have a pre-defined structure and observers register whatever behaviour they find noteworthy.
Participant observation
The observer becomes part of the observed group.
What are strengths and limitations of covert and overt observations.
Overt observations
Strengths - ethics, participants give their informed consent prior to the study
Limitations - biases related to participant expectations, knowing that they are being observed, participants may intentionally or unintentionally change their behaviour
Covert observations
Strengths - access to groups that normally wouldn’t agree to participate, avoidance of participant bias
Limitations - ethics, participants don’t give their consent to take part in a study, one way to avoid this is to debrief the participants after the observation and ask for their consent prior to using the data
Types of interviews.
1. Structured - includes a fixed list of questions to be asked in a specific order
Most useful when there are multiple interviewers and it is essential that they all conduct the interview in the same way
2. Semi-structured - don’t specify an order or a particular set of questions, but have somewhat of a checklist
Are better suited for smaller research projects, and more effective in studying the unique experiences of a participant
3. Unstructured - mostly participant-driven, every next question is determined by the interviewee’s answer to the previous one, but the researcher still has the purpose in mind
Explain what focus groups are and state their strengths and limitations.
A type of semi-structured interview that is conducted simultaneously with a group of 6-10 people. Participants are encouraged to interact with each other and the interviewer serves as a facilitator.
Advantages:
* Quick way to get information from several participants
* Creates a more natural and comfortable environment for the participants, ensuring less participant bias
* Multiple perspectives are discussed, so a more holistic understanding is achieved
Limitations:
* Possibility of a dominant respondent bias
* More difficult to preserve anonymity and confidentiality
* Demanding in terms of sampling and creating interview transcripts
What is a case study?
An in-depth investigation of an individual or a group.
Case studies involve a variety of other research methods, and are often longitudinal.
* Individual or a group that is the object of a case study is unique in some way
* The purpose is to gain a deep understanding of this particular case
* Sampling is not an issue
* There is less focus on generalizability
What measures can be taken to increase credibility in qualitative research?
Triangulation: combination of different approaches to collecting and interpreting data.
* Method triangulation - use of different methods
* Data triangulation - using data from a variety of accessible sources
* Researcher triangulation - combining observations/interpretations of different researchers
Establishing a raport: researchers should ensure the participants are being honest. It should be made clear to the participants that there are no right and wrong answers, and a good rapport should be established so that the participants alter their behaviour as little as possible.
Iterative questioning: spotting ambiguous answers and returning to the topic later while at the same time paraphrasing the question.
Reflexivity: researchers should reflect on the possibility that their own biases might have interfered with the observations or interpretations.
Credibility checks: checking the accuracy of the data by asking participants themselves to read transcripts of the interviews or field notes of observations to confirm that they are an accurate representation of what they said (meant) or did.
Thick descriptions
Explaining not just the observed behaviour itself, but also the context in which it occurred so that the description becomes meaningful to an outsider who never observed the phenomenon first-hand.
Types of generalizability in qualitative research.
Sample-to-population - made from the sample to the wider population
Theoretical generalization - made from particular observations to a broader theory
Case-to-case generalization (transferability) - made to a different group of people or a different setting or context
List the types of experiments quantitative research.
Laboratory experiment.
Field experiment.
Natural experiment.
Quasi-experiment.
Explain laboratory experiments (give definition, IV manipulation, strengths and limitations).
Takes place in a highly controlled environment
IV is manipulated by the researcher
* Confounding variables can be more easily controlled as the researcher can make sure that everything in the room stays exactly the same for all participants.
* Strict control over possible confounding variables can create an artificial environment. This leads to criticism that it lacks ecological validity.
* Participants can have expectations about the nature and/or purpose of the study which can influence their behaviour. The way these expectations influence a participant’s response is known as demand characteristics.
Explain field experiments (give definition, IV manipulation, strengths and limitations).
Are conducted in a natural setting, eg. street, classroom.
IV is manipulated by the researcher.
* Usually have a higher ecological validity than laboratory experiments because they are less artificial (more likely that participants will act like usual)
* Field experiments lack control over confounding variables as it is impossible to control the real life environment - this leads to low internal validity.
Explain natural experiments (give definition, IV manipulation, strengths and limitations).
Take place under natural conditions, but there is no manipulated IV.
IV is manipulated by the nature (IV is a naturally occurring variable).
* Because the experiments are conducted in participants’ natural environment and the IV occurred/occurs naturally, ecological validity is higher.
* They can be used when it is unethical to manipulate the IV.
* There is less control over confounding variables so internal validity is low.
* Natural experiments are usually one-time only events, which are difficult to replicate.
Explain quasi experiments (give definition, IV manipulation, strengths and limitations).
Quasi-experiments differ from “true” experiments in that the allocation to groups is not done randomly. Some pre-existing inter-group differences are used. IV is not manipulated.
* Can be used in situations where it would be unethical to manipulate theIV.
* Less chance of experimenter bias or demand characteristics interfering with the results.
* Allows researchers to take advantage of naturally-occurring events to better understand their consequences.
* Cause-and-effect interference cannot be made because the researchers can’t be sure of the equivalence of comparison groups at the start of the study.
Types of experimental designs.
Independent measures
Random allocation of participants into groups and comparing those two groups.
Experimental group and control group.
Matched pairs
Participants are matched in terms of key variables, such as age and IQ. One member of each pair is then placed into the experimental group and the other member into the control group.
This design is preferred when:
the researcher finds it particularly important that the groups are equivalent in a specific variable
the sample size is not large, therefore there is a chance that random allocation into groups will not be sufficient to ensure group equivalence
Repeated measures
The same group of participants is exposed to two (or more) conditions, and then the conditions are compared.
This design is used when:
the goal is to compare conditions rather than groups of participants
The problem with repeated measures designs is that they are vulnerable to order effects; results may be different depending on which condition comes first.
To overcome order effects researchers use counterbalancing; using other groups of participants where the order of the conditions is reversed.
An advantage of repeated measures design is that the participants are essentially compared to themselves, which overcomes the influence of participant variability, which makes the comparison more reliable
