Research Methods - Intro

Question 1

Name the 7 research methods

Answer 1

Experiment
Observation
Case study
Correlation
Self report - questionnaire
Self report - interview
Content analysis

Question 2

Describe an expirement

Answer 2

• isolates and manipulates an independent variable to observe its effect on the dependant variable and controls the environment so that extraneous variables may be eliminated
• Lab studies have high levels of control
• Field experiments have less control over extraneous variables but still have an expiremently manipulated IV
• quasi and natural experiments have little to no control of extraneous variables and have no control over the IV. This occurs naturally from within (quasi) the participant or in the situation (natural) of the participant.

Question 3

Describe observations

Answer 3

Watching what people do.

Naturalistic vs Controlled
Participant vs Non participant
Covert vs Overt
Structured vs Unstructured

Question 4

Describe case studies

Answer 4

An in depth investigation of one individual or institution. These are based on very unique sample which can often cause issues of generalisation. Although the level of depth usually means more high quality information which can often give insight into the reasons behind their behaviour.

Question 5

Describe correlation

Answer 5

• A measure of the relationship between two variables
• Correlation assess the strengths and direction of any association between two covariables.
• Three possible results positive, negative and null.

Question 6

Describe self report (questionnaire)

Answer 6

• A list of questions or statements to answer which the participant can do independently of the researcher
• this can take the format of closed questions such as the Likert scale or multiple choice
• it can also take the format of open questioning

Question 7

Describe self report interview

Answer 7

Interviews are where a participant answers questions which are asked by a researcher

They can be structured or unstructured

Structured interviews have a set of questions asked in the same order.

Unstructured interviews allow interviewers to ask multiple follow up questions to follow a line of enquiry

Question 8

Describe content analysis

Answer 8

Used to study the content of something in a systematic way.

It is often used to analyse the content of books, tv programmes or to analyse qualitative data from interviews

It involves identifying recurrent words, concepts or themes establishing categories and counting the number of times which these categories are used within the text.

Question 9

Establish the difference between independent and dependant variables.

Answer 9

Independent variables, the variable that is manipulated

Dependant variable, the variable that is affected by changes to the IV. It is what the researcher measures (the results).

Question 10

Advantages and disadvantages of lab experiments

Answer 10

(+) high levels of control which means high internal validity
(+) cause and effect can be established. Because all the other variables were controlled, we know if it was the IV that affected the DV
(+) replicability, lab experiments can be repeated by other researchers to see if they find similar results.

(-) artificial situations that don’t always reflect real life, lack mundane realism
(-) low in ecological validity as thy only relate to one particular time and place
(-) demand characteristics, people often work out the aim of the experiment and don’t behave naturally
(-) experimenter effects

Question 11

Field experiment advantages and disadvantages

Answer 11

(+) higher levels of ecological validity than lab experiments as they findings can be applied to real life situations
(+) reduction in demand characteristics

(-) less control over extraneous variables as the experimenter can’t control every aspect of a real life situation
(-) quite low internal validity
(-) difficult to replicate precisely
(-) there is less control over the sample of participants so it is difficult to assign them to conditions randomly

Question 12

Quasi experiments advantages and disadvantages

Answer 12

(+) usually conducted under controlled conditions so high in internal validity
(+) can often be replicated with further groups of individuals to assess reliability of findings

(-) demand characteristics are an issue if it has high control
(-) there is less control over the sample of participants as it is impossible to assign them to conditions randomly this means they may be subject to confounding variables which interfere with the dependent variable

Question 13

Natural experiment advantages and disadvantages

Answer 13

(+) high ecological validity if conducted in a naturalist setting
(+) low participant and experimenter effects
(+) useful for studying events that could not be recreated in a lab
(+) ethical as the researcher is not manipulating anything

(-) lack of control of extraneous variables making it more difficult to establish cause and effect
(-) low internal validity
(-) not replicable because the natural event is a one off
(-) sample can’t be assigned to conditions randomly this means they may be subject to confounding variables which interfere with the dependant variable

Question 14

2 types of observations

Answer 14

Naturalistic

Controlled

Question 15

What’s a structured observation

Answer 15

Precise behaviours are clearly defined and a standardised checklist is used to record specific behaviours.

Question 16

What’s an unstructured observation?

Answer 16

The researcher records, whatever they feel to be important at the time this leads to more qualitative data.

Question 17

Name the different ways to conduct an observation

Answer 17

Overt participants are aware of being observed, covert participants are not aware.

The observer joined the group is participant observation. Or whether they stand back like a fly on the wall which is non-participant observation.

Question 18

Discuss observations pros and cons

Answer 18

(+) people behave more naturally, therefore demand characteristics is reduced increasing internal validity (covert)
(+) many studies that are naturalistic provide richer and fuller information than lab experiments.
(+) this method is suitable for all, unlike other methods which may be harmful to children and animals.

(-) the psychologist has no control therefore the researcher struggles to decide what caused the participants behave as they did. (Overt)
(-) there are problems of reliability it may be difficult to repeat the study, there may be observer bias which lowers internal validity
(-) hard to gain good interrater reliability. As clear categories have to be established.

Question 19

Define correlation

Answer 19

Correlation is a research method that measures the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables. A correlation can be known as a relationship.
You are measuring how strong the relationship is.

Question 20

Define the two types of correlation

Answer 20

Positive correlation: as one variable increases, the other variable also increases.

Negative correlation: as one variable increases the other variable decreases.

Question 21

Discuss correlation

Answer 21

(+) it’s often possible to obtain large amounts of data more rapidly than an experimental method. This has economical benefits.
(+) many correlations utilise secondary data eliminating investigator effects.
(+) many hypothesis cannot be tested by means of experiments for ethical reasons. Correlations can give us an idea of relationships without negatively affecting participants.

(-) correlation designs cannot establish cause and effect
(-) correlations are often open to misinterpretation and due to correlations being used for experiments that cannot be done it often involves socially sensitive research.
(-) correlation is cannot be used to measure non-linear relationships such as something that fluctuates over time.

Question 22

Validity of correlation

Answer 22

Control: low
Internal validity: low
Investigator effects: low
Participant reactivity: low
Ecological validity: high
Population validity: high

Question 23

What research methods fall under self report techniques?

Answer 23

Questionnaire
Survey
Interview

Question 24

Questionnaire procedure

Answer 24

Ask respondents to record their own answers. They may be conducted face-to-face, by post, by phone, via the Internet etc.

Question 25

Discuss questionnaire

Answer 25

(+) large amount of data can be collected at relatively low costs (+) simplicity, quantitive data from closed questions is reasonably straightforward to analyse so it is often easy to compare answers from different individuals or groups. (-) wording of question plays a large effect. It may be ambiguous leading to lower internal validity. Leading questions may influence the responses given. Social desirability participants give answers to make themselves appear more desirable. (-) research effects, if the researcher personally asks the respondent. They may be affected by characteristics such as appearance and age (-) biased sample, questionnaires are often long and only the interested in keen individuals are motivated to finish and return the questionnaire. This limits generalisability.

Question 26

Designing questionnaires

Answer 26

1) writing good questions - Are they easy to understand? - Is the question leading the respondent to give a particular answer due to emotion - How will you analyse the answers? 2) what questions? - Open Questions, respondents are free to respond as they wish this provides qualitative data. - Closed questions. Respondent must select their answer from the range provided they provide quantitative data. This provides data which is easier to analyse but participants may be forced to give answers that don’t reflect their true thoughts. - Filler questions, they are intended to mislead the respondent from the true aim of the study. This reduces demand characteristics. - Reverse statements, this is scoring questions so that ticking the same responses result in a low zero score this eliminates acquiesce bias where mildly agreeing results in a high score. 3) others - you can use a likert scale which uses strongly agree and strongly disagree. - You can use rating scales ranking things between one and five. - You can use forced questions where you can only pick A and B.

Question 27

Types of interviews

Answer 27

1) structured interview, this has predetermined questions which each participant is asked 2) unstructured interview, the person interviewed is free to discuss almost anything they wish. The role of the interviewer is to guide the discussion and to encourage the interviewee to be more forthcoming. 3) semistructured, these are structured to some extent using a formal procedure in which all interviews asked precisely the same questions in the same order. The interviews are open ended as there’s no fixed choice responses however the interviewer has more control over the process.

Question 28

Structured interview pros and cons

Answer 28

(+) easy to compare the responses of different interviews as all of the responses have been given in a fixed choice format (+) they produce quantitative data rather than qualitative data meaning that data analysis can be performed using systematic tools on computer programs (+) less prone to investigator effects and subjectivity as more standardised (+) replicable. (-) social desirability bias, most people want to create a favourable impression and this leads to distorted answers.

Question 29

Unstructured interviews, pros and cons

Answer 29

(+) produces qualitative rather than quantitative data. They are responsive to the personality interest and motivations of interviewee. They can be more revealing as they can explore feelings and attitudes and can even offer information that the researcher had not expected or consider. (+) people may be more honest and instructed interview interviews and raise new lines of psychological enquiry. (-) social desirability most people want to create a favourable impression and this may lead to distorted answers. (-) instructed interviews may be more influenced by interviewer bias. Interviews involve interaction between interviewer and the person that is being interviewed the personality of the characteristics of the interviewer may influence the responses given to the questions influencing the validity of the data.

Question 30

Summary of validity for questionnaire

Answer 30

Control: low Internal validity: usually low Investigator effects: low Participant reactivity: depends on the question Ecological validity: low Population validity: high

Question 31

Summary of validity for interviews

Answer 31

Control: high Internal validity: variable Investigator effects: high Participant reactivity: high Ecological validity: low Population validity: low

Question 32

Case study definition

Answer 32

A case study involves the detailed study of a single individual institution or event. This type of research is known as ideographic meaning that it relates to individual cases or events. They are collected as qualitative enrich in detail and the research is often focused on particular aspects of behaviour .

Question 33

Case study discussion

Answer 33

(+) ethical as we are not manipulating usually undesirable conditions on participants. (+) producers rich meaningful qualitative data which often highlights why certain behaviours occur going beyond just numerical differences. (+) can triangulate numerous sources of data to establish reliability of conclusions drawn which also increases internal validity. (+) has high levels of ecological validity as these are individuals in real life experience. (+) can lead to new psychological insights. (-) difficult to replicate only so many people have experienced a suitable unique experience therefore difficult to establish reliability of data. (-) results can’t be generalised beyond the individual group being studied therefore low population validity. (-) cannot establish before and after comparison usually these individuals have not been studied before their brain damage or exceptional experience and this makes cause-and-effect difficult to establish. (-) high likelihood of researcher bias as they are intimately involved in the collection of data over a period of time. (-) time-consuming and expensive to run (-) ethical issue of confidentiality

Question 34

Summary of case study validity

Answer 34

Control: high Internal validity: medium/high Investigator effects: high Participant reactivity: high Ecological validity: high Population validity: low