unit 2: approaches to research

Question 1

Explain quantitative research.

Answer 1

• Correlational studies
• Shows relation of two variables
• Experiments in controlled conditions show if a variable affects another
• May lack ecological validity

Question 2

Explain qualitative research

Answer 2

• Interviews where psychologist asks participant questions
• Observational studies where behavior is recorded in a natural setting
• Examples: case study of a unique individual or group, survey
• No cause and effect relationship found, but rich source of data

Question 3

What are questions to ask about studies centering around process details?

Answer 3

→ Aim
→ Group focused on
→ Obtaining participants
→ Representation of population

Question 4

What are questions to ask about studies centering around results?

Answer 4

→ Findings
→ Applications
→ Validity

Question 5

What are questions to ask about studies centering around ethics?

Answer 5

→ Consent
→ Deception
→ Withdrawal
→ Confidentiality
→ Debrief
→ Harm

Question 6

What word do we never use in psychology? What to use instead for theories/hypotheses and results?

Answer 6

• Prove
• Theories/hypotheses are SUPPORTED or DEMONSTRATED, results are SHOWN or OBTAINED

Question 7

What are confounding variables?

Answer 7

Variables that interfere with the action of the IV on the DV.

Question 8

Name the rat study, and explain it.

Answer 8

Pedersen et al. (2006)

Aims:
understand how oxytocin influences mothering behavior

Experiment:
- Lab rats
- Division of rat mothers and offspring into three groups
- Dose of oxytocin, oxytocin antagonist, or salty water

Results
- Mothers with reduced oxytocin groomed less
- Mothers with increased oxytocin spent more time grooming

Conclusions
- Oxytocin influences mothering behavior in rats
- Similar influence on human mother-infant bonding (released during childbirth/breastfeeding)

Question 9

What are the strengths and limitations of experiments?

Answer 9

Strengths:
- C/E established
- Stats present to analyze data
- Replication possible

Limitations
- Ecological validity low
- Demand characteristic (CV)
- Internal validity low

Question 10

What are the strengths and limitations of a field experiment?

Answer 10

Strengths:
- Ecological validity

Limitations:
- Lack of control over variables, uncertainty over C/E

Question 11

Name the subway victim study and explain it.

Answer 11

Aims:
- understand why people do/don’t offer help to a stranger in need

Setting:
- NY underground

Experiment:
- 450 people on subway
- Victims differed (men around same age)
→ Drunk vs ill
→ Black vs white
→ Group size
→ Model presence
- Confederate collapses on train, Con #2 acts as model if no others help

Results:
- Ill person gets more help than drunk
- Men help more
- Same race, more likely to help

Conclusions:
- Arousal: Cost - Reward model
→ People want to help in an emergency due to unpleasant arousal
→ They weigh costs of helping vs not

Question 12

Explain natural experiments.

Answer 12

• Take place under natural conditions
• Differ from field in that no manipulated IV
• IV is a naturally occurring variable

Question 13

What are the two essential differences between quasi experiments and experiments and the result of those differences?

Answer 13

1. Non-equivalent groups: Quasi experiments don’t randomly allocate participants to groups, participants are self-selecting.
2. The research does not always have full experimental control over the IV.

As a result, a quasi experiment cannot show a C/E, just a correlation.

Question 14

Name the noise learning experiment and explain it.

Answer 14

Bronzaft and McCarthy (1975)

Aims:
- Find out whether noise makes learning more difficult.

Setting:
- NYC elementary school built close to elevated train line

Experiment:
- Examine the learning of students on the noisy side of school vs students on the quiet side

Results:
- Mean reading of classes on noisy side lagged three to four months behind quite side

Conclusions:
- Study justified the implementation of noise reduction initiatives.

Question 15

Name the strengths, and limitations of natural and quasi-experiments

Answer 15

Strengths:
- Used in situations where it would be ethically unacceptable to manipulate IV
- Less chance of experimenter bias or demand characteristics interfering with results
- Allows researchers to take advantage of naturally occurring events to better understand consequences.

Limitations:
- IV not controlled by researchers
- No control over participant groups (not equivalent)

Question 16

Explain correlational studies.

Answer 16

• Test relationship between two variables of interest
• Expressed as number between -1 and +1 (correlation coefficient)
• Correlation coefficient of 0 = no correlation
• Information gathered through observation of existing dynamics
• Correlation DNE causation

Question 17

Name the children parent-time correlation study and explain it.

Answer 17

Lam et al. (2012)

Aims:
- Figure out how the time that parents spend with their children impacts their children’s self esteem

Experiment:
- Mothers, fathers, first-born, and second born children from white families interviewed

Results:
- Social time between parents and children declines across adolescence
- Second-born children’s social time decreases more slowly than first-born
- Kids who spend more one-on-one time with their fathers have higher self-esteem scores

Question 18

What is a common correlational study used to investigate heritability?

Answer 18

Kinship studies

Question 19

What are the strengths and limitations of correlational studies?

Answer 19

Strengths:
- Conducted easily
- Allow researchers to study variables that cannot be manipulated (e.g. gender and culture)

Limitations:
- Can’t show C/E relationships (a correlation can be explained in many different ways)

Question 20

Explain observations and the different ways that researchers observe.

Answer 20

They’re used to collect data, and target a specific behavior or set of them.

Ways:
- Overt (participants know they’re being studied)
- Covert (participants don’t know they’re being studied)

• Participant (joins in)
• Non-participant (just watches)
• Naturalistic (usually NP, takes place where target behavior occurs
• Controlled (usually NP, researcher constructs/controls situation)

Question 21

Name and explain the ADHD study.

Answer 21

Miranda et al. (2002)

Aims:
- Evaluate effectiveness of a program for treating ADHD carried out by teachers

Experiment:
- Direct observation of behavior in the classroom
- Some teachers were trained in ways to reduce ADHD symptoms, other teachers were not and taught the control group

Results:
- Increased academic scores and better classroom behavior observed in the group of children with trained teachers

Question 22

What are the strengths and limitations of observations?

Answer 22

Strengths:
- Give researchers ideas for research
- High ecological validity: Behavior can be studied in detail, often in natural circumstances
- Triangulation of methods (using more than one method) can use observations
- Several different observers can increase reliability and validity

Limitations:
- Demand characteristics
- Researcher bias (observers see what they want to see
- Can be unethical (would people be angry if they knew they were being observed?)

Question 23

Name and explain the Genie case study.

Answer 23

Curtiss (1977)

Subject background:
- Discovered at 13
- Cruelly neglected, physically and verbally abused
- Walked awkwardly, made very little sound (beaten for making a noise)
- She may have had developmental problems in infancy

Aims:
- Assess the linguistic development of Genie

Experiment:
- Information collected from her behavior and the few comments she made
- Medical reports and recordings made
- Psychological testing used with observations / language tests
- Testing of “Critical Period Hypothesis”: humans can’t learn grammar correctly after early childhood due to lateralisation of brain

Results:
- Initial progress, but Genie never recovered completely from her privation
- Inability to develop normal language is evidence of CPH

Question 24

What are the strengths and limitations of case studies?

Answer 24

Strengths:
- Constructs full and detailed picture of an individual, group, or org
- Can be longitudinal and provide a development/historical perspective
- Triangulation of methods leads to higher validity
- Can generate new psychological theories and provide evidence for existing theories

Limitations:
- Lack academic rigor compared to controlled experiments
- Create an extensive amount of data that can be unwieldy/time-consuming to analyze
- Over-involvement from researcher
- Limited generalisability
- Difficult to replicate–less reliability