Research Design Issues

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Research Design Issues

• Psychologising

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Developing research ideas
Broad research area
More focused research area
Specific research question
Research design
Data collection Analysis Write-up
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Research design

• Is planning to enable you to proceed from point A
  (having an initial idea, interest, hunch,
  question about some aspect of the world) to point
  B (obtaining evidence to allow you to answer your
  initial question)
• Provides a guide to how best to collect and
  analyse your data
• Helps avoid the danger of collecting irrelevant
  data, or collecting data that cannot be analysed
  or that doesnt address your original question

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Choosing a research strategy

• This depends on a number of factors
• Type of research question posed
• The extent of control that is possible/desirable
  over behaviour
• The depth of focus that is required or wished for
• from Yin, 2003

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Type of question

• What e.g. What do students think about
  workloads? What are the outcomes of a new
  counselling intervention?
• Who e.g. Are males or females more likely to
  believe in the paranormal?
• How e.g. How effective are mnemonic
  techniques in helping sufferers of Alzheimers?
• Why e.g. Why do some bystanders fail to help
  others in emergency situations?

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Extent of control over behavioural events
Little control
Lots of control
Archival studies
Experimental and quasi-experimental designs
Questionnaire studies
Case studies
Interviews
Observations
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Focus of the research
Rich detailed data from one or small number of
individuals Opportunity to steer focus of the
inquiry throughout
Statistical sampling of large number of
participants Normative analysis and
generalisation to larger population
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How best to answer your research question?

• Single/multiple subject case study
• Survey questionnaire
• Experiment (or quasi-experiment)
• Correlational study
• Qualitative approach (interviews/textual
  analysis)
• Observational study
• Longitudinal studies

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Case study research

• Focus on individual persons, institutions,
  organisations (e.g. the effectiveness of
  community based prevention programs)
• This method explores the chosen issues from
  multiple perspectives, such as the relationships
  an individual has with their social group, and
  wider cultural context
• Evidence can be gathered from multiple sources,
  e.g.documents, interviews, participant-observation
  , physical artifacts etc

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Case study research an example

• Liebows (1967) classic book Tallys Corner.
  Liebow befriended a group of men living in a poor
  inner city U.S neighbourhood, and studied their
  lifestyles, coping strategies, and attitudes to
  unemployment
• Provided information about a subculture that had
  not been previously studied

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Case study research issues

• It may be desirable to study the participant(s)
  at more than one point in time (longitudinal
  research)
• Suitability and potential of the case need to be
  examined before study, to determine issues of
  suitability of the chosen case(s) and
  accessibility of relevant information
• Potential problem of focus of case study changing
  during course of research

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Questionnaire research

• Addresses research questions about the incidence,
  distribution and interrelationships of naturally
  occurring phenomena (Kerlinger, 1964 cited in
  Robson, 1994)
• Focuses more on descriptions of the relationships
  between variables rather than explanations (i.e.
  correlational rather than causal relationships)
• Often focuses on attitudes or feelings towards
  the world
• Allows quantitative data collection from large
  numbers of participants

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Questionnaire research issues

• Issues of reliability and validity must be
  addressed
• Critics of this design have suggested that many
  respondents may be dishonest, disinterested and
  biased can this be controlled for?
• Value of the data gathered is totally dependent
  on appropriateness and sensitivity of the
  questions designed

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Experimental designs

• Laboratory and field experiments allow greater
  control over participants and behaviour
• More specific causal questions can be addressed
  and procedures can be standardised
• Subjects can be randomly selected and assigned to
  various experimental conditions
• Variables other than the IV and DV can be held
  constant
• Lend themselves to replication

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Experimental design issues

• Between groups design
• Compares different groups (e.g. males and
  females)
• Can reduce practice effects
• But confounding variables may be a problem

• Within groups design
• Compares the same people on different measures
• Allows easier control of some confounding
  variables
• But order effects may be a problem

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Experimental design issues

• Potential problem with the artificiality of the
  experimental design do the findings possess
  ecological validity?
• The number of variables that can be included and
  manipulated is limited
• It can be difficult to be sure that the
  experimental manipulation of the IV is effective
  the participant interpretation of the
  experimental procedure may be different to the
  researchers

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Interview studies

• Qualitative research allows more descriptive
  focus on more natural aspects of experience
• Can focus on deeper questions about experience
  that other designs cannot address
• Uses various structured approaches to organise
  data collection and analysis
• Do not attempt to generalise to the population at
  large

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Interview study issues

• Quality of data depends heavily on sensitivity
  and focus of questions
• Rapport between participant and researcher very
  important
• Care needs to be taken into transforming large
  amounts of qualitative material into more focused
  units of analysis (e.g. themes)
• Causal relationships between variables, or
  between life events and behaviour cannot be
  assumed

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Observational research

• More direct analysis of actual behaviour rather
  than what people say they do/feel
• Can allow study of non-linguistic participants
  (e.g. animals, infants)
• Can be conducted in unstructured and structured
  settings
• Can usefully complement (and perhaps validate)
  other data such as questionnaires and interview
  responses

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Observational research issues

• Time needs to spent on determining most relevant
  behaviours to focus on
• Difficulty of maintaining visual contact with
  participants (particularly in unstructured
  settings)
• Problem of observers presence altering behaviour
  of participants
• Time-consuming to practice observational methods
  and reliable identification of participants
  (especially from a distance)

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and I am currently undertaking
a research project as a psychology student at
Liverpool Hope University. My research is
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