Research Methods

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Chapter 2

• Research Methods

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Basic Research Designs
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Psychology tends to use

• Descriptive Methods Goal Description
• Naturalistic Observation
• Case Study
• Variables are not manipulated just described
• Correlational Method Goal Prediction
• Variables are not manipulated just measured to
  learn the strength and direction ( or -) of the
  relationship between the variables
• Experimental Method Goal Explanation
• Control Group designs
• Variables are controlled and manipulated to find
  out if a change in the one variable (IV) CAUSES a
  change in the other (DV)

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Behavioral Research is different it uses
single-subject designs!
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Basic Terms and Definitions
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Variables

• Variable a characteristic of a person, place,
  or thing that can change (vary) over time or from
  one situation to another
• Are these variable pairs correlated or causally
  related?
• Teaching Method and Learning
• Study Strategy and Test Score
• Counseling and Marital Satisfaction
• Fruit Cake and Christmas
• Temperature and Crime Rate
• Water Consumption and Reward System
• Point System and Classroom Misbehavior

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Independent Variable

• The aspect of an experiment that systematically
  varies across the different conditions of the
  experiment
• The experimenter manipulates it
• It should be the ONLY variable that is different
  between the control and the experimental group(s)
• Otherwise, how do you know which variable CAUSES
  a change in the dependent variable?

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Dependent Variable

• That aspect of an experiment that is allowed to
  vary freely to see if it is affected by changes
  in the independent variable
• The experimenter observes what happens to the
  dependent variable but does NOT directly control
  it
• If (big if!!) all of the other variables in the
  experiment are kept under control and a change in
  the independent variable is followed by a change
  in the dependent variable, you can infer causation

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Name the variables!

• Imagine a study of child abuse in which one group
  of parents found guilty of abuse receive training
  in anger management while a second group does
  not. Following training, the parents are tracked
  and it is found that that those receiving anger
  management training are significantly less likely
  to engage in future child abuse than those who
  did not.

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Select the two variables

• Independent?
• The anger management training
• Dependent?
• The rate of future abuse

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What effect does ________ have on _________?
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What effect does (IV) have on (DV)?
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Functional Relationships

• The heart and soul of behavioral definitions
• Important aspects of behavioral concepts are
  defined functionally (ex., reinforcer)
• A functional relationship is the relationship
  between changes in an independent variable and
  changes in a dependent variable is another example

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Stimulus and Response

• A stimulus can potentially influence behavior
• A response is a particular instance of a behavior
• Overt Behavior is directly observable by someone
  other than the person performing it
• Covert Behavior can be perceived only by the
  person performing it

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Types of Stimuli

• Appetitive an event that an organism will seek
  out (pleasant)
• Aversive an event that an organism will avoid
  (unpleasant)

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Establishing Operations

• Deprivation prolonged absence of an event
  increases its appetitiveness
• Satiation prolonged exposure or consumption
  that decreases the appetitiveness of an event

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Other important relationships

• Contiguity closeness or nearness
• Temporal contiguity (time)
• Spatial contiguity (space)
• Contingency a dependent relationship between
  two events (the occurrence of one is dependent on
  the occurrence of another)

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Behavioral Research A special type of
experimental design

• Behavioral Definitions It is important to
  clearly define the behavior you wish to measure
• Recording Methods ( easiest to use)
• Rate of Response (Sniffy uses a cumulative
  recorder)
• Intensity
• Duration
• Speed
• Latency
• Interval Recording
• Time Sample Recording
• Topography
• Number of errors

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Recording Methods that Involve Counting

• Rate of Response the frequency with which a
  response occurs in a certain period of time (how
  often a child say please and thank you each
  day or the number of times Sniffy presses a bar)
• Cumulative Recorder a device used to measure
  and graph the number of responses over time (used
  in Sniffy)
• Number of Errors a simple count of how many
  incorrect responses occur (how many errors a
  student makes on a math test)

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Recording Methods that Involve Measuring Time

• Duration the length of time that an individual
  repeatedly or continuously performs a certain
  behavior (minutes spent walking)
• Latency the length of time required for the
  behavior to begin (e.g. procrastination before
  studying or getting out of bed in the morning
  after the alarm goes off)
• Speed the amount of time required to perform a
  complete episode of a behavior from start to
  finish (e.g. getting ready for school in the
  morning)

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Other Recording Methods

• Intensity the force or magnitude of the
  behavior (e.g. how hard a person hits a tennis
  ball)
• Topography used when the exact physical form of
  the behavior matters (e.g. form of golf swing or
  tooth brushing technique)

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Efficient Recording Methods

• Interval Recording the measurement of whether
  or not a behavior occurs within a series of
  continuous intervals (e.g. aggressive behaviors
  in a classroom videotape 3 hours, look at 10
  minute blocks to see what percentage of the
  blocks have at least one aggressive incident)
• Time Sample Recording measuring whether or not
  a behavior occurs within a series of discontinous
  intervals (spaced apart) (e.g. percentage of 10
  minute blocks of time - one per hour - for
  incidents of classroom aggression)

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YOUR ASSIGNMENT

• Choose a behavior you wish to measure as well as
  a treatment you think will change it and define
  both objectively and carefully!

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Behavioral Research Designs

• AB Simple Comparison Design
• ABAB Reversal Design
• Multiple Baseline Design
• Changing-Criterion Design

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Basic Terms

• Baseline the normal frequency of the behavior
  prior to some intervention (for the project
  purposes, this will be a measurement of your
  dependent variable)
• Treatment the intervention (typically a
  punishment or reinforcer and for the purpose of
  your project this will be your independent
  variable)

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AB Simple Comparison Design

• This method has one baseline and one treatment
  phase
• It is a poor design because it doesnt do a good
  job of establishing a functional relationship
  between the independent and dependent variables
• Some other variable could have happened at the
  same time as the treatment that could have caused
  the change in behavior

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ABAB Reversal Design

• A much better design and one that many of you
  will use
• There is a Baseline phase, a Treatment phase, and
  then the cycle is repeated with a second Baseline
  phase and a second Treatment phase
• If the behavior returns to something close to
  baseline and then changes again with the second
  treatment phase, you have established a
  functional relationship between your Independent
  and Dependent variables

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Drawbacks

• To demonstrate the functional relationship, the
  behavior must return to baseline when the
  treatment is withdrawn. This doesnt always
  happen, making it unclear whether or not it was
  your treatment that caused the change.
• Sometimes it is unethical to use this design
  because it would do harm to withdraw the treatment

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A Variation ABCAC

• If you try one treatment (B) and it doesnt work,
  you can try a second treatment (C) and then
  alternate that second treatment with baseline to
  finish your experiment.
• This is a good method to use if you have two
  treatments or interventions you want to try or if
  you have a back-up if the first one doesnt work.

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Multiple Baseline Design

• This method is used when you have two or more
  subjects, settings, or behaviors in your study.
• You might use this if you have several children
  in a family whose behaviors need to be measured,
  or if you want to measure the behavior at home
  AND at school (2 settings)
• With this method, the treatment is implemented
  for each subject, setting, or behavior at
  different points in time.

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Changing Criterion Design

• This treatment is used when it is desirable to
  make a gradual change in a behavior over time
• A baseline is taken and then a criterion or goal
  is set that is slightly less (or higher) than the
  average of the baseline
• If that criterion is met for a specified period
  of time (e.g. 3 days), the criterion is lowered
  (or raised) a little more and if that goal is
  met, it will be lowered again.
• The intervention of a punisher would be used
  when the subject fails to meet the goal