RESEARCH METHODS

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RESEARCH METHODS
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Research Strategies
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Research Strategies

• Descriptivestrategies for observing and
  describing behavior (answer who, what, when,
  where how often)
• Correlational methods
• Naturalistic observation
• Case studies
• Surveys
• Experimentalstrategies for inferring cause and
  effect relationships among variables

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Descriptive Study

• Describes a set of facts
• Does not predict what may influence the facts
• May or may not include numerical data
• Example measure the percentage of new students
  from out-of-state each year since 1980

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Case Study

• In depth study of one individual with the hopes
  of determining universal principles
• This technique is very open to bias
• Difficulty of applying data from one person to
  everyone
• Generally used to investigate rare, unusual, or
  extreme conditions

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Survey Method

• Research method that relies on self-reports uses
  surveys, questionnaires, interviews.
• Usually a very efficient and inexpensive method
• Watch out for Framing/Wording Effects The way a
  question is worded can bias the answer.
• Have to watch out what we take from polling
  information http//www.ncpp.org/node/4/1
• Also, people lie in surveys http//www.responsibi
  lityproject.com/blog/post/lying-to-pollsters-bad-v
  ote/

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SamplingTerms

• Populationlarge (potentially infinite) group
  represented by the sample. Findings are
  generalized to this group.
• Sampleselected segment of the population
• Random selectionevery member of larger group has
  equal chance of being selected for the study
  sample
• Random Sample - Each member of the population has
  an equal chance of being included.
• If a sample is not random it is said to be
  biased.
• Representative/Stratified sampleclosely
  parallels the population on relevant
  characteristics
• Watch this short clip on the difference between
  these. (3 min)

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DAILY

• DOUBLE

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QUESTIONExplain the difference between a random
sample and a representative sample.

• ANSWER
• Random sampleevery member of larger group has
  equal change of being selected for the study
  sample
• Representative sampleclosely parallels the
  population on relevant characteristics

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Naturalistic Observation

• Method of observation where subjects are observed
  in their natural environment
• Subjects are not aware they are being watched
• Could use hidden cameras or two way mirrors

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Meta-Analysis

• Combining the results from multiple different
  research studies.
• Example Studying lung cancer from second hand
  smoke.

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Bias

• Situation in which a factor unfairly increases
  the likelihood of a researcher reaching a
  particular conclusion
• Bias should be minimized as much as possible in
  research

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Researcher Bias

• The tendency to notice evidence which supports
  one particular point of view or hypothesis
• Objectivity tends to reduce bias.

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Participant Bias/ Hawthorne Effect

• Tendency of research subjects to respond in
  certain ways because they know they are being
  observed
• The subjects might try to behave in ways they
  believe the researcher wants them to behave
• Can be reduced by naturalistic observation

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Critical Thinking

• Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments
  or conclusions but questions their validity
• Need to do this to avoid bias

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Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Studies
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Developmental Psychologists

• Psychologists who study how individuals change
  throughout their lifetime

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Longitudinal Study

• Developmental study where researchers study the
  same group of individuals for many years
• Can be very expensive and difficult to conduct

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Cross-Sectional Study

• Developmental study where researchers
  simultaneously study a number of subjects from
  different age groups and then compare the results
• Cheaper, easier than longitudinal studies, but
  group differences may be due to factors other
  than development.

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Longitudinal/Cross Sectional Study
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Correlational Study

• Collects a set of facts organized into two or
  more categories
• measure parents disciplinary style
• measure childrens behavior
• Examine the relationship between categories
• Correlation reveals relationships among facts
• e.g., more democratic parents have children who
  behave better

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Correlational Study

• Important NOT to imply a cause and effect
  relationship between the variables
• Correlational study does not determine why the
  two variables are related--just that they are
  related.
• Correlational studies are helpful in making
  predictions.

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Correlational Study

• Correlation CANNOT prove causation
• Do democratic parents produce better behaved
  children?
• Do better behaved children encourage parents to
  be democratic?
• May be an unmeasured common factor
• e.g., good neighborhoods produce democratic
  adults and well-behaved children
• Doesnt mean they are not useful Correlation in
  smoking (3 min)

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Correlation Causation

• There is a strong .90 correlation in shoe size
  and IQ.
• Does this mean that a large shoe size is the
  cause for higher intelligence?
• What else could explain this?

• YOUR FEET GROW
• AS YOU GET OLDER
• WISER

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Coefficient of Correlation

• Numerical indication of magnitude and direction
  of the relationship between two variables
• Positive correlationtwo variables vary
  systematically in the SAME direction
• Negative correlationtwo variables vary
  systematically in OPPOSITE directions

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How to Read a Correlation
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Positive Correlation

• As the value of one variable increases (or
  decreases) so does the value of the other
  variable.
• A perfect positive correlation is 1.0.
• The closer the correlation is to 1.0, the
  stronger the relationship.

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Negative Correlation

• As the value of one variable increases, the value
  of the other variable decreases.
• A perfect negative correlation is -1.0.
• The closer the correlation is to -1.0, the
  stronger the relationship.

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Zero Correlation

• There is no relationship whatsoever between the
  two variables.

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Lets Review