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Observational Research

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Title: Observational Research


1
Observational Research
Psyc 301 Week 2
2
AGENDA
  • Quick Review
  • Homework Discussion
  • Observational Research
  • Class Activity
  • Homework

3
Phases of Research
  • Idea generation
  • Defining the Problem
  • Design the Procedures
  • Observe/Collect Data
  • Data-Analysis
  • Interpret the data
  • Communicate the findings

4
The Basics of Research Design
  • Psychological research is about answering
    questions
  • But where do the questions come from?
  • Established Theories
  • Past Research
  • Scientific Hunches

5
The Basics Continued
  • Variable
  • A characteristic that changes or has different
    values for different individuals
  • What are some variables in this room?
  • Student height
  • Individual anxiety level
  • Room temperature

6
Two Types of Variables
  • Independent Variable (IV)
  • Variable that is changed or manipulated
  • Dependent Variable (DV)
  • Variable that is used to measure the change or
    affect of the IV
  • Example
  • Fertilizers and Corn Crops
  • What is the IV?
  • What would be the DV(s)?

7
Hypothesis
  • Makes a prediction about how the manipulation of
    the IV will affect the DV
  • OR
  • Makes a prediction about the relationship between
    two variables
  • i.e, Correlational studies
  • Fertilizer and corn hypotheses?

8
Scientific Writing and Reporting
  • APA Style
  • What is it?
  • APA style refers to rules and guidelines for
    publishing psychological research
  • Types of articles
  • Review articles (summarize and/or critique past
    research)
  • Case studies (authors description of case
    material about a specific individual or
    organization)
  • Empirical studies (reports of original research)

9
APA Style
  • Four Main Sections
  • Introduction (Literature Review)
  • Methodology
  • Results
  • Discussion (Conclusion)

10
Pennebaker Article Discussion
11
Pennebaker Article Discussion
  • What were the different sections of this article?
  • Which phase(s) of research were addressed by
    which section(s)?
  • How does the author catch the readers interest in
    the introduction?
  • What was the purpose of this study? Where do we
    find it?
  • Which theory leads to the research question
    addressed in this study?
  • What is the IV? The DV?

12
An Overview of Research Designs
  • Naturalistic Observation
  • Observation only, no interaction
  • Ex) Studying animal behavior
  • Case-Study
  • In-depth study of 1 easily available instance
    (e.g., Piagets records of his children)
  • Correlational Research
  • Explores the relationships between variables
  • Causality?

13
An Overview of Research Designs
  • Differential Research
  • Using Pre-existing variables (i.e., Gender) to
    define groups
  • Experimental Research
  • Assignment to conditions
  • Manipulation of variables to establish causality
  • Independent Variable with multiple levels
  • Ex) Cell Phones and Driving Research

14
OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH
15
Observational Research
  • Scientific observation is made under precisely
    defined conditions, in a systematic and objective
    manner, and with careful record keeping.

16
Observation classification
  • Without intervention naturalistic observation
  • Observer passive recorder
  • Natural setting A place where behavior would
    occur normally
  • With Intervention tampering
  • Participant observation
  • Structured observation
  • Field Study

17
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19
What are the pros and cons to each?
  • Observation without intervention?
  • Observation with intervention?

20
What are some examples of observational research?
  • Simons and Levin (1998) studying Change Blindness
  • http//viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/12.html
  • Messer and Gross (1995) studying family
    interactions of children diagnosed with
    depression
  • Messer, S.C., and A.M. Gross (1995) Childhood
    depression and family interaction a naturalistic
    observation study. Journal of Clinical Child
    Psychology, 24,

21
What are other ideas for observational research?
22
How do we measure and record observed behavior?
  • Operational definitions
  • WHAT concept are you studying, HOW are you going
    to measure it.
  • Ex. If intelligence is the concept we want to
    measure, we may use any number of things to
    measure it.
  • Ways to record behavior
  • Qualitative
  • Written descriptions, audio tapes, video tapes
  • Quantitative
  • Frequency of the behavior, measuring the duration
    of the behavior

23
Observer Reliability
  • Inter-observer reliability the degree to which 2
    independent observers agree
  • How do we ensure inter-observer reliability?
  • Clear definitions (behaviors/events)
  • Training observers
  • Feedback about discrepancies
  • Reliability
  • Number of times 2 observers agree
  • Number of opportunities to agree

X 100
24
OBSERVER 1 OBSERVER 2
Trial Sex Returned Disk Trial Sex Returned Disk
1 M x 1 M x
2 M 2 M x
3 F 3 F
4 F x 4 F
5 M 5 M
6 F 6 F
7 M x 7 M x
8 F x 8 F x
9 F 9 F
10 M 10 M
25
Descriptive Statistics
  • Statistics that describe the data
  • Measures of Central Tendency
  • Frequencies
  • Tables/Charts/Graphs

26
Measures of central tendency
  • MODE the number that occurs the most
  • e.g., 1, 6, 8, 7, 6, 2, 9, 1, 6
  • Mode 6
  • MEDIAN The number that represents the 50th
    percentile (the middle number or an average of
    the 2 middle numbers)
  • e.g., 1, 3, 7, 8, 14, 35, 99,
  • Median 8
  • e.g., 1, 3, 6, 8, 55, 75
  • Median ?
  • MEAN what we think of as average
  • ?(X)/N
  • e.g., 1, 5, 7, 3 ..thus (1573)/4
  • mean 4
  • e.g., 2, 7, 5, 66
  • mean ?

27
Example Observation w/ interventionHelping
Behavior
  • A group of researchers decide to measure helping
    behavior on college campuses.
  • They have either a male or a female confederate
    walk out of the Johnson Center in front of one or
    more students. The confederate then
    accidentally drops a brightly colored computer
    disk onto the brick walk.
  • Three observers record how many times another
    student exhibits helping behavior toward the
    confederate.
  • Operational definition of helping behavior
  • Point out to the confederate that (s)he has
    dropped the disk (Informatively Helpful)
  • Pick up the disk and return it to the confederate
    (Actively Helpful)

28
Example Observation Recording Sheet
Trial Sex Returned Disk Pointed out Disk Did Nothing Did Not See Inter-rater Reliability
1 M x 66.67
2 M x 100
3 F x 100
4 F x 100
5 M x 66.67
6 F x 66.67
7 M x 100
8 F x 100
9 F x 100
10 M x 100
29
Frequencies Table Example
Table 1 Observed helping behaviors as a function
of Gender
30
Central Tendency Example
31
Creating a Table APA Style
  • Refer to Dunn, 2004 pg 152 Table 8.1 for
    formatting
  • Items to remember
  • Title for your table (brief but understandable)
  • Label your columns and rows meaningfully
  • Those silly lines within the table that APA uses
  • Double check your table values for accuracy

32
Now, Its YOUR Turn!
  • In-class assignment get into groups of 3-4 and
    complete proposed study design worksheet (Note I
    must approve your study!)
  • HOMEWORK
  • Groups of 3 or 4
  • Conduct observational study with 20-30
    observations
  • Can be with or without intervention
  • Must observe in 2 or more settings (I.e., David
    King and SUB 2) OR 2 or more times (I.e., morning
    vs. night)
  • Write summary of data, including
  • List of variables
  • Operational definitions
  • Means and frequencies
  • Try creating a table for your data
  • Either frequencies, means or both!!
  • Bring your data (printed out spreadsheet, email
    yourself, or on disk) to class next time

33
Turn In Next Time
  • In-class worksheet stapled to your written data
    summary
  • Data Summary Must Include
  • 1. What concept you measured
  • 2. The definition of what you measured, how you
    operationally defined it and how you recorded it
  • 3. The population or sample that you observed
  • 4. The different times and settings of your
    observational study
  • 5. Describe your data/Interpreting the statistics
  • i.e., 20 of the people left the bench when the
    experimenter sat close to them..etc.
  • Descriptive Statistics (Mean, Median, and Mode)
    of your data on a separate sheet or in a table
  • Try displaying them in a table
  • Use excel if you have a big data set

34
Questions?
  • Refer to Chapter 4 of Shaughnessy et al.
  • Loooooooooooots of detail!
  • Email me
  • Office hours?
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