Title: Observational Research
1Observational Research
Psyc 301 Week 2
2AGENDA
- Quick Review
- Homework Discussion
- Observational Research
- Class Activity
- Homework
3Phases of Research
- Idea generation
- Defining the Problem
- Design the Procedures
- Observe/Collect Data
- Data-Analysis
- Interpret the data
- Communicate the findings
4The Basics of Research Design
- Psychological research is about answering
questions - But where do the questions come from?
- Established Theories
- Past Research
- Scientific Hunches
5The 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
6Two 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)?
7Hypothesis
- 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?
8Scientific 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)
9APA Style
- Four Main Sections
- Introduction (Literature Review)
- Methodology
- Results
- Discussion (Conclusion)
10Pennebaker Article Discussion
11Pennebaker 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?
12An 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?
13An 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
14OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH
15Observational Research
- Scientific observation is made under precisely
defined conditions, in a systematic and objective
manner, and with careful record keeping.
16Observation 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
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19What are the pros and cons to each?
- Observation without intervention?
- Observation with intervention?
20What 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,
21What are other ideas for observational research?
22How 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
23Observer 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
24OBSERVER 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
25Descriptive Statistics
- Statistics that describe the data
- Measures of Central Tendency
- Frequencies
- Tables/Charts/Graphs
26Measures 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 ?
27Example 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)
28Example 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
29Frequencies Table Example
Table 1 Observed helping behaviors as a function
of Gender
30Central Tendency Example
31Creating 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
32Now, 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
33Turn 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
34Questions?
- Refer to Chapter 4 of Shaughnessy et al.
- Loooooooooooots of detail!
- Email me
- Office hours?