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Research methods are a useful tool in psychology towards studying human behaviour different research types as well as statistical techniques are employed for different aspects of research.
Research methods are a useful tool in psychology towards studying human behaviour different research types as well as statistical techniques are employed for different aspects of research.
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Research methods are a useful tool in psychology towards studying human behaviour different research types as well as statistical techniques are employed for different aspects of research.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Descargue como PPT, PDF, TXT o lea en línea desde Scribd
empirical science: An introduction to research methods for GCSE/GCE students
ATP Conference July 2010
By Dr George Varvatsoulias Learning objectives 1. Exploring research methods in psychology (a general account) 2. Applying research methods (in the study of memory) 3. Quantitative and Qualitative research methods in psychology 4. How do we design a study (in detail) 5. Are we as teachers ‘committed’ to using empirical methodology as scientists? Starting with a story... • In winter people wear • Observation heavy clothes • The weather outside is • Rationale cold and there are storms • People wear heavy • Hypothesis clothes during winter in order to protect themselves • It is so because it is • Prediction winter
Choose each of the And match it with one of the
above statements above items Examples of research designs Between-participants/Within participants designs Types of research Making sense of our data via...
Descriptive statistics Inferential statistics
refer to the central refer to statistical tendency techniques Applying research methods in the study of memory (an example) Summary No. 1
• Research methods are a useful tool in psychology
towards studying human behaviour • Different research types as well as statistical techniques are employed for different aspects of research • In designing a study we pose a research question in order to seek evidence that will support our hypothesis Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology Specification Content Comment • Advantages/Disadvantag • Description of each es of research methods method related to the scientific • Being aware of at least nature of psychology two advantages and two • Experiments weaknesses • Investigations through • How research methods correlational analysis relate to the scientific • Naturalistic observations nature of psychology • Questionnaires • Distinguishing • Interviews psychological knowledge from commonsense • Ethical guidelines Terminology (1) • Ways in allocating participants to participate to a study: randomly, opportunity sample (friends, relatives, and anyone who is around that time), self-selection (via advertising the study, and finding participants who volunteered themselves – volunteer sample) • IV (Independent Variable): It is manipulated by the experimenter, i.e. the experimenter puts down the ‘rules’ to be followed by each participant; each IV is independent of the value of any other variable (IV) • DV (Dependent Variable): It is depended on the value provided by the IV (existence or dismissal of such dependence is questioned in relation to the hypothesis investigated) • One-tailed/Two-tailed hypotheses (othewise called: directional/non-directional hypotheses: One-tailed or directional hypothesis refers to the increase or decrease of one variable in favour to the other; once there may be an effect of one variable to the other, and the direction of this effect is unknown we have a two-tailed or non-directional hypothesis • Null hypothesis: No significant difference (in our case: no real effects in measuring the blood pressure of participants) Terminology (2) • Between participants/within participants: randomly allocating participants to different groups/no random allocation and all participants perform on all conditions • Probability Value (p): Is normally set to p<0.05 (50-50 chance of finding an effect), or p<0.01 (10% chance of finding an effect) • Effect size (d): The magnitude of the difference between conditions (the difference between the means of both or more conditions of a study in terms of their standard deviations): x₁-x₂ mean SD Research methods listing labels (1) Research Nature and use Pros & Cons Ethical issues methods Lab experiment Manipulation of For: Causal Deception; the IV to find conclusions; No Informed effects on DV confounding consent; under controlled variables; Psychological conditions Replication harm Against: Artificial; Experimenter and Participant effects
Field experiment Looking for For: Causal Informed
causal conclusions; consent; relationships in Ecological Difficulty in natural places validity; debriefing; Participants’ Privacy effects are Research methods listing Research labels Nature (2) and use Pros & Cons Ethical issues methods Natural Non-manipulation For: Look for Confidentiality experiment of IV; No random research where allocation of IV is not participants; manipulated; Quasi- Real problem experimental studies Against: No causal relationships can be found; Many confounding variables
Correlational Co-variables are For: Variables Misunderstanding
analysis studied for cannot be of findings positive, manipulated; negative, or zero Correlation does association not infer Research methods listing labels (3) Research Nature and use Pros & Cons Ethical issues methods Naturalistic Variables are free For: Can study Informed observations to vary behaviour where consent; cannot Difficulty in manipulate debriefing; variables; Privacy Ecological validity Against: No control of confounding variables; Observer bias, low observer variability
Questionnaires Set of questions For: Collection of Confidentiality;
huge amount of Privacy Research methods listing labels (4) Research Nature and use Pros & Cons Ethical issues methods Interviews Pre- For: Rich data; Confidentiality; determination of Telephone Privacy questions, or interviews created in Against: Social response to desirability bias; answers Skilled personnel is required Design & Implementation (1) • Assumed study: A psychologist chose to investigate the kinds of tasks which created stress for teachers. He asked for teachers from several schools to volunteer to take part in the study, and selected 20 male teachers. Each volunteer was asked to perform two tasks: Presentation of a prepared speech to a group of 200 students; marking a set of books full of mistakes. After each task the researcher recorded the blood pressure of each participant Design & Implementation (2) • Research method: Field experiment (Class environment reactions are tested, both at the speech as well as at the marking tasks) • Aim of the study: Investigating kinds of tasks to see if they create stress to teachers • Hypothesis: Teaching to a large number of pupils as well as marking their homework may have an effect in teachers’ blood pressure. The hypothesis will be non-directional • Design: Quasi-experimental, because we don’t randomly allocate participants to conditions; we have only one gender group of participants; we cannot manipulate each participant in terms of each task performance • IV/DV: Teaching before a large group & Marking homework – 2 IVs; Blood pressure recordings (score noted for each participant) - DV • Within participants study: All participants will take part in both conditions • Co-variables in the study: Teaching before a large group & Marking homework Design & Implementation (3) • Pros & cons of the design employed: Participants seem to not having been informed about the purpose of the study, and then to be asked to take place; no reference to how the experimenter would deal with the data collected • Confounding/extraneous variables: No reference to the age of each participant, so individual differences in performance to be discussed; anxiety proneness of teachers prior to teaching was not taken into account, so to possibly influence their performance during the study as well as their blood pressure scores after both tasks; speaking to public as a stressful life event was not discussed; female participants could also be employed • Ethical issues: Lack of further procedural information to participants before the study to be taken place, such as anonymity, debriefing, etc • Internal validity of the study: No reference about the subject of the talk to pupils, or if each participant could choose a subject of his own likeness; if so, whether different topics affect teachers’ performance • External validity: It isn’t known if speaking to the public out of a class environment would have the same results; external validity is not clear in many types of the experimental designs • Ecological validity: A variety of reasons could fall in replicating the study with different teachers in different classes; probably the study is not ecologically valid, i.e. it cannot rely on the collection of the same data when applied to different environments Design & Implementation (4) • Discussion: The study could be replicated by asking all participants to perform on the same tasks via two different conditions for each of the IVs: easy topic/difficult topic, and good homework/bad homework conditions • Selection of participants: Volunteer sample (self-selection) • Pilot study prior the study to be conducted: Half of volunteer teachers prepared a speech and delivered it to a small audience of students; they also marked the scripts of both exceptional and non-exceptional students. In this way, confounding variables such as the ones named above could be avoided • Statistical procedure possibly to fail: By what means of an instrument the talk and marking of homework would be measured? Would that be a quantitative approach or qualitative? In which way data will be collected in terms of the performance of teachers, so these to be discussed in relation to their blood pressure scores after both tasks had been performed? Also, would increased of decreased blood pressure be associated to both tasks, or to one of them, or otherwise (looking for stressful life events other than the participation to these tasks)? Summary No. 2 • Different research methods are used for different types of studies • By clearly stating the aims, the hypothesis, and the design of a study we can carry on with the other issues associated to the study • Ethical issues should be presented before embarking on a study • The ways to selecting participants can help us to identify possible confounding variables related to the execution of the experiment How do we design a study (in detail-1) • A research project into eating problems sought to find out about adolescent and pre-adolescent dieting practices. The study involved the use of a questionnaire, including both quantitative and qualitative questions. The questionnaire was piloted with a small group of university students How do we design a study (in detail-2) • Aspects to be considered in the design of this study 1.Research method 2.Aims 3.IV/DV 4.Hypothesis 5.1-tailed or 2-tailed hypothesis 6.Selection of participants 7.Quantitative (numbers)/Qualitative (interviews) 8.Possible confounding variables not only to the type of study, but also to the use of a questionnaire, and the selection of participants Studies using correlation • Positive correlation: When both variables increase in a study • Negative correlation: When one variable increases and the other decreases • Co-efficients in correlation: A figure (number) demonstrating the degree to which both variables are related (positive correlation +1/negative correlation -1). The closer the correlation to a perfect relationship (+1 or -1), the stronger the association between variables • Stating correlations: 1. Zero (0 or closer to zero) 2. Weak (±0.1-±0.3) 3. Moderate (±0.4-±0.6) 4. Strong (±0.7-±0.9) 5. Perfect (+1/−1) Example of a correlational analysis “Larger class sizes are positively correlated to exam success” 1. Try to criticise this research, and think of the arguments you might give to support the claim that smaller class sizes are actually of greater benefit to schoolchildren 2. Consider any extraneous or confounding variables that might have affected the above claim Advantages of correlational designs - Predictions more easily plausible: If there has been found a correlation, then we can make predictions regarding the effect of one variable to the other - Allows quantification of relationships: Correlations show the strength of a relationship between two variables - Manipulation is not possible: No requirement of manipulating the behaviour of participants, so correlations are ethically- prone to collecting data and analysing them Disadvantages of correlational designs - Quantification problems: Although, correlations seem to appear quite low, they can be meaningful or significant if the number of scores recorded is quite high. Contrary to that, we may have a large figure in correlation, and the results not to be significantly meaningful - Cause and effect: We do not infer causation from correlation. Effects are practically inexistent since the relationship between variables cannot justify (be sure of) the direction of the association, for no IV or DV can be selected - Extraneous associations: There may be other variables, except the ones studied; i.e. blowing wind and people’s character traits in a normal winter day, however what about summer temperatures? - Only works for linear relationships: Straight-line relationships are tested whether in a negative or positive correlation. If we have a curvilinear correlation it means we have aero significance in our results (correlation coefficient/Pearson’s r) An example for discussion • Possible correlations: 1. Lower-income parents have more children 2. Older people make poorer eyewitnesses 3. Sales of running shoes have increased at the same time as sales of personal computers D.Think up of possible extraneous variables for the above assumed correlations E. Consider hypothetical correlations that might account for a link between those variables F. By changing one variable with a confounding variable (modifying our hypothesis) can we work out a more viable correlation? Observational techniques 1. Participant observation: By becoming, the experimenter a ‘participant’ of his/her participants’ observation actual response to the study 2. Non-participant observation: By being the researcher involved in the observation of his/her participants’ behaviour from a distance Advantages of observational techniques - High external validity: Observation takes place in the natural environment; participants tend to behave naturally, and results can be easily generalised to other settings - Practical method: Social context instead of cooperation with participants: natural environments where deliberate manipulations would be unethical or impractical - Fewer demand characteristics: Participants do not know they are observed, so with their responses they cannot satisfy the experimenter Disadvantages of observational techniques - Cause and effect: With observations we do not have manipulations. Little control over extraneous variables - Observer bias: The question about reliable observation because of the danger the results coming out of observations to be fabricated, it is cross-checked with another’s experimenter procedure of the same study (inter/between reliability). Also, by checking all stages of the study and by comparing them with one another from inception to completion, we look for intra/within reliability - Replication: Lack of proper control participants (proper, in terms of repeating the same study again) leads to a stable problem of reliability and validity of all observations (all of us do not possess the same ‘senses’, or ‘sensitivity abilities’ when observing situations) - Ethics: Issues of informed consent and invasion of privacy arise when participants are unaware of being observed - Practical problems: It is difficult for experimenters to remain unobserved, so to avoid demand characteristics, or to categorise the observed behaviours accurately Practical learning: Classroom observation • You are a government inspector of psychology classes. You decide to use a non-participant observation technique: 1.Outline exactly how you observe a psychology lesson 2.Consider the number of times students contribute to the lesson; how frequently they take notes, their level of engagement (behavioural categories). How would you record the categories? 3.Observe a psychology lesson and write up your experiences 4.Was the lesson accurately taught to students? Questionnaires 1. Closed (fixed) questions or statements: Usually ask for ticking boxes. Easy for quantification, but are restriction-prone 2. Open questions/statements: Allowing participants to answer in their own words. They are difficult to analyse, but allow freedom of expression Advantages of questionnaires
• Quick and clear
• Large samples • Quantitative and qualitative analysis • Replication – by the use of standardised questions Shortcomings of questionnaires 1. Misunderstandings: Misinterpretation of questions by the participants 2. Biased samples: Needs time to be spent; asked from people who are literate, or samples are chosen to satisfy the findings expectation of the experimenter (his/her hypothesis to be supported) 3. Low response rate: Not all questionnaires are returned back 4. Superficial issues: Sensitive issues arise that need detailed understanding 5. Social desirability: Answers being presented in a socially positive light Interviews 1. Structured (formal) interviews: Identical questions addressed to participants in the presence of the experimenter 2. Unstructured or informal interviews: Less controlled and involve an informal discussion as a particular topic. Questions are posed in relation to participants’ answers to the subject Advantages of interviews • Complex issues: Complicated or sensitive issues are more easily to be dealt with in a face-to-face interview • Ease misunderstandings: Interviewers have the chance to clarify any question of participants during interview • Data analysis: Both quantitatively and qualitatively: Variety and flexibility to the collection of data • Replication: The more structured an interview the more easier to replicate Disadvantages of interviews • Interviewer or interviewee effects: Biased questions so to elicit ‘fabricated’ answers. Interviewers may bias the respondents’ answers, but interviewees may develop demand characteristics, and social desirability issues • Interview training: structured interviews do not require formal training. However, skills are needed for an unstructured interview to be conducted • Ethical issues: If participants do not know the true purpose of the interview, ethical issues such as deception and respect to privacy may arise Think of a topic both of a quantitative and qualitative research • Examples: 1.Investigating people’s views on euthanasia 2.Questioning people’s exposure to stressful life events, and how they have experienced their impact Summary No. 3 • Most common aspects that arise in both quantitative and qualitative research are: 1.Experimenter and Participant bias 2.Social desirability issues 3.Structured and unstructured interviews 4.Participant observation and demand characteristics Reading a story and preparing it for research • A research project on memory aimed to find out about individuals’ earliest memories. In order to do this the research team conducted unstructured interviews with people aged 10 to 50 years. The interviewers started with a set of standard questions, but then adapted their questions in response to the answers given by the interviewees Getting ‘committed’ as teachers in research methodology • Research methodology is difficult also for us teachers... • Assuming hypothetical studies while in class with the students • Outlining the combination between theory and research practice (theory as a tool, research as the means towards maintaining findings) TEΛΟΣ (The End)