Research methods

• structured interview advantages

  - straight forward to replicate due to their standardised format

  - reduces differences between interviewees
• structured interview

  - pre determined set of questions

  - fixed order
• interview


  - can be conducted over phone but usually involve face to face interaction between interviewer and interviewee
• questionnaire disadvantages

  - can produce response bias - respondents reply in a similar way e.g always ticking 'yes' (acquaintance bias)or answering at the same end of the rating scale. could be due to respondents answering too quickly

  - respondents may not always be truthful due to demand characteristics such as social desirability bias (wanting to show themselves in a positive light)
• Questionnaire Advantages

  - cost and time effective - can gather large amounts of data quickly because they can be distributed to a large amount of ppl and can also be completed without researcher being present

  - data produced is straight forward to analyse, particularly if the questions used were closed, fixed questions. data can undergo statistical analysis and comparisons can be made between groups using graphs
• leading question


  - a question that implies that one answer would be better than another
• Closed questions


  - Questions that can usually be answered with yes or no.
• open-ended questions


  - questions that allow respondents to answer however they want
• questionnaire

  - involve a pre-set list of written questions or items to which ppt responds

  - questionnaires are used to assess thoughts and/or feelings

  - may be used as part of experiment to assess dependent variable
• controlled limitation

  - findings can't be readily applied to real life behaviour as the setting is artificial so behaviour may not be natural
• controlled strength

  - replication of these observations is much easier as EVs can be carefully controlled
• observational methods + techniques: controlled


  - controlled observations are normally carried out in a lab

  - researcher decides where the observation will take place, at what time, with which participants, in what circumstances and uses a standardized procedure.
• naturalistic limitation


  - lack of control over researcher situation means replication of the investigation is difficult and there may be uncontrolled EVs affecting the conclusions about behaviour
• naturalistic strength

  - high external validity as findings can be generalised to everyday life - behaviour is observed within the environment it would normally occur
• observational methods + techniques: naturalistic


  - observing subjects in their natural environment. The goal is to look at behavior in a natural setting without intervention.
• non-ppt limitation

  - they may lose the valuable insight to be gained in a ppt observation as they are too far removed from the behaviour
• non-ppt strength

  - allows researcher to maintain an objective psychological distance from ppts
• observational methods + techniques: non-participant


  - researcher doesn't interact with ppts, just observes
• ppt limitation


  - researcher may lose objectivity as the line is blurred between ppt and researcher
• ppt strength

  - as the researcher experiences the situation as ppts do it gives them increased insight into the lives of the ppl being studied
• observational methods + techniques: participant

  - researcher interacts with ppts in study
• overt limitation


  - knowledge that they are being observed may change ppts behaviour - less valid
• overt strength


  - more ethically acceptable as ppts know they are being observed so can gain informed consent
• observational methods + techniques: overt


  - ppts are aware that they are being observed
• covert limitation

  - ethical issues as no informed consent can be gained therefore ppl may feel their privacy is being invaded
• covert strength

  - less likelihood of demand characteristics as ppt doesn't know they are being observed so behaviour is more natural - increases validity
• observational methods + techniques: covert

  - going undercover - researcher observes with our ppts being aware that they are there
• general observation limitation

  - observer may see what they expect to see - observer bias
• general observation strength


  - what ppl say they do is often different from what they actually do
• Behavioural categories


  - when you want to observe a particular behaviour you have to operationalise this behaviour first

  - break it down into a set of categories that you can create a checklist for

  - all observers must be trained in the behavioural checklist so that they are all looking for the same thing (a reliability issue)
• sampling procedures: time sampling


  - a target individual/group is first established then the researcher records this behaviour in a fixed time frame e.g every 60 secs
• sampling procedures: event sampling


  - a target behaviour or event is first established then the researcher records this event every time it occurs
• unstructured observation


  The researcher records all relevant behaviour but has no system. The behaviour to be studied is largely unpredictable

  - most obvious problem: may be too much to record

  - another problem: behaviour reordered will often be those which are visible or eye catching to the observer but these may not necessarily be the most important or relevant behaviours
• structured observation


  A researcher uses various systems to organise observations, such as:

  - behavioural categories: when target behaviour is broken up into components that are observable and measurable

  - sampling procedures: who you are being observed with and when
• Level of data: interval


  gives ranked order of scores and detailed precise intervals between scores e.g 100m race finish times:

  1. 9.74

  2. 9.76

  3. 9.79
• Level of data: ordinal

  when data is ranked so that it's possible to see order of scores in relation to eachother e.g 1st, 2nd, 3rd
• Level of data: nominal

  used when categorising something. Named categories are established by researcher and an item is counted when it falls into this category (usually yes/no)
• standard deviation

  Tells us how much scores deviate from the mean by calculating the difference between the mean and each score. All differences are then added up and divided by the number of scores which gives the variance (standard deviation is the square root of the variance)
• Range

  Calculation of dispersion in a set of scores which is worked out by subtracting the lowest score from the highest score and usually adding 1 as a mathematical correction
• Median


  Middle value in an ordered list (smallest to largest) If theres an even number of scores, the median if halfway between the 2 scores