Methodology Research Designs

• Explain experimental methods of research:

  • Establish a causal relationship between variables
  • Independent variable can be manipulated
  • Cause and effect relationship can be found
  • Participants randomly allocated
• Describe the experimental group of experimental research:

  A group of participants exposed to the IV
• Strengths of experimental research:

  • Researcher can have control over variables
  • Cause and effect relationships can be found
• Limitations of experimental research:

  • Having controlled environment (such as laboratory environment) reduces realism and may impact participant behaviour
• Explain non-experimental research:

  • Independent variable CANNOT be manipulated
  • Cause and effect relationship CANNOT be found
  • Participant CANNOT be randomly allocated
• Examples of non-experimental research methods:

  • Case studies
  • Observational research
  • Correlational studies
• Example study of non-experimental research:

  Milgram's behavioural study of obedience (shock experiment) is non-experimental as there is no independent variable being manipulated
• Explain what case studies are:

  In-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community.

  Can use methods such as observations, tests and interviews
• Advantages of case studies:

  • Allows researchers to gather rich data
  • High levels of ecological validity
  • Can suggest hypotheses for further research
• Disadvantages of case studies:

  • Difficult to generalise findings from one instance to the general population
  • Time consuming
  • Difficult to replicate
  • Possibility of researcher bias
• Explain observational research:

  Type of technique used to study behaviour (e.g., Ainsworth's strange situation studies)

  Method used: Researchers monitor participants and record notes
• Strengths of Observational research:

  • Controlled observations can be replicated by other researchers
  • Participants are more likely to behave naturally rather than consciously or unconsciously act in a way that is socially appealing
• Limitations of Observational research:

  • When the researcher only sees what they expect to see or records selected details - observer bias may occur
  • Participants may change their behaviour if they aware of being observed
  • Voluntary participation and informed consent are ethical guidelines that may be breached when participants are unknowingly observed in research
• Explain correlational study:

  • Establishes the relationship between behavioural variables
  • Identifies whether there is an association between variables
  • Neither variable is manipulated
  • No casual relationship is established
• Advantages of correlational study:

  • Can demonstrate the presence or absence of a relationship. Good for indicating areas where experimental research could take place and show further research
  • Can establish strength of a relationship between two variables and measure it precisely
• Disadvantages of correlational study:

  • No cause and effect can be established as it is not certain that one variable caused another to happen. It could be one or the other or even an unknown variable
• Is correlational study a research method?

  No it is not a research method, but a way of analysing data gathered by other means
• What can strength be classified in a correlational study:

  Strong, moderate or weak
• State the numbers for positive, negative and no relationship

  -1.0 = perfect negative relationship

  +1.0 = perfect positive relationship

  0 = no relationship
• What happens if the coefficient is closer to 0?

  The weaker the relationship is between variables
• List the ranges of correlation coefficient to strength of relationship

  0.00-0.29 = None (0.00) to weak

  0.30 - 0.69 = Moderate

  0.70 - 1.00 = Strong to perfect (1.00)
• Describe positive correlation:

  Exists when two variables move in the same direction
• Describe negative correlation:

  Relationship between two variables in which one variable increases and the other decreases, and vice versa
• How is positive, negative and no relationship correlations displayed?

  Displayed in scattergrams (scatterplot) graphs or expressed as a correlation coefficient
• Explain the strengths of scattergrams:

  • Strong correlation exists when two variables are measured and results show a strong linear relationship.
  • Shows strong association between behavioural variables.
  • Weak correlation exists when the data is more scattered from the directional line.
  • Shows weak association between behavioural variables.
• Explain no correlation strength:

  • When there is no linear relationship between the variables, there is no correlation.
  • No relationship between behavioural variables
• Explain longitudinal studies:

  • Data is collected more than once, using the same participants.
  • This period could be several days, weeks, years or even decades.
  • Example: Harvard study of adult development that followed 268 participants for almost 8 years
• What is longitudinal studies mainly used for:

  Studying development trends across lifespan
• Strengths of longitudinal studies:

  • Developmental trends can be studied over a lifetime
  • The frequency, timing or duration of events can be assessed
• Limitations of longitudinal studies:

  • Takes a longer time to get results than with cross-sectional studies
  • Participants may drop out of the study along the way
• Explain cross-sectional studies:

  • Data from participants is collected at one point in time
  • Participants may be from one sample or from a number of samples
  • Example: Australian Census
• Strengths of cross-sectional studies:

  • Quicker to conduct than longitudinal studies as there is no follow-up periods required
  • Costs less to conduct than longitudinal studies
• Limitations of cross-sectional studies:

  • Only a snapshot in time is chosen and results may differ if another time for collecting data was chosen
  • The sample size may not be large enough to generalize results to the population that the sample was taken from
• Describe the control group of the experimental research

  Participants exposed to all conditions except IV