Experimental Psychology (Non-expe, surveys, correlationa)

• Nonexperimental approaches

  Used in situations in which an experiment is not practical or desirable, where testing a hypothesis in an existing real-life situation is necessary or important
• Nonexperimental studies

  • More frequently conducted in real-world settings with a more diverse sample of participants than experiments
• Phenomenology


  A non-experimental method of gathering data by attending to and describing one's own immediate experience, where the purpose of interviewing and questioning is to understand the meaning a conscious person has developed and the structure of that consciousness
• Case study

  A descriptive record of a single individual's experiences, or behaviors, or both, kept by an outside observer, which serves five major purposes: 1) source of inferences, hypotheses, and theories, 2) source for developing therapy techniques, 3) allows the study of rare phenomena, 4) provides exceptions or counter instances to accepted ideas/theories/practices, 5) has persuasive and motivational value
• Case studies

  • Have limitations in representativeness of sample, completeness of data, and reliance on retrospective data which may be compromised by faulty memory, current mood, and retrieval cues
• Field study

  Nonexperimental approaches used in the field or in real-life settings, including naturalistic observation, participant-observer studies, and contrived or structured observation
• Naturalistic observation


  • Examines subjects' spontaneous behavior in their actual environments and may obtain more representative behavior than experiments, but has the risk of reactivity where subjects alter their behavior when they know they are being observed
• Participant-observer studies

  • The researcher actually becomes part of the group being studied, which gives a unique perspective but is time consuming and has potential loss of objectivity and increased chance for observer influence
• Archival study/archives

  A descriptive method in which already existing records are re-examined for a new purpose
• Qualitative research


  Obtains data consisting of words instead of numbers, through self-reports, personal narratives, and expression of ideas, memories, feelings, and thoughts, representing a potential paradigm shift in attitudes, values, beliefs, methods, and procedures
• Reasons for qualitative research


  • To understand the inner experience of participants, determine how meanings are formed, and discover rather than test variables
• Empirical phenomenology

  Relies on the researcher's self-reflection on relevant experiences, participants' oral or written descriptions of their experiences, and accounts from literature, poetry, visual art, television, theatre, and previous research
• Frequently conducted in real-world settings with a more diverse sample of participants than experiments.

  Non-experimental approaches.
• The purpose of interviewing and questioning is to understand:

  1.the meaning a conscious person has developed;

  2.the structure of that consciousness.
• Argued that case studies serve five major purposes

  Kazdin (2003)
• The descriptive record of a single individual's experiences, or behaviors, or both, are kept by?

  an outside observer
• Case studies have several limitations

  1.representativeness of sample

  2. completeness of data

  3. reliance on retrospective data
• Recollections of past events that are collected in the present

  Retrospective data
• This information may be compromised by faulty memory, current mood, and the retrieval cues that are present when you are asked to recall an event.

  Retrospective data
• Examines subjects' spontaneous behavior in their actual environments and may obtain more representative behavior then experiments.

  Naturalistic observation
• Subjects alter their behavior when they know that they are being observed.

  Reactivity
• The researcher actually becomes part of the group being studied

  Participant - Observer studies
• A descriptive method in which already existing records are re-examined for a new purpose


  Archival study or archives
• Obtains data consisting of words instead of numbers

  Qualitative research
• This information is obtained through self-reports, personal narratives, and expression of ideas, memories, feelings, and thoughts.

  Qualitative research
• A change in attitudes, values, beliefs, methods, and procedures accepted during a specific time period.

  Paradigm shift
• Might rely on an experimenter's private experiences or other experimental data

  Empirical phenomenology
• A useful way of obtaining information about people's opinions, attitudes, preferences, and behaviors simply by asking

  Survey Research
• Allows us to gather large amounts of data

  Survey
• Can increase the accuracy of answer to sensitive questions

  Anonymous sruveys
• Does not allow us to test hypotheses about causal relationship

  Survey approach
• Identify and enumerate your research objectives

  Constructing Surveys
• Life events checklist for DSM 5

  Open-ended questions
• Personality tests

  Close-ended questions
• Classifies response items into two or more distinct categories on the basis of some common feature

  Nominal Scale
• Called the lowest level of measurement because it provides no information about magnitude

  Nominal Scale
• It refers to a rank ordering of response items

  Ordinal Scale
• It measures magnitude or quantitative size using measures with equal intervals between the values

  Interval Scale
• It is the highest level of measurement and has equal intervals between all values and a true zero point

  Ratio Scale
• Usually small groups of people with similar characteristics are brought together by an interviewer, called a facilitator, who guides the group in a discussion of specific issues

  Focus Groups