Research Methods

• Demand characteristics: when participants act accordingly and not naturally to produce better results
• Types of experiments:

  • Laboratory
  • Field
  • Natural
  • Quasi
• Laboratory experiment:

  • controlled environment
  • Independent variable is directly manipulated by experimenter
  • participants are randomly allocated
• Field experiment:

  • natural to environment
  • Independent variable is directly manipulated by the experimenter
  • cause and effect relationship
  • participants aren't aware of the study
• Natural experiment:

  • natural to environment
  • naturally occurring Independent variable, and is not manipulated
  • cause and effect relationship
  • Participants aren't aware of study
• Quasi experiment:

  • Gender is an example
  • experimenter can't randomly assign the Independent variable
• Type of Observation:

  • structured
  • unstructured
• Structured observation:

  • write down everything visible
  • provide detailed accounts
  • appropriate for small observations
• Unstructured observations:

  • target behaviour is the main focus
  • appropriate for large settings
  • Researchers can quantify data
• Behavioural categories - target behaviour is broken into components

  • objective
  • all possible components of behaviour
  • mutually exclusive
• Sampling procedures:

  • Event sampling - behaviour is recorded every time occured
  • Time sampling - target group is recorded every given time interval
• Types of observations:

  • Naturalistic & controlled
  • Overt & Covert
  • Participant & Non participant
• Naturalistic - observation is carried out in a natural setting, observer only asks questions
• Controlled - behaviour observed under strict condition manipulated by the observer
• Overt - participants are aware that they are being studied
• Covert - participants aren't aware that they are being studied
• Participant - the observer is part of the group being observed

  eg. undi rali in a group of nitties
• Non participant - observer is separate from group being observed
• Observer bias - the tendency for observers to bias their observations to what they want to see
• Observation is a non experimental method
• self report - where an individual is asked to express their own feelings, opinion, related to a topic
• types of questions:

  • open - answer how they want
  • Closed - yes/no
  • likert scale - number scale
• Method of gathering data:

  • Interviews
  • Questionaires
• Structured Interview - pre set order of open/closed questions
• Semi structured Interview - pre set questions, but interviewer has flexibility to follow up
• Group interview - a technique used to gather information from a large number of people at once.
• Content analysis - type of observational technique, in which behaviour is observed directly via the communication they have provided
• Peer review - a secondary psychologist working in a similiar field reviews the research and provides feedback and considers for publishing. Usually double blind
• Publication bias - when the outcome of the research biases the decision for the secondary psychologist to publish it
• Case Study - a thorough study on an individual or a group, that relies on observation, facts etc