3 Alternatives to Experimentation correlational and Quasi Flashcards
Sometimes, setting up antecedent conditions (as a requirement in an experimental approach) cannot, or sometimes should not, be met.
Non-Experimental Designs
Used when:
experiment is not practical or desirable
testing a hypothesis in an existing real-life situation is necessary or important
you want to explore unique or rare occurrences, or to sample personal information in natural settings
All these can provide useful data, either from single individuals or from large groups of people.
NON-EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES
A description of an individual’s immediate experience.
Source of data: personal experience
Antecedents are NOT manipulated, and data may consist of any immediate experiences
NO CONSTRAINTS are imposed.
phenomenology
He was interested in the physiology of vision, and noticed that colours seemed to change as twilight deepened. Purkinje Effect → understanding of spectral sensitivity to colours of different wavelengths.
Johannes Purkinje (1787-1869)
Dealt with basic psychological issues like habits, emotions, consciousness, and stream of thoughts from the phenomenological perspective of his own experiences.
Resistance of getting up inhibits our movement.
William James:
“Since phenomenology deals with immediate experience, its conclusions are instantaneous. They emerge at ones and they need not wait upon the results of calculations derived from measurements. Nor does a phenomenologist use statistics, since a frequency does not occur at an instant and cannot be immediately observed.”
Boring (1950)
Involves NO MANIPULATION of antecedent conditions.
A DESCRIPTIVE record of a single individual’s experience, or behaviours, or both, kept by an OUTSIDE observer.
Recording may be done systematically, or as they occur over time.
Some case studies will severely restrict the kind of info collected, placing it on the low-high category.
CASE STUDIES
: cases of deviant and normal individuals are compared for significant differences.
Deviant Case Analysis
data collected in the present based on recollections of past events.
RETROSPECTIVE DATA
Use of combined types of data gathering to capitalize on the richness and range of behaviour found outside the laboratory.
There is NO MANIPULATION of antecedent conditions, but the DEGREE OF CONTRAINT ON RESPONSES VARIES considerably form study to study.
Field studies
A technique of observing behaviours as hey occur spontaneously in natural settings.
A descriptive method where subjects’ RESPONSES are FREE TO VARY.
FIELD STUDIES: Naturalistic Observation Studies
Studied family life and social bonds of rare gorillas living in VirungaVolcano mountains of Central Africa.
Researchers attempt to REMAIN INCONSPICUOUS (staying out of sight, blending in the environment) so that behaviours being observed are not altered by the presence of the observer.
Dian Fossey
Investigated whether teachers of English as a Second Language courses gave equal amounts of attention to their male and female students.
Observed and recorded the number of classroom interactions between 4 different teachers and their pupils.
Yepez (1994)
: the tendency of subjects to alter their behaviour or responses when they are aware of the observer’s presence.
Reactivity
A descriptive research method in which already EXISTING RECORDS are being REEXAMINED for a new purpose.
ARCHIVAL STUDIES
