4 - Research

Question 1

What are 2 requirements of science?

Answer 1

1) Information must be observable
2) Systematic observation
→ if we’re observing children in a playground to see how often girls and boys hit each other, it’s important that we don’t just do it when it’s convenient for the researcher
→ we have to observe in a systematic way, not just one day in a week at a specific time because we may only be observing specific kids repeatedly which will influence the results

Question 2

What are the 2 types of research?

Answer 2

Descriptive: “What?”
Experimental: “Why?”

Question 3

What is a correlational study?

Answer 3

• A correlational study is one in which you observe the relation between two variables, usually at a single point in time
  → no scientific manipulation of variables
• This cannot be used to determine causal links between the two observed variables; just because they vary together does NOT mean that one is causing the other, even though it may seem that way
  → p.ex: high testosterone and high aggression are correlational
• Mediator and Moderator variables can cause or mask links between the two observed variables
  –> p.ex: ice cream sales and violent crimes

Question 4

In a correlational study, the ___ of a relationship ranges between +1 and -1; while the ___ of the relationship can either be positive (direct relationship) or negative (inverse relationship).

Answer 4

Strength; direction

Question 5

Explain the difficulties of random selection

Answer 5

• Although random selection is important for the validity of correlational research, it is difficult to achieve and is rarely employed properly
  → especially when we’re working with subject research
• Selection bias: When the subjects you are observing are not representative of the population that you wish to draw conclusions about
  → p.ex: if wanting to study helpfulness and you ask a crowd who wants to participate, odds are the helpful people are going to participate
• Selection bias also applies to situations: People behave differently in different contexts
  → For example, observing behaviour when people are with their peers, or in a formal setting, or at home with family will all give you a different picture of how they behave
  → these differences are inevitable, so we need to take them into account

Question 6

What is an experimental study?

Answer 6

• Establishes “cause” and “effect”
• In an experiment, the investigator manipulates one variable, called the independent variable, and observes its effect on another variable, called the dependent variable
• Most experiments take place in laboratories as opposed to natural settings
  → because we need a controlled area to ensure the same situation for each participant

Question 7

What is an ex post facto study?

Answer 7

• Allow researchers to study variables that they cannot manipulate (p.ex: gender)
  → Researchers choose subject variables
  → characteristics of participants that can be used to classify participants into groups
• Because nothing is manipulated, this type of study is not a “true” experiment
• Researchers cannot make causal conclusions based on the results

Question 8

What is a meta-analysis?

Answer 8

• Meta-analysis quantifies the results of a group of studies. In a meta-analysis, we take into consideration not only whether a significant difference is found in a study but also the size of the difference. In this way, a meta-analysis can average across the studies and produce an overall effect that can be judged in terms of its significance as well as its magnitude (effect size)

Question 9

Name the types of quantitative research methods.

Answer 9

• Correlational studies
• Experimental studies
• Ex post facto studies
• Meta-analysis

Question 10

What are the types of qualitative research methods?

Answer 10

• Case Studies
  → The intensive study of a single person, or a small sample of people; In- depth exploration
  → Results may not generalize to others.
• Interviews
  → Allow the exploration of a topic through the exchange of information between interviewer and participant; Oral or life histories, or narrower topics
• Ethnography
  → Involves researchers who immerse themselves in a group to gather information; Focus is on context; Direct interaction with participants, often over a lengthy period of time
  → p.ex: immersing yourself in a different culture for 10 years to study the difference in interactions between 2 cultures
• Focus Groups
  → Bring together a group of people (usually 6 to 8) to participate in an intensive discussion of a topic; Closer to naturally occurring situations than are interviews
  → this size of group is ideal for participation because if you’re asking 1 on 1, they might not answer as honestly as if in a group discussion

Question 11

In what ways can there be a source of bias in research?

Answer 11

• Choosing the topic of study (if smt is the norm, we inherently study the other rather than the norm)
• Choosing the variables (the way we define it)
• Formulating a hypothesis
• Collecting and analyzing data
• Interpreting results
• Statistical significance vs. clinical or practical significance

Question 12

What is the experimenter effect?

Answer 12

• Experimenter effects refer to the ways the experimenter, or the person conducting the research, can influence the results of a study
• A review of studies on gender differences in leadership style showed that the gender of the author influenced the results. It turned out that male authors were more likely than female authors to report that women used a more conventional style of leadership that involved monitoring subordinates and rewarding behaviour.
  → How can this be?
  → One explanation is that people published studies that fit their expectations
  → Another explanation is that women experimenters and men experimenters designed different kinds of studies, with one design showing a gender difference and one not
• researchers have preconceived notions and the way we conduct the research or score the data for example, it’s very easy to apply these notions without even noticing

Question 13

Give an example of how the study design and research question can be a source of bias.

Answer 13

• For example, a researcher could be interested in determining the effects of women’s paid employment on children’s well-being (is it good or bad for the kids if their moms have jobs). One researcher may believe it is harmful for women to work outside the home while they have small children. To test this hypothesis, the researcher could design a study in which children in day care are compared to children at home in terms of the number of days they are sick in a year. Because the children at day care will be exposed to more germs, they will experience more sick days the first year than children at home. In this case, the experimenter’s theory about mothers’ paid employment being harmful to children will be supported.
• However, another experimenter may believe mothers’ paid employment is beneficial to children. This experimenter examines the reading level of kindergartners and finds that children whose mothers worked outside the home have higher reading levels than children whose mothers did not work outside the home.
  → The problem here: The mothers who worked outside the home were more highly educated than the mothers who worked inside the home, and this education may have been transmitted to the children
• In both cases, the experimenter’s pre-existing beliefs influenced the way the study was designed to answer the question

Question 14

How can the choice of participants be a source of bias?

Answer 14

• There are other variables that may co-occur with gender and influence the results of gender comparisons, such as income, occupational status, and even health. Investigators should make sure they are studying comparable groups of women and men
  → researchers tend to take participants who are convenient (i.e., undergrads because they’re readily available) which creates bias

Question 15

How can the dependant variables measured be a source of bias?

Answer 15

• Dependent measures can be biased in favor of males or females
• A study that compares women’s and men’s helping behavior by measuring how quickly a person responds to an infant’s cries is biased against men to the extent that men and women have different experiences with children
  → p.ex: women will be quicker to help because they may have more experience doing that
• A helping situation biased in the direction of males is assisting someone with a flat tire on the side of the road. Here, you may find that men are more likely than women to provide assistance because men may have more experience changing tires than women
  → It is unlikely that men have a “tire-changing” gene and that women have a “diaper-changing” gene that the other does not possess. We have to ensure that the different ways a dependent variable is measured do not account for the findings
  → our social roles and experiences have us set up to help with certain tasks

Question 16

How can the data collection be a source of bias?

Answer 16

• The experimenter may treat women and men differently in a way that supports the hypothesis
• In a now classic study, Rosenthal (1966) found that male and female experimenters smiled more and glanced more at same-gender participants than other-gender participants while giving the experimental instructions. He concluded that men and women are not in the same experiment when the experimenter is aware of their gender.
  → More recently, researchers found that the gender of the target influenced how an emotion is interpreted. When preschoolers were shown a picture of a face that was ambiguous with respect to its emotion, children thought the target was angry if it was a boy but sad if it was a girl (Parmley & Cunningham, 2008)
  → the way we interpret a person’s expression will be influenced by the gender of the person with the facial expression

Question 17

How can we avoid bias in data collection?

Answer 17

→ this can be avoided by having a double blind situation (the researcher is not the one interacting with participants)

Question 18

How can data interpretation be a source of bias?

Answer 18

• One problem in the area of gender is that we might interpret the same behaviour differently depending on whether the person is male or female.
• In one study, college students read a professor’s lecture on sex discrimination at work and thought the facts were more accurate and the essay was of a higher quality if the author was male than female. The lecture was viewed as more sexist if they thought the author was female than male.
• Other research has shown that people perceive the same behaviour to be more aggressive if enacted by a male than a female and that male observers are especially likely to perceive male behaviour as aggressive
  → when there’s ambiguous behaviour, but you can tell that it’s a man expressing it, we will interpret it as aggression because of social roles and expectations

Question 19

How can communication of results be a source of bias?

Answer 19

• Many labs will only publish results that agree with their own previous findings, or their own theories and expectations
  –> For example, experimenters who believe there are no differences between men and women may conduct a dozen studies, slightly altering the situation in each one, until no difference appears and then report that study.
• Another problem with the communication of results is that gender differences are inherently more interesting than gender similarities (when it comes to publishing); therefore, studies of differences are more likely to be published
  –> if one small difference is found, it will become the main focus of the paper rather than all the similarities

Question 20

Traditionally, both science and popular public opinion have focus on gender differences; what does this result in?

Answer 20

→ A distorted view of gender differences
→ An underestimation of how men and women are similar

Question 21

How can participants themselves be a source of bias?

Answer 21

• There are certain demands or expectations about how to behave as a participant in an experiment. Participants often conform to or react against these demands. The social desirability response bias is one example of a demand characteristic. That is, people want to behave in socially desirable ways, ways in which they appear normal and likeable
• p.ex: A review of the literature on parents’ treatment of children concluded that parents treat sons and daughters the same (Lytton & Romney, 1991). However, a closer inspection of the studies revealed that parents said they treated sons and daughters the same, but observational studies showed differences

Question 22

How can we reduce social desirability bias?

Answer 22

• One way to reduce demand characteristics is to have responses be private—anonymous and confidential—rather than public
• Another precaution is to disguise the purpose of the experiment
• A third precaution is to examine actual behaviour rather than self-reports of behaviour

Question 23

How can the laboratory vs. field be a source of bias?

Answer 23

• Much of our research on gender is conducted in the laboratory rather than the field, or the real world
• In the laboratory, everything is held constant except the independent variable, which is usually the participant’s gender. Thus, men and women come into the laboratory and face equal treatment and equal conditions.
• The problem is that women and men do not face equal conditions in the real world. Thus, we might be more likely to find similar behavior in the laboratory than in the real world. If that is the case, gender differences in behavior observed in the real world might be due to the different situations in which women and men find themselves
  → p.ex: women will not often stop by the side of the road to help someone change a tire because it isn’t a safe situation, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t being helpful, it’s rather perceived safety

Question 24

How can variables confounding with sex be a source of bias?

Answer 24

• We cannot randomly assign a person to be male or female
• Gender is usually a subject variable rather than a true independent variable that can be manipulated
• When comparing men’s and women’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviour, we cannot be certain any differences found are due to gender alone; men and women come into the laboratory with their own values, histories, and experiences. A common problem in real-world studies: gender is confounded with status
  → Ex: Do women smile more than men, or do low-status people smile more than high-status people (to be pleasing)? Many of the gender differences observed in verbal and nonverbal communication seem to be due to status

Question 25

How can situational influences be a source of bias?

Answer 25

• In some situations we observe a difference and in some situations we do not observe a difference
• Some situations are high in behavioural constraints, meaning the behaviour required in the situation is clear and not very flexible; in this case, gender may have little to do with behaviour
  –> p.ex: A graduation ceremony is such a situation
• Other situations low in behavioural constraints would allow the opportunity for men and women to display different behaviours
  –> p.ex: informal social gatherings are an example of such a situation
• Some situations that are high in behavioral constraints make gender especially salient
  –> p.ex: A heterosexual wedding is such a situation. Here, the norms for men’s and women’s attire are very different