additional research methods and techniques

Question 1

what is a twin study?

Answer 1

a study where a trait/behaviour is compared between twins to see how similar they are

concordance rate - the degree to which two people are similar on a particular trait/behaviour

Question 2

what does concordance rate suggest?

twin studies

Answer 2

if trait/beh is entirely genetic, then MZ twins would show 100% concordance

if a trait/beh is influenced more by genes than environment, then we would expect MZ twins to show a higher concordance rate than DZ twins

Question 3

twin studies - strengths

Answer 3

Allows researchers to measure the influence of genes because each set of twins share an environment, so the only difference between MZ and DZ twins is genetics (MZ-100, DZ-50). Therefore the infuence of nature vs nurture can be measured

Samples usually large because data is taken from twin databases whcih contan info on many variables (mental health, addiction). Therefore samples can be representative due to being large

Question 4

twin studies - weaknesses

Answer 4

Twin studies assume twins grow up in the same environemnt, but this is wrong because there are small diferences between even identical twins, e.g. one twin may be sportier than the other. Thesse differences mean there are actually TWO environmental influences: shared and nonshared

Twin studies can’t identify the specific genes involved, just a broad indication of whether a behaviour is genetic or environmental. Therefore they are a good starting point but studies which use more scientific methods are needed to identify individual genes

Question 5

what are adoption studies

Answer 5

Compare the concordance rate of an adoptee with their biological and adoptive parents

Question 6

How do adoption studies suggest a behaviour is genetic?

Answer 6

The adoptee has a high concordance rate with their biological parents but not their adoptive

Question 7

How do adoption studies suggest a behaviour is environmental?

Answer 7

The adoptee has a high concordance rate with their adoptive parents but not their biological

Question 8

adoption studies - strengths

Answer 8

Adoption studies control the influence of environment so differences between sets of adoptees can be said to be genetic.
Therefore the influence of nature vs nurture can be measured

Useful to show the environment may play a greater role than twin studies suggest. Thus adoption studies should be used in addition to twin studies to ensure overestimations aren’t made.

Question 9

adoption studies - weaknesses

Answer 9

Adoptive studies may lack validity because of ‘selective placement’ (children adopted to families similar to their biological families)
Therefore some of the similarities with biological relatives is actually due to environmental similarities rather than genes

Adoption studies have limited generalisability. Therefore conclusions about the effects of genes? on ? may not be generalisable to the population as a whole.

Question 10

what are case studies?

Answer 10

case studies are in-depth investigtions of a single person, group or event

use a wide range of methods and can gather both qualitative and quantitative data

Question 11

strengths of case studies

Answer 11

large amounts of in-depth data (qualitative and quantitative) can provide brilliant insight. Tests and assessments can be carried out more than once (test-re-test) to check for reliability and validity.

Question 12

weaknesses of case studies

Answer 12

risk of inaccurate recording of data or subjective interpretation of information due to large amounts of time invested and rapport between participant and researcher meaning objectivity may be lost, lowering the validity of the results

poor populatuion validity due to unrepresentative sample of usually one or small group of pps with interesting or unusual behaviour which means the results may not be generalisable

Question 13

what is content analysis

Answer 13

a way of observing, describing, quantifying and interpreting qualitative data

the content produced by people (TV shows, magazines, newspapers, articles, books and other forms of media) are observed and analysed

Question 14

procedure of content analysis

Answer 14

data is collected - researcher reads through or examines the data, making themselves familiar with it - researcher identifies coding units - data is analysed by applying the coding units - tally is made of teh number of times that a coding unit appears

Question 15

strengths of content analysis

Question 16

weaknesses of content analysis

Answer 16

It requires interpretation of data, quite often words may be hard to ‘fit’ into a category. This reduces the scientific status of the method as results are likely to be subjective, lowering validity

Turning qualitative data into quantitative may mean that detail and context is lost, reducing the validity of the results

Question 17

what are longitudinal studies?

Question 18

strengths of longitudinal studies

Question 19

weaknesses of longitudinal studies

Question 20

what are cross-sectional studies?

Answer 20

takes measurements of one group of pps at a specific time and comapres it with another group
provides snapshot of the difference between groups

Question 21

strengths of cross-sectional studies

Answer 21

practical issue - not as time consuming as longitudinal design - the data is analysed and compared more rapidly. this is useful if results are being used to affect government policy

generalisability - pps are less likely to drop out as it will be a shorter amount of time to commit too than compared to longitudinal research, resulting in more representative samples

Question 22

weaknesses of cross-sectional studies

Answer 22

validity - individual differences is a major drawback and likely to affect conclusions which are drawn on making comparisons between groups of different people in each age group

cohort effects - the differences between groups could be attributed to the effects of being raised in a particular time and/or place e.g. different generations are affected by technology/war/changes to laws etc.

Question 23

what are cross-cultural studies?

Answer 23

involves taking samples from different cultural groups to draw comparisons about the similarities and differences between them to consider how culture may impact on the behaviour in question

Question 24

strengths of cross-cultural studies

Answer 24

reliability - likely to be replicable as procedures are standardised and controlled so that they can be replicated in different cultures

validity - if the procedure is replicable then the only variable which is changing is culture therefore accurate cause and effect conclusions about the extent to which nature and nurture play a role in people’s experiences can be made

Question 25

weaknesses of cross-cultural studies

Answer 25

cultural bias - using a standardised procedure which has been developed in one culture may be biased towards that culture (ethnocentric) and may lose consistency if translated

generalisability - pps used in a cross-cultural study won’t necessarily represent teh culture accurately (pop validity), therefore the results may not be generalisable to the whole culture

Question 26

compare cross-sectional and longitudinal

Answer 26

similarities
- both allow changes in behaviour over time to be measured and cause and effect conclusions drawn

differences
- long. measures same pps at serveral points over time whereas cross-sectional measures diff groups of people at each age
- long. doesn’t have problems with pps variables as its the same group of pps, whereas cross-sectional does due to diff pps
- long = higher drop out rate (attrition) due to long term commitment, whereas cross-sectional has lower drop out

Question 27

what is a meta-analysis?

Answer 27

Looking at secondary data from multiple studies conducted by other researchers and drawing findings together to make overall conclusions

Question 28

strengths fo meta-analysis

Question 29

weaknesses of meta-analysis

Question 30

what is a pilot study

Answer 30

A pilot study is a small-scale version of an investigation which is done before the real investigation is taken
* They are carried out to allow potential problems of the study to be identified and the procedure to be modified to deal with these

• This allows money and time to be saved in the long run