Aims and Research Methods Flashcards
Andrade
- to investigate whether doodling aids in the ability to pay attention to auditory information
- and whether doodling affects later recall in auditory information
Research method: laboratory experiment
Milgram
- to investigate the level of obedience when an authority figure orders a person to administer a physical punishment to a stranger
Research method: NOT AN EXPERIMENT as it had no IV.
* recorded data via observations through a one-way mirror and conducted interviews with participants after the study, using a lab setting
Bandura
- to investigate whether children imitate aggression of a model in the absence of the model
- to investigate whether children are more likely to imitate behavior of a same-sex model
Research method: lab experiment
Piliavin
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to investigate factors affecting helping behavior on a New York subway train:
1. type of victim (drunk or ill)
2. race of victim (black or white)
3. modelled help provided by another. passenger
4. number of people in the carriage
Research method: field experiment
* independent groups design: trials were repeated on different days with different pasrticipants in each condition
Dement and Kleitman
- to test whether dream recall differs between REM and nREM sleep (repeated measures)
- to investigate whether there is a positive correlation between subjective estimates of dream duration and length of REM period (correlation)
- to test whether eye movement patterns are related to dream content (self-report)
Research method: lab experiment
Hassett
- to test if sex differences in children’s toy preferences result from biological factors rather than through socialisation
- to test if male and female rhesus monkeys have similar toy preferences to human infants, despite no socialisation experience with human toys
Research method: field experiment (took place in their normal, outdoor housing area)
* independent measures: IV was gender
* observations: to measure DV of activities with toys
* correlation: to find relationship between individual monkeys’ ranks within social hierarchy and frequency/duration of activities with each toy type
Fagen
- to investigate whether secondary positive reinforcement could be used to train elephants to voluntarily complete a trunk wash (to test elephants for TB)
Research method: controlled observation
Pozzulo
- to investigate whether children are less able to recognise human faces than adults
- and make more false positive identifications for target-absent line-ups
Research method: laboratory experiment
* independent measures: comparison between children and adults
* repeated measures: comparisons of line-up type
Baron-Cohen
- to see if there’s a negative correlation between the eyes test scores and AQ for a sample of normal adults
- see if females scored higher on the eye test than males
Research method: laboratory experiment
* quasi experiment: participants were assigned to a condition based on whether they had AS/HFA
Saavedra and Silverman
- to examine the role of classical conditioning in relation to fear and avoidance of a particular stimulus
- to highlight the role of evaluative learning in the development and treatment in children’s phobias
Research method: case study
* data collected via self-report (semi-structured interview about onset of phobia)
* boy observed through treatment sessions to see improvement
* results of treatment measured using Feelings Thermometer (9 point rating scale)
Holzel et al. (mindfulness)
- To identify changes in specific brain regions, and the whole brain, by comparing grey matter concentration before and after a mindfulness course
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Experimental: a causal relationship was tested between MBSR and grey matter
concentration in various brain structures. Some measurements were taken in a controlled
setting (MRI scans), - but other parts of the study occurred in a naturalistic environment, such as incorporating MBSR exercises while walking and doing housework
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Longitudinal: a group of participants was tested before (pre) and after (post) an
intervention. The total duration was an eight-week period -
Correlation: a non causal relationship was tested between time spent on mindfulness
exercises and increases in grey matter concentration - Self-report: The Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)
Perry et al. (personal space)
- To investigate how oxytocin affects preferred interpersonal distance for those scoring high or low in empathy traits.
- Participants took part in 2 experiments: half of the participants did Experiment 1 first and the other half did Experiment 2 first.
- These experiments took place in a labratory setting.
- Independent measures: the researchers compared preferred interpersonal distance between different groups and conditions.
IV 1: whether ppts received nasal drops containing oxytocin or placebo - this was done as repeated measures. It was counterbalanced by randomising whether ppts received oxytocin or placebo (saline). This used a double-blind procedure - both experimenter and ppt did not know which nasal dropper they received.
- IV 2: high or low empathy - independent measures. This was operationalised using a 28-item online questionnaire called the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) (Davis, 1983).
- This questionnaire has 4 7-item sub-sections, each assessing a different component of empathy.
- The people in the high empathy group (n = 20) had scores of 40 and over, while the people in the low empathy group (n = 20) had scores of 33 and under.
