Ch3: Research Methods Flashcards
What is direct observation?
Researchers directly observing participants as they engage in relational or sexual situations.
Provides rich contextual info
Cons of direct observation:
Memory bias = salience preferences of researchers
Interpretation bias
cons of direct observation-how to help them?
Memory bias and interpretation bias
Memory bias: record sessions
Interpretation bias: operationalize behaviours
Interview cons
Memory bias/salience preferences
Responder bias! Participants responding in way that they think researcher wants them to respond!
Case study
Illustrating aspects of sexuality that may be unethical to replicate or study in an experiment
Case study cons (3)
Theoretical bias is a type of interpretation bias that can lead to researchers using case study to erroneously confirm their theory
Poor generalizability to rest of population
Lack of experimental design, lack of control group => can’t draw conclusions about causation
Content analysis
Analysis of overarching themes in a text or set of observations (eg. Interviews)
Common method of doing content analysis
Focus groups! Interviewing groups of people, eg. female arousal
Content analysis cons
Difficult to quantify???
Correlational Methods
:)
Correlational research: definition and primary weakness
Examines relationship btwn 2+ variables
Cons: causation can’t be inferred
Survey is a type of ___ research.
Correlational
Survey has 2 types of questionnaires. What are they?
Standard and unstandardized.
Standard: standard set of questions and fixed set of answers
Unstandardized: standard set of questions but room for individual answers
Survey: pros & cons
Pros: inexpensive; anonymous, hopefully more honesty
Cons: memory bias, responder bias, demand characteristics
Archival data-mining is a form of ___ research
Correlational
Is archival data-mining quantitative or qualitative?
Can be both!
Quantitative: old data sets
Qualitative: old diary entries :O
Pros and cons of archival data-mining
Pros: convenient, good for past conditions or an individual’s past history
Cons: incomplete and out of date records
True experiment vs. Quasi-experiment
Quasi has standard procedure but no random assignment.
True has manipulated variable, dependant variable, control for confounds, and random assignment.
Psychophysiological methods
:)
Quantitative sensory testing
Tests ind’l responses & thresholds to stimuli, under varying internal states and conditions.
Quantitative sensory testing is good for…
Studying pain disorders such as vaginismus and dyspareunia
Vaginismus:
Marked fear and/or tightening of pelvic floor muscles, making intercourse difficult or impossible.
After arousal, women need ___ pressure to detect touch, while men need ____.
Less, more.
Dyspareunia
Genital and/or pelvic pain during or after PIV
How does one measure brain activity in relation to sexual stimulation?
Brain imaging, most commonly fMRI.
Many problems with fMRI studies
- fMRI has poor spatial and temporal precision!
- fMRI studies often have no control group
- subject to interpretation mistakes
- different fMRI machines produce different quality data
Measuring genital response: who determined that arousal was associated with increased blood flow
Masters and Johnson
Swelling due to increased blood flow/blood pressure
Vasocongestion
General swelling
Tumescence
Vaginal photoplethysmograph
Tampon-shaped probe, emits light, reflects back to light detector within device vaginal pulse amplitude
How do u measure vaginal pulse amplitude
Photoplethysmograph
Labial thermistor
Measures surface temperature of labia skin reflecting changes in blood flow
Thermography
Heat sensing camera, records temperature of genital skin
Pros and cons of thermography
Easily standardized; standard human temperature is 37 * C
But temperature is slower to change, taking minutes rather than seconds
Laser Doppler imaging
Measures superficial blood flow in genitals; low-power IR laser beam; is a direct measure of arousal!
Thick pubic hair gets in the way of which method?
Laser Doppler imaging
Penile volume plethysmography
Penis inserted into container; as volume increases, free space decreases
Penile strain gauge
Ring placed around penis, ring expands as volume increases
Penile photoplethysmography
Device emitting and detecting light mounted on penis, provides indirect measure of blood flow
Most common measure of penis circumference
Penile strain gauge (the ring)
Should tumescence be used to compare different groups to each other?
No, tumescence should be used to compare differences in the same individual, due to the wide variation!
Is it universally agreed that vaginal blood flow equals arousal?
No! Simple exercise increases this as well
What’s best methods of measuring genital arousal in women?
Thermistor and laser Doppler imaging
New research suggests maybe clitoral pethysmograph
