Chapter 6 - Non-experimental Research

Question 1

Non-experimental research

Answer 1

Non-experimental researchis research that lacks the manipulation of an independent variable. Rather than manipulating an independent variable, researchers conducting non-experimental research simply measure variables as they naturally occur (in the lab or real world).

Question 2

Non-experimental research CANNOT establish _____

Answer 2

Causation

Question 3

When to use non-experimental research?

Answer 3

When:
the research question or hypothesis relates to a single variable rather than a statistical relationship between two variables (e.g., how accurate are people’s first impressions?).

the research question pertains to a non-causal statistical relationship between variables (e.g., is there a correlation between verbal intelligence and mathematical intelligence?).

the research question is about a causal relationship, but the independent variable cannot be manipulated or participants cannot be randomly assigned to conditions or orders of conditions for practical or ethical reasons (e.g., does damage to a person’s hippocampus impair the formation of long-term memory traces?).

the research question is broad and exploratory, or is about what it is like to have a particular experience (e.g., what is it like to be a working mother diagnosed with depression?).

Question 4

2 main categories of non-experimental research?

Answer 4

Correlational research

Observational research

Question 5

Correlational Research

Answer 5

Research that is non-experimental because it focuses on the statistical relationship between two variables but does not include the manipulation of an independent variable.

Question 6

Observational research

Answer 6

Research that is non-experimental because it focuses on recording systemic observations of behavior in a natural or laboratory setting without manipulating anything.

Question 7

Cross-sectional studies

Answer 7

Studies that involve comparing two or more pre-existing groups of people (e.g., children at different stages of development).

Question 8

cohort effect

Answer 8

Differences between the groups may reflect the generation that people come from rather than a direct effect of age.

Question 9

Cross-sequential studies

Answer 9

Studies in which researchers follow people in different age groups in a smaller period of time.

Question 10

Internal validity

Answer 10

internal validity is the extent to which the design of a study supports the conclusion that changes in the independent variable caused any observed differences in the dependent variable.

Question 11

Quasi-experimental research

Answer 11

Quasi-experimental research (which will be described in more detail in a subsequent chapter) falls in the middle because it contains some, but not all, of the features of a true experiment.

Question 12

Order of internal validity between correlational, experimental, and quasi-experimental studies

Answer 12

Low: Correlational studies.
Medium: Quasi-Experimental studies
High: Experimental studies

Question 13

2 reasons to use correlational research

Answer 13

1. Researchers do not believe the statistical relationship is a causal one or are not interested in a causal relationship.
2. The statistical relationship of interest is thought to be causal but it is impossible to ethically, or practically manipulate the independent variable.

Question 14

one strength of correlational resear ch

Answer 14

Another strength of correlational research is that it is often higher in external validity than experimental research.

Question 15

the defining feature of correlational research is that ____ variable is manipulated. I

Answer 15

neither

Question 16

Scatterplot

Answer 16

A graph that presents correlations between two quantitative variables, one on the x-axis and one on the y-axis. Scores are plotted at the intersection of the values on each axis.

Question 17

Pearson’s correlation coefficient (or Pearson’s r)

Answer 17

A statistic that measures the strength of a correlation between quantitative variables.

Question 18

relationship strength

Answer 18

Correlation coefficients near ±.10 are considered small, values near ± .30 are considered medium, and values near ±.50 are considered large.

Question 19

Restriction of range

Answer 19

When one or both variables have a limited range in the sample relative to the population, making the value of the correlation coefficient misleading.

Question 20

There are two reasons that correlation does not imply causation.
What are they?

Answer 20

1. The directionality problem: The problem where two variables,XandY, are statistically related either becauseXcausesY,or becauseYcausesX, and thus the causal direction of the effect cannot be known.
2. Third-variable problem: Two variables,XandY, can be statistically related not becauseXcausesY, or becauseYcausesX, but because some third variable,Z, causes bothXandY.

Question 21

Spurious correlations

Answer 21

Correlations that are a result not of the two variables being measured, but rather because of a third, unmeasured, variable that affects both of the measured variables

Question 22

Factor Analysis

Answer 22

Acomplex statistical technique in which researchers study relationships among a large number of conceptually similar variables.

Question 23

Two nuancing points about Factor analysis (A paragraph)

Answer 23

Two additional points about factor analysis are worth making here. One is that factors are not categories. Factor analysis does not tell us that people areeitherextravertedorconscientious or that they likeeither“reflective and complex” musicor“intense and rebellious” music. Instead, factors are constructs that operate independently of each other. So people who are high in extraversion might be high or low in conscientiousness, and people who like reflective and complex music might or might not also like intense and rebellious music. The second point is that factor analysis reveals only the underlying structure of the variables. It is up to researchers to interpret and label the factors and to explain the origin of that particular factor structure. For example, one reason that extraversion and the other Big Five operate as separate factors is that they appear to be controlled by different genes (Plomin, DeFries, McClean, & McGuffin, 2008)[5].

Question 24

Partial Correlation

Answer 24

A method of controlling extraneous variables by measuring them and including them in the statistical analysis.

Question 25

Complex correlation may not be able to establish causation, but what can it do?

Answer 25

It can be used to rule out other plausible interpretations. A researcher manipulates and measures potential third variables and includes them in a statistical analysis called partial correlation.

Question 26

One point about Partial Correlation that MUST be remembered:

Answer 26

It is important to note that while partial correlation provides an important tool for researchers to statistically control for third variables, researchers using this technique are still limited in their ability to arrive at causal conclusions because this technique does not take care of the directionality problem and there may be other third variables driving the relationship that the researcher did not consider and statistically control.

Question 27

What is Regression?

Answer 27

A statistical technique that allows researchers to predict the value of one variable given another.

Typically the variable that is used to make the prediction is referred to as thepredictor variableand the variable that is being predicted is called theoutcome variable or criterion variable.

Question 28

Qualitative research

Answer 28

Research thatbegins with a less focused research question, collects large amounts of relatively “unfiltered” data from a relatively small number of individuals, describes data using nonstatistical techniques, such as grounded theory, thematic analysis, critical discourse analysis, or interpretative phenomenological analysis andaims to understand in detail the experienceof the research participants.

Question 29

SOme strengths of qualitative research:

Answer 29

Qualitative research can also provide rich and detailed descriptions of human behavior in the real-world contexts in which it occurs. Among qualitative researchers, this depth is often referred to as “thick description” (Geertz, 1973)[2].Similarly, qualitative research can convey a sense of what it is actually like to be a member of a particular group or in a particular situation—what qualitative researchers often refer to as the “lived experience” of the research participants.

Question 30

Compare and contrast quantitaive and qualitative research:

Answer 30

Qualitative research is in depth in its information but is administered to few people. Quantitative research is less in-depth in its information but has larger samples.

Qualitative research has conclusions that are based on interpretations drawn by the investigator while quantitative research ha conclusions that are based on statistical analyses.

Qualitative research is global and exploratory while quantitative research is specific and focused.

Question 31

Methods of data collection in Qualitative research:

Answer 31

Interviews, focus groups, naturalistic observation, participant observation, archival data, artwork etc.

Question 32

Types of structure in an interview

Answer 32

Interviews in qualitative research can be unstructured—consisting of a small number of general questions or prompts that allow participants to talk about what is of interest to them—or structured, where there is a strict script that the interviewer does not deviate from. Most interviews are in between the two and are called semi-structured interviews, where the researcher has a few consistent questions and can follow up by asking more detailed questions about the topics that come up. Such interviews can be lengthy and detailed, but they are usually conducted with a relatively small sample.

Question 33

Focus groups

Answer 33

Used in qualitative research which involves small groups of people who participate together in interviews focused on a particular topic or issue.

Question 34

Grounded theory of data analysis

Answer 34

Researchers start with the data and develop a theory or an interpretation that is “grounded in” those data.

Question 35

Theoretical Narrative

Answer 35

A qualitative research method that involves an interpretation of the data in terms of the themes a researcher has identified.

Question 36

Mixed-Methods research

Answer 36

Many researchers from both the quantitative and qualitative camps now agree that the two approaches can and should be combined into what has come to be calledmixed-methodsresearch, which refers to a combining of qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Question 37

Triangulation:

Answer 37

A second approach to combining quantitative and qualitative research is referred to astriangulation. The idea is to use both quantitative and qualitative methods simultaneously to study the same general questions and to compare the results. If the results of the quantitative and qualitative methods converge on the same general conclusion, they reinforce and enrich each other. If the results diverge, then they suggest an interesting new question: Why do the results diverge and how can they be reconciled?

Question 38

Observational research

Answer 38

Research that is non-experimental because it focuses on recording systemic observations of behavior in a natural or laboratory setting without manipulating anything.

Question 39

The ethics behind disguised naturalistic observation.

Answer 39

When researchers engage in naturalistic observation by making their observations as unobtrusively as possible so that participants are not aware that they are being studied.

Ethically, this method is considered to be acceptable if the participants remain anonymous and the behavior occurs in a public setting where people would not normally have an expectation of privacy.

Question 40

Hawthorne effect:

Answer 40

Reactivity refers to when a measure changes participants’ behavior.

In the case of undisguised naturalistic observation, it is a type of reactivity when people know they are being observed and studied, they may act differently than they normally would.

Question 41

Participant observation:

Answer 41

Another approach to data collection in observational research is participant observation. Inparticipantobservation, researchers become active participants in the group or situation they are studying. Participant observation is very similar to naturalistic observation in that it involves observing people’s behavior in the environment in which it typically occurs.

This can be disguised or undisguised.

Question 42

Primary benefits and limitations of participant observation:

Answer 42

Oneof the primary benefits of participant observation is that the researchers are in a much better position to understand the viewpoint and experiences of the people they are studying when they are a part of the social group. The primary limitation with this approach is that the mere presence of the observer could affect the behavior of the people being observed. While this is also a concern with naturalistic observation, additional concerns arise when researchers become active members of the social group they are studying because that they may change the social dynamics and/or influence the behavior of the people they are studying. Similarly, if the researcher acts as a participant observer there can be concerns with biases resulting from developing relationships with the participants. Concretely, the researcher may become less objective resulting in more experimenter bias.

Question 43

Structured Observation

Answer 43

When a researcher makes careful observations of one or more specific behaviors in a particular setting that is more structured than the settings used in naturalistic or participant observation.

Question 44

Trait of structured observation

Answer 44

structured observation is less global than naturalistic or participant observation because the researcher engaged in structured observations is interested in a small number of specific behaviors. Therefore, rather than recording everything that happens, the researcher only focuses on very specific behaviors of interest.

Question 45

Comparing structured observation to naturalistic and participant observation:

Answer 45

Structured observation is very similar to naturalistic observation and participant observation in that in all three cases researchers are observing naturally occurring behavior; however, the emphasis in structured observation is on gathering quantitative rather than qualitative data. Researchers using this approach are interested in a limited set of behaviors. This allows them to quantify the behaviors they are observing.

Question 46

Coding

Answer 46

A part of structured observation whereby the observers use a clearly defined set of guidelines to “code” behaviors—assigning specific behaviors they are observing to a category—and count the number of times or the duration that the behavior occurs.

Question 47

Case study

Answer 47

Acase studyis an in-depth examination of an individual. Sometimes case studies are also completed on social units (e.g., a cult) and events (e.g., a natural disaster). Most commonly in psychology, however, case studies provide a detailed description and analysis of an individual. Often the individual has a rare or unusual condition or disorder or has damage to aspecific region of the brain.

Question 48

You GOTTA know this about CASE STUDIES

Answer 48

However, it is important to note that while case studies can provideinsightsinto certain areas and variables to study, and can be useful in helping develop theories, they should never be used as evidence for theories. In other words, case studies can be used as inspiration to formulate theories and hypotheses, but those hypotheses and theories then need to be formally tested using more rigorous quantitative methods. The reason case studies shouldn’t be used to provide support for theories is that they suffer from problems with both internal and external validity. Case studies lack the proper controls that true experiments contain. As such, they suffer from problems with internal validity, so they cannot be used to determine causation.

Question 49

Case studies cannot do these things:

Answer 49

Establish causation
Be generalized to a larger population

Question 50

Content analysis

Answer 50

contentanalysis—a family of systematic approaches to measurement using complex archival data. Just as structured observation requires specifying the behaviors of interest and then noting them as they occur, content analysis requires specifying keywords, phrases, or ideas and then finding all occurrences of them in the data. These occurrences can then be counted, timed (e.g., the amount of time devoted to entertainment topics on the nightly news show), or analyzed in a variety of other ways.