Conceptual And Historical Issues Within Statistics And Research Methods

Question 1

What is the distinction between nomothetic and idiographic?

Answer 1

Idiographic = describes the study of the individual, seen as an entity, with properties setting him/her apart from others - effort to understand the individual in context, phenomenological approach, subjective -> looks at anomaly

Nomothetic = study of a cohort of individuals, describes effort to derive laws that explain objective phenomena -> stats remove anomaly = dominant approach in psychology

Question 2

What is epistemology?

Answer 2

Branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge

How knowledge is related to truth, relief, and justification

Means of production of knowledge

Skepticism about different knowledge claims

Question 3

Who was Quetlet?

Answer 3

First to devise BMI equation
First to highlight importance of statistical analysis for behavioural data
Impossible to predict individual data points but predictions could be made on mean scores (group data)

Question 4

Who was Galton?

Answer 4

First to use term nature v nurture

First to apply normal distribution to intelligence

Question 5

Who was Pearson?

Answer 5

Pearson chi-sqaure test
Pearson correlation
Introduced term ‘variable’ into psychology research
First use term ‘standard deviation’

Question 6

Who was Fisher?

Answer 6

Developed z-distribution (F) and used in ANOVA
Pioneered principles of design of experiments and statistics of small samples and analysis of real data
Introduced concept of null hypothesis

Question 7

What was the downside and upside to statistical development?

Answer 7

Downside
Eugenics; First used by Galton - Believed human race could help direct its future by ‘selectively breeding individuals’ who have desired traits
Advocated ‘social imperialism’ -> ‘superior races’ and countries should produce more offspring thuan those considered less developed

Upside
Technical contributions to psychology, use of questionnaires and inferential statistics = scientific without being experimental

Question 8

What are the paradigm wars?

Answer 8

Realists (positivist) on one side v constructionists (interpretivists)

Argument in part about epistemology - nature of knowledge

Is knowledge a reflection of an outside reality or constructed by us? = key question to debate

Question 9

What are the 2 different views in the paradigm wars?

Answer 9

Realist = as (perhaps imperfect) representations of a reality (perhaps partially) independent of us (possibly as the result of a fallible social process)

Constructivist = as constructions (by us or society) that are useful to us for interaction (possibly for prediction or explanation)(possibly weakly constrained by observations and interaction with a world)

Question 10

What would realism say?

Answer 10

~ Strong form: objective reality independent of the observer and theories directly reflect this
~ Intermediate form: objective reality independent of the observer and theories approximate this and are improved over time
~ Weak form: objective reality where the observer participates and theories capture what is observable of this

Some theories make novel and surprising predictions that turn out to be correct
Realist scientists have produced a lot of knowledge that’s undoubtedly useful
It’s often sensible to assume some things are objectively and independently real

Question 11

What would constructivism say?

Answer 11

~ Theories/knowledge about world constructed by us in creative process
~ There’s (at least some degree) choice or contingency about our knowledge
~ Reasons for this could include: observations are insufficient to uniquely determine theory, can only deal its knowledge through a framework which gives it form (language)

Many theoretical entities have turned out to be incorrect
In retrospect can see the biasing effect of culture, assumptions, language etc
Doing science involves being creative

Question 12

What is the way forward in the paradigm wars?

Answer 12

Some psychologists see the 2 as incompatible

Mixed methods research - 3rd wave or 3rd research movement
L> collects both quantitative and qualitative data, claims to move past the paradigm wars, offers logical and practical alternative

Question 13

Chapter 11

What are the assumptions of quantitative research methods?

Answer 13

~ There is an outside reality that can be discovered through scientific methods
~ Main aim of scientific research is finding universal causal relationships - how variable interact, abuse and effect
~ Trying to avoid confounds and sources of noise - try to eliminate random variables through control of maximum degree
~ Suspicion about researcher’s input - source of bias
~ Progress through falsification - evaluate truth of conclusions/theories
~ observation of numerical data and large samples

Question 14

Chapter 11

What are the strengths of quantitative research methods?

Answer 14

~ Makes use of scientific method
~ Application of statistical analysis allow researchers to detect patterns of large data sets
~ Falsification test prevents wrong ideas and weak theories

Question 15

Chapter 11

What are the limitations of quantitative research methods?

Answer 15

~ Participants returned a/some numbers used in statistical analyses = usually brief
~ Not interested in person
~ Can bias research to limit topics that can be easily measured - quantitative imperative = conviction you can’t know what you can’t measure
~ Falsification test primarily focused on erasing wrong theories rather than producing new ones

Question 16

Chapter 11

What are the assumptions of qualitative research methods?

Answer 16

~ In Psychology there’s little/no evidence for reality outside people’s minds - not convinced there’s objective reality
~ Believe attempts to control situations making settings artificial and impoverished - investigators should be active participant and listen to what participants say
~ Immersion and understanding - need to be open-minded
~ Idiographic - see what’s relevant to subject under study
~ Induction rather than deduction - look at complete situation with open mind and don’t focus preconceptions = bracketing
~ Qualitative research is evidence based - depends on collecting and analysing empirical findings just not coded in numerical format

Question 17

Chapter 11

What are the strengths of qualitative research methods?

Answer 17

~ Look at specific cases needing to be solved, understanding stipulations and solving problems
~ Involves intense investigations which often leads to finding new ideas and theory building
~ Want to understand events as they are perceived by the participants = better feel for participants needs

Question 18

Chapter 11

What are the limitations of qualitative research methods?

Answer 18

~ Stresses importance of inductive reasoning and verification
~ Find it difficult to decide between ideas and theories
~ Conclusions go back to introspective opinions from participants and are interpreted by researchers = impossible to decide between conflicting opinions of people
~ Input from researcher may be a problem in high-stake situations - outcomes of studies depends on the researcher to som extent

Question 19

Chapter 11

Can quantitative and qualitative research. Ethics relate to each other?

Answer 19

Some say incompatible - emphasise different world views eg. objective reality v social construction, natural science ps v humanities
Too contradictory to integrate them -> paradigm wars

Some say complement each other - increasing view = likely quantitative and qualitative are used in combination in future
Supporters focus on what the methods bring in terms of info