General Issues in Researching Addictive Behaviours

Question 1

What are the 3 main issues in researching addictive behaviours?

Answer 1

• Self-Report.
• Issues of Validity.
• Sampling.

Question 2

Why is Self-Report an issue?

Answer 2

• Individuals report frequency of engaging and feelings experienced during addictive behaviour.
• Might be reluctant to report.
• Recall may not be accurate (esp. with illegal drugs).

Question 3

What Issues of Validity might exist?

Answer 3

• Ethical and practical view: can’t always ask participants to engage in behaviour (esp. over long period of time).
• Can’t control extraneous variables = reduced validity.
• Can be overcame with animal studies (esp. with biological processes) BUT there’s issues with generalisability (humans = complex social and cognitive pressures).

Question 4

What issues are there with Sampling?

Answer 4

• Difficult to establish representative research sample; addicts = secretive about their addiction.
• Samples from treatment centres = common characteristics which could affect validity.
• Often matched control group comparison = matching on relevant variables is difficult (not all who drink alcohol are addicted).