Knowledge clip 2 - Analysis phase

Question 1

What do you do in the analysis phase?

Answer 1

Moving from problem to analysis.

Finding explanations for the problem as a basis for the solution.

Question 2

What are the parts of the analysis phase?

Answer 2

1. Defining the outcome variable
2. Divergent phase

• You bridge out and you look for all kinds of possible explanations for your problem.

3. Convergent phase

• Try to end up with a list of feasible potential explanations for the problem.

Question 3

The outcome variable

Answer 3

I.e., the variable that we want to change with the intervention, as a desired end-state.

Question 4

In what way does the outcome variable need to be phrased?

Answer 4

As a psychological variable

1. Behaviour and intentions
2. Attitudes and cognitions
3. Emotions or affect

Question 5

What are the requirements of the outcome variable?

Answer 5

1. Relevance
2. Specificity
3. Continuity

Question 6

What do you need to look at when deciding on an outcome variable?

Answer 6

• What is the variable?
• What is the direction of the variable?
• How do you measure the variable?

Question 7

The outcome variables of the TikTok problem:

Many teenagers tend to wake up during the night to check their social media, disrupting their sleep (what?).

This can pose a problem to these young people and the people around them, like school teachers (who?).

Because it can result in feeling tired at school, resulting in decreased academic performance, and decreased health and well-being (why?).

Potential causes are FOMO and peer pressure (causes?).

An intervention could potentially target teenagers on social media (target group?).

Answer 7

Variables:

• Attitudes towards social media use at night
• Social media postings at night

Direction:

• Less positive attitudes towards social media use at night
• Fewer social media posts at night

Measurement:

• Surveys/self-reports
• Number of posts per week

Question 8

What are the outcome variables of the following example about overweight adults that work shifts:

Overweight is an increasing problem in society, and prevalent in workforce that needs to work irregular hours (e.g., night shifts) (what?)

This can pose a problem to these people and the people around them, as well as employers and society as a whole (who?)

Because overweight is a predictor of different health problems (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer) resulting in decreased health and well-being (why?).

Potential (psychological) causes are attitudes towards diet and exercise and social norms (causes?).

An intervention could target adults that work irregular hours (target group?).

Answer 8

Variables:

• Attitudes towards exercising and healthy eating
• Eating and exercise intention or behaviour
• Weight
• (Self-efficacy?)

Direction:

• More positive attitudes about exercising and healthy eating
• Increased exercise behaviour (intention), healthier eating patterns
• Steady or decreasing weight
• (Increased self-efficacy about diet and exercise)

Measurement:

• Surveys/self-reports
• Gym visits
• Eating diaries
• Scale

Question 9

What is the aim of the divergent phase?

Answer 9

Being as complete as possible:

• Generate as many explanations as possible and identify the relevant causes of the problem.
• Focus on explaining differences in the outcome variable.
  o What kind of factors play a role?

Question 10

How do you generate the explanations in the divergent phase?

Answer 10

With free association

Question 11

What are the different kinds of free association

Answer 11

1. Problem association
2. Concept association
3. Perspective taking

Question 12

Interviews and observations in the divergent phase

Answer 12

1. Interviews

• ‘why’ interviews (real imaginary).
• Qualitative
• Reactive
  o The outcome depends on what the interviewees are giving you.

2. Observational data

• Behaviour observation/ introspection
• Quantitative
• Structured

3. Surveys.

• Quantitative
• Efficient

Question 13

What are the strategies for searching for social psychological literature in the divergent phase

Answer 13

1. Topical strategy

• Literature that directly relates to your problem

2. Conceptual strategy

• If you can’t find anything using the topical strategy you can start to search more general

3. General theory strategy

• Always dive into the general theory of behaviour and behaviour change

Question 14

Needs assessment in the divergent phase

Answer 14

How does the target group perceive the problem themselves?

• Often, the person or the client that comes to you with the problem is not the target group.

What is the level of knowledge, skills, and resources in the target group?

• If your target group doesn’t have the resources to work with your intervention, you can think of all kinds of interventions but they won’t be effective.

Which needs and capacities does the target group express?

What environmental factors play a role?

Question 15

What circles of influence is a person a part of?

Answer 15

• Individual
• Interpersonal
• Organization
• Community
• Systemic

Question 16

The interpersonal circle of a person

Answer 16

• Family
• Peers

Environment factors:

• Social support

Question 17

The organization circle of a person

Answer 17

• Work
• School
• Hospital

Environment factors:

• Norms
• Policy

Question 18

The community circle of a person

Answer 18

• Neighborhoods
• Towns

Environment factors:

• Facilities
• Social capital

Question 19

The systemic circle of a person

Answer 19

• Local government
• National government
• International government

Environment factors:

• Legislation

Question 20

When is it important to do a needs assessment?

Answer 20

When you are generating solutions for your problem.

Question 21

What are the limitations of scientific literature in the divergent phase?

Answer 21

Oversimplification

• Clean and simple designs
• Reality is messy
  o Reality is quite messy and scientific literature tries to simplify it to make it understandable and predictable.
  o This means that you cannot always directly translate it back to reality.

External validity

• W.E.I.R.D participants
  o Western, Educated, Industrialized country, Rich, Democrats
  o They are not representative to all people in the world
• Lab vs. field
  o Studies are often done in the lab, which can be different than in the field

Contrasting findings

• Sometimes it’s up to you how to weigh these different findings in your conclusion

Question 22

What is the aim of the convergent phase?

Answer 22

Being selective:

• End up with a set of explanations that describe social psychological processes that change the outcome variable.
• These explanations serve as input for the process model in the next phase.

Question 23

What do you do in the convergent phase?

Answer 23

Getting rid of redundant and irrelevant explanations

• Look for overlap and combine redundant explanations.
• Some previously generated ideas may turn out to be irrelevant upon further inspection.

Getting rid of invalid explanations

• Exclude theoretical explanations when the theory is no longer applicable under the conditions of the problem.
  o The theory itself might be valid but it’s an invalid explanation for your problem.
• Note parameters for certain theories and effects and check whether these are met in the problem at hand.

Getting rid of implausible explanations

• Exclude the least plausible explanations as determined by (thought) experiments and logical thinking (if X then Y, but if not X, not Y?).
• You can do this in a real experiment or a thought experiment.

Question 24

What do you do in the analysis phase?

Answer 24

• An outcome variable is specified.
• Many explanations are collected (divergent phase)
• The number of explanations is reduced (convergent phase)

Question 25

What is the result of the analysis phase?

Answer 25

A set of explanations that serves as input for a process model.