Methods & Ethics Paper 3

Question 1

Q1 tip

Answer 1

Try and use one fact from the stimulus material in each of your answers for a, b and c

Question 2

Q2 ethical considerations response

Answer 2

• how the ethical consideration was performed
• why that ethical consideration is important
  x3 (positive)
• how the ethical consideration was breached
• how that ethical consideration could instead be applied
• why that ethical consideration is important
  x3 (negative)

Question 3

Q1(c) tip

Answer 3

• make rationale additive to primary research method as a follow-up
• additional research method could be used to study the same topic as the original experiment
• make sure the rationale is relevant and explained

Question 4

Q3 tip

Answer 4

• a lot of the information overlaps
• includes references to stimulus
• describes strengths & limitations of research approach of stimulus material

Question 5

Snowball sampling
2 characteristics Q1(b)

Pros & Cons Q3

Answer 5

• participants recruit other potential participants for the study
• non-probability sampling technique as the participants are not chosen randomly from target population thus not statistically representative of the entire population
• useful for studying hidden, hard-to-reach, or rare populations

Pros: quick, easy, practical, time-efficient, cost-efficient, important for sensitive topic areas
Cons: selection bias, not representative of target population, limited generalizability, lack population validity

Question 6

Random sampling
2 characteristics Q1(b)

Pros & Cons Q3

Answer 6

• everybody has equal chance of being selected (this eliminates bias)
• members are selected randomly (proper representation of population)

Pros: no selection bias, high generalizability
Cons: time consuming, expensive

Question 7

Volunteer sampling
2 characteristics Q1(b)

Pros & Cons Q3

Answer 7

• participants voluntarily offering to participate
• non-probability sampling technique as the participants are not chosen randomly from target population thus not statistically representative of the entire population
• gather data from individuals motivated to be in the study
• not generalisable

Pros: Motivated participants, easy, cost-efficient
Cons: selection bias, not representative of target population, limited generalizability, lack population validity

Question 8

Purposive sampling
2 characteristics Q1(b)

Pros & Cons Q3

Answer 8

• Participants selected based on specific criteria relevant to the research objectives
• intentionally select participants who provide valuable data related to study
• non-probability sampling technique as the participants are not chosen randomly from target population thus not statistically representative of the entire population
• used when researchers already intend to study a specific characteristic

Pros: relatively high generalizability for the target population which possesses the salient characteristics of sample, easy, flexible to increase participant size during research if needed
Cons: reduced transferability to members without salient characteristics of sample, susceptible to bias as participants are selected based on characteristics the researcher personally judges to be salient

Question 9

Opportunity/convenience sampling
2 characteristics Q1(b)

Pros & Cons Q3

Answer 9

• participants selected on availability
• unlikely to be representative of population which produces biases of only those being able to participate are studied
• non-probability sampling technique as the participants are not chosen randomly from target population thus not statistically representative of the entire population

Pros: quick, easy, practical, time-efficient, cost-efficient

Cons: selection bias, not representative of target population, limited generalizability, lack population validity

Question 10

True experiments
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 10

• designed to test a hypothesis (and null hypothesis) that predicts casual relationship between IV and DV
• independent variable (condition variable) & dependent variable (measured variable: behaviour)

Pros: easy to analyse data, isolate a cause-effect relationship, objectivity, replicability
Cons: reductionist, low ecological validity, simplified model of psychological interaction, participant/researcher bias

Question 11

Field Experiments
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 11

• conducted in real-world, natural settings
• researcher manipulates and controls the independent variable(s), while measuring the effects on the dependent variable(s).

Pros: easy to analyse data, high ecological validity, generalizability
Cons: reductionist, simplification, less researcher control over variables (confounding variables, maybe IV) & less certainty of causality, participant/researcher bias, hard to replicate

Question 12

Quasi-experiments
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 12

• participants are in pre-existing groups/conditions in real-life, based on a characteristic of interest, which forms the IV
• designed to test a hypothesis (and null hypothesis) that predicts casual relationship between IV and DV

Pros: easy to analyse data, isolate a cause-effect relationship, objectivity, replicability
Cons: reductionist findings, simplifications, low ecological validity, simplified model of psychological interaction, participant/researcher bias

Question 13

Natural experiments
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 13

• Researchers identify naturally occurring variables, of a real-life phenomenon, and analyse them by measuring the IV and its effect on DV in the real-world context, in the participant’s natural environment
  Participants’ behaviour (DV) is measured in a real-world environment
• Limited control over confounding variables, and IV as the IV is naturally occurring and non manipulated

Pros: less participant bias, high ecological validity, generalizability, easy to analyse
Cons: reductionist, simplification, less researcher control over variables (confounding variables, maybe IV) & less certainty of causality, researcher bias

Question 14

Correlational study
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 14

• trying to identify a relationship or pattern between 2 variables of probably naturally occurring phenomenon as well as the strength of the relationship
• researchers observe and measure variables as they naturally occur

(non-experimental, quantitative)
Pros: easy to analyse, large quantity of data in short amount of time, inexpensive
Cons: researcher bias, causation vs correlation difficult (further studied with experiments)

Question 15

Questionnaires
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 15

• collecting large amounts of data inexpensively and directly from participants by asking them to fill out questionnaire
• trying to identify relationship or pattern through close-ended questions

(non-experimental, quantitative survey)
Pros: easy to analyse, large quantity of data in short amount of time, inexpensive
Cons: researcher bias, causation vs correlation difficult (further studied with experiments)

Question 16

Case study
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 16

• detailed examination of a single case within their real-world context
• relies on multiple sources of evidence and data collection methods, such as interviews, observations, documents, and artifacts
• triangulation and a more holistic understanding of the phenomenon.

Pros: holistic, nuanced insight into one manifestation of a psychological phenomenon
Cons: limited transferability/generalizability, researcher bias & interpretations of case study due to development of relationship, extremely time consuming, hard to analyse data

Question 17

Natural observation
2 characteristics

Answer 17

• observing behavior in its natural, real-world setting without any intervention or manipulation from the researcher
• record data through several techniques, but most notably through field notes—recordings of notes of what is observed
• as qualitative research is exploratory, and holistic gains insights into psychological phenomena

Pros: holistic observations including contexts of behaviour, high ecological validity,
Cons: unethical as observations are covert and non-consensual, researcher bias from interpretations, hard to prove casualty

Question 18

Interviews
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 18

• trying to identify relationship or pattern through open-ended questions in a conversational environment
• interviews used exploratively to gain holistic insight into people’s subjective thoughts, opinions, feelings, and experiences with a psychological phenomena of the target population via the self-report technique

(qualitative survey)
Pros: holistic and nuanced understandings of psychological phenomenon, flexible and tailored to the interviewee, good for sensitive/personal psychological phenomenon, casual and conversational tone
Cons: limited transferability/generalizability, hard, and time consuming to analyse data, less comparability in data due to unique questions asked to various participants, researcher bias from interpretations, participant bias

Question 19

Unstructured Interviews
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 19

• very open & flexible, as the interviewer has a range of questions which may arise during the interview to probe the participants to elaborate to foster deeper research understandings
• uses self report technique to gain deep insight into a fewer number of people’s experiences with a psychological phenomena
• conversational environment builds rapport between the researcher & ppt through closed and open-ended questions thus good for investigating sensitive phenomenon
• transcribed in order to analyse common patterns and themes

Pros: holistic and nuanced understandings of psychological phenomenon, flexible and tailored to the interviewee, good for sensitive/personal psychological phenomenon, casual and conversational tone
Cons: limited transferability/generalizability, hard, and time consuming to analyse data, less comparability in data due to unique questions asked to various participants, researcher bias from interpretations, participant bias

Question 20

Semi-structured Interviews
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 20

• based on a guide list of potential questions & topics to be discussed, however, flexible for interviewer pursuing new lines of questions which may be informative
• w/ self report technique, gain deeper insight into smaller quantity of ppt. on their experiences w/ research topic
• Conversational environment & builds rapport w/ ppt. good for investigating sensitive/personal phenomenon
• responses are then transcribed in order to analyse common patterns and themes

Pros: holistic and nuanced understandings of psychological phenomenon, flexible and tailored to the interviewee, good for sensitive/personal psychological phenomenon, casual and conversational tone
Cons: limited transferability/generalizability, hard, and time consuming to analyse data, less comparability in data due to unique questions asked to various participants, researcher bias from interpretations, participant bias

Question 21

Focus groups Interviews
2 characteristics Q1(a)

Pros & Cons Q1(c) / Q3

Answer 21

• conducted w/ a small group of ppt. w/ shared characteristics, all undergoing interview at the same time
• this discussion between ppt. may foster new areas of investigation the researcher had not previously considered, as the participants are encouraged to have a conversation with one another rather than to the facilitator
• is a discussion between the ppt. guided by facilitator who directs the conversation towards phenomenon, & initiates the conversation
• allows ppt. to use casual language a unique dynamic thus insights
• uses self-report technique to gain deeper insight into fewer ppt.’s subjective experiences w/ phenomena
• transcribed in order to analyse common patterns and themes

Pros: holistic and nuanced understandings of psychological phenomenon, flexible and tailored to the interviewee, good for sensitive/personal psychological phenomenon, casual and conversational tone, may foster new ideas that hadn’t been considered by researchers
Cons: limited transferability/generalizability, hard, and time consuming to analyse data, less comparability in data due to unique questions asked to various participants, researcher bias from interpretations, participant bias, potential conformity/group dynamics distorting participants answers

Question 22

Additional Research to Quantitative Research Methods Q1(c)

Answer 22

Focus group interviews
- explores participant’s self perception of the phenomenon being investigated in experiment, & facilitator would encourage participants to share their views/experiences of the phenomenon, thus providing more subjective view on the phenomena, allowing the experimental data to be compared to the experimental findings (reductionist) to produce holistic view of the phenomenon which may include insight into aspects of the phenomenon which the researchers had not considered prior, which would be additive experimental data.

Semi-structured interviews
- contribute to the overall/holistic understanding of of phenomenon being experimentally investigated, as they give the participants the possibility to provide in-depth answers to elaborate upon thus in-depth data as the interview can be guided towards in specific relevant points.

Question 23

Additional Research to Qualitative Research Methods Q1(c)

Answer 23

Questionnaire (quantitative survey)
- could be a follow up on the findings from the semi-structured interview (and source of data triangulation), through closed questions to collect quantitative data on participant’s experiences of phenomenon discussed in semi-structured interviews, which as questionnaires are on an inexpensive larger-scale in short periods of time thus would add more data thus reliability into the psychological phenomenon investigated through more quantifiable information based on the holistic context of the semi-structured interviews.

Question 24

importance of ethical considerations?

Answer 24

• replicability of studies
• public support of psychology research
• unethical experiments also set a dangerous precedent for the future treatment of human beings in research
• historical implications of psychology research harming human beings due to persecution & devaluing of certain people
• moral obligation to society
• image of psychology discipline & profession
• practical reasons—to get participants

Question 25

ethical consideration (Dp)

Answer 25

Deception:
- Deception by omission, commission
- Partial deception
- Justified if no other way to investigate aim
- research application form submitted to an ethics committee to ensure the deception is acceptable

If DECEPTION occured:

• ppt. explained justification 4 deception
• ppt. directly informed abt right to withdraw data, as ppt. may not know as they had initially given consent.
• ppt informed how their data will be used
• ppt given researcher contact info 2 safeguard potential psychological harm.

Question 26

ethical consideration (R)

Answer 26

Right to withdraw
- ppt know right withdraw from the study at any time,
- ppt informed of right to withdraw use of their data at any time during debrief
- ppt can contact researchers after study to be able to withdraw data later on
- ppt sent copies of final report before publication to be able to decide whether they want to withdraw
- given the opportunity to check the accuracy of the conclusions made by the researchers about their data before publication.

Question 27

ethical consideration (I)

Answer 27

Informed consent

• giving ppt. consent forms b4 start of the study, which follows ethical guidelines for psychology research, ensuring ppt. agreed to participate
• before study is conducted explicit informed consent is obtained
• consent sheet includes the aims and objectives of the experiment
• & informs participant of rights—right to withdraw, privacy, confidentiality
• underaged ppt. need parental consent forms as ppt. cannot consent completely w/o understanding the implications

Question 28

ethical consideration (P)

Answer 28

Protection from harm
(physical and psychological)
(anxiety, stress, pain or discomfort)

• materials used in a study/experiment are ethically neutral, & not aggravating to participants exposed
• e.g. sensitive issue which could stress participants, & unknown personal relations to stimulus, thus after the study the appropriate measures should be taken to ensure no psychological harm was caused
• participants which show signs of distress after an experiment or interview should be offered psychological support after the study
• If a study (interview) consists of sensitive issues, researchers should inform the participants beforehand to protect them, and also give them the right to privacy by refusing to answering personal questions which may be distressing and invasive
• Incentives (e.g. course credit) to recruit participants for a study coerce participation those that do not which to participant should not be disadvantaged, instead offered a comparable alternative to receive the same credits.

Question 29

ethical consideration (C)

Answer 29

Confidentiality/Anonymity

• Confidentiality & anonymity ensured before, and after experiment
• ensuring ppt. data/results cannot be connected to their identity
• not naming ppt. in final report
• researchers must store ppt. data in secure manner to prevent data being connected to ppt.
• researchers need to explain how & when the ppt. data will be destroyed
• difficulty for interviews & focus groups if ppt. interact w/ each other & researchers may personally know ppt. since smaller no. ppt
• mitigated by giving ppt. pseudonyms in final report & during focus group interviews
• difficult during experiment w/ ppt. in proxmitiy
• thus to ensure ppt. must be experimented individually
  (contextual if the ppt. data less personally relevant, & difficult to identify ppt. from data maybe less important)

Question 30

ethical consideration (Db)

Answer 30

Debriefing includes:
- fully informed abt ex. after
- how ppt. data will be used
- ensures ppt. same psych. condition prior 2 study
- informed rights to withdraw data
- ways to contact researchers to ask questions and their data

Question 31

Factors Influencing the Generalisability of Quantitative Research Findings:

Answer 31

• importance of generalisability
• strengths & limitations inherent to research method on generalizability
• sign posting

generalisation definition - extent to which conclusions from findings of a study can be applied to the real-world (external validity).

The possibility of generalizing findings include: (SERVOS)

Sample Representativeness
- Sample Size (50+ samples have more reliable results as less affected by outliers)
- Sampling Method (random samples more representative of target population)
- Diversity of the Sample (a wide range of demographic factors is more likely to reflect general population)

External Validity
- Ecological Validity (higher means study better resembles real-world settings)
- Population Validity (degree to which sample population represents target population)

Reliability and Validity of Measures
- Reliability (consistency /replicability of study’s results)
- Internal Validity (accurate measurement of DV, and control of confounding variables)

Operationalization of Variables
- How variables are defined and measured (operationalized)
- unusual measures makes results harder to generalize to studies using different measures of the same concept.

Statistical Power and Effect Size
- larger effect demonstrated in results have higher statistical power thus are more likely to be generalisable

Question 32

Factors Influencing the Transferability of Qualitative Research Findings:

Answer 32

• importance of transferability
• strengths & limitations inherent to research method on transferability
• sign posting

transferability definition - extent to which conclusions from findings of a study can be applied to other, more-specific contexts which the research is based off

The possibility of transferability findings include: (DiVReT)

Depth of Contextual Information:
- detailed understandings of the participants contexts will allow better assessment on whether results can be transferred to another context depending on similarity

Validity
- lack of biases (self-reporting, researcher) (authenticity of participant data)
- validity (data triangulation / multiple sources of data to confirm findings to increase credibility)
- replication/congruency of results
- statistical significance (effect size & sample size)
- Sample of those with insights relevant to aim of study strengthens transferability
- Diversity of Sample w/ range of perspectives covered in the findings, enhancing transferability to similar but varied contexts
- Sample size

Reflexivity
- Researchers’ acknowledgment of their own biases and perspectives (reflexivity) contributes to transparency and helps understanding degree to which findings may be transferable
- describing the data collection & analysis process in detail providings information about how the findings of study emerged, which allows the validity of the study to be evaluated and the ability of the study to be transferred to be evaluated

Theoretical generalization
- qualitative findings may provide conceptual insights that can offer a framework that can be transferred to other studies and contexts
- If findings address ubiquitous experiences, results are more likely to transfer to different settings, even if the specific details differ.

Question 33

Factors Influencing/Ensuring the Credibility of Research Findings:

Answer 33

• importance of credibility
• strengths & limitations inherent to research method in achieving credibility
• sign posting

credibility definition - degree to which conclusions of a study accurately reflect psychological phenomenon being researched

QN
Credibility is important in ensuring the internal validity

QL
Credibility is important for establishing trustworthiness

affected by:
- same factors as transferability/generalisability AND biases

Researcher bias
- mitigated QL by data triangulation, data collection & analysis transparency, reflexivity, ppt. reviewing study b4 publishing
- mitigated QN by statistical validity tests, double blind procedures

Demand characteristics (QN)
- mitigated by double blind procedures as participants cannot guess

Ensured By
- inter-rater reliability test (other researchers evaluating data)
- reliability / replicability of results
- better samples
- elimnation/minimisation of bias
- internal validity (controlled variables)
- test re-test reliabilty (QN) (re-tested at later date)
- Reflexivity (QN) researchers’ examining biases to better interpret data. (e.g., keeping a journal, discussing biases)
- Researcher documenting the research process; collection, analysis; interpretation of data allows examination of whether researcher bias occurred.

Question 34

Ways to Avoid Bias

Answer 34

• importance of avoiding bias
• strengths & limitations inherent to research method in containing biases
• sign posting

biases can distort results, leading to incorrect conclusions and greater invalidity thus reducing the credibility and possibility of extrapolating results
(RISP)

Researcher Bias
- researcher reflexivity for qualitative studies helps reduce researcher interpretation bias
- reflexive journals to reflect on and acknowledge their own biases, by writing out why each step in the study was taken to allow more objective data analysis
- pilot studies & pretesting questionnaires allows researchers to identify areas of bias before full-scale studies (e.g. identifying leading questions from researchers)
- also allows confounding variables to be identified to be prepared to control these in the full-scale test
- effective operationalisation of variables which avoids ambiguity that could introduce researcher bias in data analysis. Also uses valid & reliable methods to measure DV making results accurate (higher internal validity)

Interpretation Biases
- double-blind design (neither participants nor researchers know who is in control vs experimental group) reducing participant and researcher bias
- independent researchers also conducting data analysis that are unaware of hypothesis thus less likely to be influenced by confirmation bias
- reliability checks (e.g. test-retest reliability where participant is retested after some time) & (inter-rater reliability) prevents biased data interpretation

Participant Bias
- randomisation of participant assignment to groups
- minimising demand characteristics with ethical deception at discretion of ethical committees
- self-reporting bias can be mitigated through increasing sample size

Sampling Bias
- increasing sample size makes results more reliable thus less prone to outliers from demand characteristics
- diverse sample size avoids gender/cultural bias
- random sample is more representative preventing selection bias

Question 35

self report data leads to…
(e.g. interviews, questionnaires)

Answer 35

demand characteristics as people become more aware of what the researchers are studying