Practical Issues in Research

Question 1

List the main things that practical issues are most concerned with.

Answer 1

• Methodology
• Sampling
• Variables

Question 2

What practical issues may rise in methodology?

Answer 2

• Have the money and resources to carry out the procedure
• Deciding on the right method for the topic being studied
• Having the competency for research the particular topic
• Deciding on whether to use a control group and how many it should be
• Access to the appropriate data collection tools may be limited

Question 3

What practical issues may rise in sampling?

Answer 3

• Some ppts may be more easily found than others
• May be time consuming and expensive to gather an appropriate sample
• Sample may not be representative and bias free

Question 4

What practical issues may rise in variables?

Answer 4

• Deciding on how to measure variables can be difficult
• Operationalising variables can also be difficult
• Making sure there is a cause and effect relationship between variables through minimising EVs can be time consuming and costly
• The data being gathered must be available and be able to be gathered

Question 5

What is the main topic of study in Cognitive Psychology?

Answer 5

Memory

Question 6

Identify the practical issue of studying memory.

Answer 6

It is an abstract concept that can’t be seen and so is hard to measure and study effectively.

Question 7

Identify 3 areas of Cognitive Psychology that may experience practical issues.

Answer 7

1) Lab experiments
2) Case studies
3) Baddeley (1966)

Question 8

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how lab experiments in Cognitive Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 8

G - Low practical issues in representing due to memory being considered universal
R - Low practical issues due to standardised procedures meaning there are easy to replicate
V - Low practical issues due to control over EVs means cause and effect can be established
V - High practical issues in ensuring variables are controlled as may cost time and money
V - High practical issues with ecological validity as doesn’t take place in natural setting so memory won’t reflect that of real life

Question 9

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how case studies in Cognitive Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 9

G - High practical issues as brain damaged patients can’t represent memory of wider population of those without brain damage and are harder to find due to being unique
R - Low practical issues due to brain scanning techniques that can be compared quickly and easily due to objectivity
R - High practical issues due to being unethical to replicate situations that impaired people’s memories due to the circumstances it occurred under (e.g. brain damage)
V - High practical issues due to the rich in-depth detail gathered being harder to analyse
V - High practical issues with task validity as things like recalling word lists in order doesn’t reflect how memory is used in real life

Question 10

Using the acronym ‘GRAVE’, describe how Baddeley’s (1966) study may experience practical issues.

Answer 10

G - Low practical issues in representing due to memory being considered universal
R - Low practical issues due to using standardised procedure that can be easily replicated to test for consistency
R - Low practical issues due to using quantitative data that is easy to measure and takes less time to analyse and compare
A - Useful to society due to finding that the STM encodes acoustically and the LTM encodes semantically which helps students when revising to make semantic not acoustic links
V - High practical issues due to control over EVs as in lab based conditions allowing to establish cause and effect costing time and money
V - High practical issues with task as ppts had to recall a list of 10 words that doesn’t reflect memory in real life

Question 11

What are the main topics of study in Social Psychology?

Answer 11

Obedience and prejudice.

Question 12

Identify the practical issue of studying obedience and prejudice.

Answer 12

They are abstract concepts that can’t be seen and so is hard to measure and study effectively.

Question 13

Identify 3 areas of Social Psychology that may experience practical issues.

Answer 13

1) Lab experiments
2) Questionnaires
3) Sherif (1954)

Question 14

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how lab experiments in Social Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 14

G - High practical issues due to volunteers sharing characteristics that makes it hard to represent the wider population
R - Low practical issues due to standardised procedures meaning there are limited practical issues in replication
V - High practical issues as control over EVs means cause and effect to establish something affecting obedience or prejudice costing time and money
V - High practical issues with ecological validity as doesn’t take place in natural setting so obedience/prejudice won’t reflect the same behaviour in real life
V - High practical issues with task validity as in Milgram’s experiment obedience was operationalised as administering an increase in shock voltage
E - High practical issues due to being unethical as experiments into obedience and prejudice can cause psychological distress (e.g. Milgram) in which time and money would have to be used to follow up ppts

Question 15

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how questionnaires in Social Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 15

G - High practical issues due to low response rate with those who do respond sharing traits that wouldn’t represent wider population
R - Low practical issues due to mainly using quantitative data that can be easily analysed and compared quickly
R - High practical issues in replicating the questionnaires on a mass scale and distributing them to test for consistency
V - High practical issues due to self-report open to many biases such as social desirability and acquiescence
V - High practical issues due to using some open questions that take longer to compare and analyse with subjectivity in analysis

Question 16

Using the acronym ‘GRAVE’, describe how Sherif’s (1954) study may experience practical issues.

Answer 16

G - High practical issues due to using 22 11 year old boys from Oklahoma that can’t be generalised to girls or other countries
R - Low practical issues due to using standardised procedure that can be easily replicated to test for consistency
A - Results were useful to society due to finding that prejudice can be removed/reduced through superordinate goals
V - Low practical issues due to being field experiment that is natural to the ppts and so their behaviour will reflect that of what it would be in real life
V - High practical issues due to the boys being matched on IQ and sporting ability which removes ppt variables and so will have taken time to do
V - High practical issues due to the study only lasting 2 weeks and so prejudice doesn’t reflect the complexity in real life
V - High practical issues due to being field experiment with limited control over EVs and so cause and effect cannot be established

Question 17

What are the main topics of study in Learning Psychology?

Answer 17

Aggression and phobias.

Question 18

Identify the practical issue of studying aggression and phobias.

Answer 18

They are abstract concepts that can’t be seen and so is hard to measure and study effectively.

Question 19

Identify 4 areas of Learning Psychology that may experience practical issues.

Answer 19

1) Lab experiments
2) Animal research
3) Observations
4) Watson and Rayner (1920)

Question 20

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how lab experiments in Learning Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 20

G - High practical issues due to volunteers sharing characteristics that makes it hard to represent the wider population
R - Low practical issues due to using standardised procedure that can be easily replicated to test for consistency
V - High practical issues due to control over variables which allowing us to establish cause and effect over something affecting learning of behaviours costing time and money
V - High practical issues with ecological validity due to an artificial environment that is unnatural to the ppt and so their behaviour of learning aggression or phobias would not reflect real life

Question 21

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how animal research in Learning Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 21

G - High practical issues due to the qualitative differences in behaviour between animals and humans as humans’ lives are more complex
G - High practical issues due to gaining the right amount and species of animal being difficult and causing small sample size with restrictions from the Home Office
R - Low practical issues due to animals having faster breeding cycles and so replication is easier and quicker
R - Low practical issues due to animals being easier to control and so standardised procedures and controlling variables will take less time and cost less
V - Low practical issues due to animals being less likely to show DCs as they will be unable to guess the aims of research
V - High practical issues as it is open to researcher bias when they are interpreting the behaviours of animals as they can’t communicate effectively

Question 22

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how observations in Learning Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 22

G - High practical issues due to mainly being opportunity samples who share similar traits that make them there together at the same time
G - High practical issues sample size in covert observation when ppts are debriefed and may drop out
R - Low practical issues due to structured observations following a procedure which involves recording data when something specific happens
V - Low practical issues with ecological validity for observations due to taking place in a setting familiar to the ppt and so their behaviour of aggression will reflect real life
V - High practical issues for naturalistic due to no control over EVs limiting a cause and effect relationship being established between something and aggression
E - High practical issues due to being unethical as covert observations deceive ppts involved and so time will be spent gaining their consent in a debrief afterwards

Question 23

Using the acronym ‘GRAVE’, describe how Watson and Rayner’s (1920) study may experience practical issues.

Answer 23

G - High practical issues due to using a single ppt of a 9 month old baby from America which cannot be generalised to other countries, genders, or ages
R - Low practical issues due to standardised procedures meaning there are limited practical issues in replication
R - Low practical issues as inter-rater reduces bias of interpreting behaviours making more objective
A - Results were useful to society as helped develop therapies (e.g. flooding) based on classical conditioning to remove phobias through association
V - High practical issues due to no control group meaning they can’t establish cause and effect between the loud noise causing a phobia as it may instead be down to repeated exposure
V - High practical issues with ecological validity due to taking place in a setting unfamiliar to Albert who was used to hospital rooms and so his behaviour would not reflect that of real life
E - High practical issues due to being unethical as it caused Albert a lot of stress and breaking many ethical guidelines that would stop the study being replicated today

Question 24

What is the main topic of study in Biological Psychology?

Answer 24

Aggression

Question 25

Identify the practical issue of studying aggression.

Answer 25

It is an abstract concept that can’t be seen and so is hard to measure and study effectively.

Question 26

Identify 4 areas of Biological Psychology that may experience practical issues.

Answer 26

1) Scanning techniques
2) Twin and adoption studies
3) Correlational research
4) Raine (1997)

Question 27

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how scanning techniques in Biological Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 27

G - High practical issues due to being expensive and so only a small sample will be gained
R - Low practical issues due to being objective in the image produced that allows multiple research to analyse and can be compared easily
V - High practical issues due to being a lab based environment that has high control over all variables allowing to establish cause and effect between something and brain activity which would cost time and money
V - High practical issues ecological as lab settings are artificial and unnatural to the ppt and so their brain activity won’t reflect that of real life
V - High practical issues with task (e.g. continuous performance task of spotting a target) to access brain activity linked to aggression as may be testing the reaction not aggression itself

Question 28

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how twin and adoption studies in Biological Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 28

G - High practical issues due to twins experiencing a very different upbringing to the rest of the population who are either the only child or having a younger/older sibling
R - Low practical issues due to using scientific methods such as DNA sequencing which provides objective quant data which is easier to analyse and compare
R - High practical issues due to one twin of an MZ pair being exposed to different environmental triggers for one gene so harder to compare
R - High practical issues for adoption studies due to having no control over EVs of why they were adopted or either upbringing, making it harder to compare
V - Low practical issues due to no research bias in measuring/operationalisation of the variables as twins are naturally occurring

Question 29

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how correlations in Biological Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 29

R - Low practical issues due to using quantitative data with the expression of correlations on a graph that can be compared and analysed quickly and easily
V - High practical issues due to not being able to establish cause and effect between the variables due to lack of manipulation
V - High practical issues due to using self-report methods in questionnaires which are open to biases such as social desirability and acquiescence bias

Question 30

Using the acronym ‘GRAVE’, describe how Raine’s (1997) study may experience practical issues.

Answer 30

G - High practical issues due to a sample of 41 non-murderers and 41 murderers pleading NGRI which are a narrow group of people with certain traits that won’t represent murderers not pleading NGRI
R - Low practical issues due to using PET scans which can be analysed and compared easily and objectively by multiple researchers - however high due to expense
R - Low practical issues due to a standardised procedure of a 32 min CPT that can be easily and accurately replicated
A - Results were useful to society in understanding that criminals pleading NGRI may not be fully accountable due to the difference in their brain
V - Low practical issues as ppts stopped taking their medication for 2 weeks prior meaning their brain activity would be at normal functioning allowing to establish cause and effect
V - High practical issues with task due to the CPT involving spotting targets for 32 mins to test activity in areas of the brain associated with violence however task had no violence in them to activate those areas

Question 31

What are the main topics of study in Criminal Psychology?

Answer 31

Reasons for criminality and reliability of memory.

Question 32

Identify the practical issue of studying reasons for criminality and reliability of memory.

Answer 32

There are many reasons for criminality and memory is an abstract concept that can’t be seen and so is hard to measure and study effectively.

Question 33

Identify 4 areas of Criminal Psychology that may experience practical issues.

Answer 33

1) Lab experiments into EWT and Juries
2) Field experiments into EWT
3) Case studies
4) Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Question 34

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how lab experiments in Criminal Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 34

G - High practical issues due to mainly being volunteers for labs which wouldn’t represent a group of witnesses who happen to be there are the time
R - Low practical issues due to using standardised procedure that can be easily replicated to test for consistency
R - High practical issues due to not being able to accurately replicate some jury cases such as high profile ones
V - High practical issues due to it being hard to measure stress and attention during a crime
V - High practical issues with ecological validity due to the crime being staged and in controlled conditions (often watched as a video) which doesn’t reflect the environment of when a real crime takes place meaning stress and attention will differ
V - High practical issues with task due to mainly being a video of a crime which doesn’t reflect the realism of one taking place in a surrounding that the person is in themselves
V - High practical issues for replication of juries as they will not be fully invested in the case due to knowing it isn’t real so they will feel less pressure when convicting

Question 35

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how field experiments in Criminal Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 35

G - Low practical issues due to mainly being opportunity samples which are more representative of the witnesses of an actual crime who happen to be there at the same time
R - High practical issues due to having less control over EVs and so it would be harder to replicate to test for consistency
R - High practical issues due to it being hard to stage an accurate crime outside lab conditions whereby variables cannot be controlled as easily
V - Low practical issues with ecological validity due to taking place in a setting in which the witness is also in and familiar with and so their stress and attention will be more natural
V - Low practical issues as if witnesses are unaware of the study due to it being field then there will be no DCs and so their stress and attention levels will reflect real life

Question 36

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how case studies in Criminal Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 36

G - High practical issues due to being about criminal profiling in which they study one ppt and the uniqueness of their case and so cannot represent other criminal behaviour
R - Low practical issues due to using methods such as psychometric testing and brain scanning which provides quantitative data that is objective and scientific and easily compared
R - High practical issues due to the complexity of methods used for different individuals based on the differences in their crimes and so cannot accurately compare to others
V - High practical issues due to gathering rich in-depth detail about the criminal and why they carried out the crime which provides understanding but is harder to analyse and compare
V - High practical issues due to assessing motives and behaviour of the criminal being down to interpretation that can experience bias from the researchers own experience
E - High practical issues due to being unethical to reproduce the situations that caused a criminal to offend as it may be due to things like brain damage

Question 37

Using the acronym ‘GRAVE’, describe how Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study may experience practical issues.

Answer 37

G - High practical issues due to using 45 American students who were around the same age which isn’t representative of a wider population
R - Low practical issues due to using standardised procedure that can be easily replicated to test for consistency
R - Low practical issues due to gathering quantitative data (e.g. estimate of car speed in mph) which easy to analyse and compare quickly
A - Useful to society due to finding that leading questions can alter accuracy of memory and so police interviewing has changed to avoid this
V - High practical issues due to the control over variables as a result of being a lab experiment meaning cause and effect between the leading question and memory accuracy can be established
V - High practical issues with ecological validity due to taking place in an artificial, lab based environment which would be unfamiliar to ppts and so their behaviour of stress and attention would not reflect that of real life
V - High practical issues with task due to watching a clip of a accident which doesn’t accurately reflect the stress and attention someone would feel if they were seeing it in real life and so their behaviour would not reflect real life

Question 38

What is the main topic of study in Clinical Psychology?

Answer 38

Mental health.

Question 39

Identify the practical issue of studying mental health.

Answer 39

It is an abstract concept that can’t be seen and so is hard to measure and study effectively.

Question 40

Identify 4 areas of Clinical Psychology that may experience practical issues.

Answer 40

1) Case studies
2) Longitudinal studies
3) Cross-cultural studies
4) Rosenhan (1973)

Question 41

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how case studies in Clinical Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 41

G - High practical issues due to being a unique person with unique symptoms of mental illness and situations and so cannot represent those with the same disorder
R - Low practical issues as some methods used (e.g. psychometric testing and the GAF scale when diagnosing) uses quantitative data that can be compared easily on their own to other people with the same disorder
R - High practical issues due to the complex method of different tests and data gathered meaning it cannot be compared to other patients easily
V - High practical issues due to gathering rich in-depth detail about the symptoms and situation of the person with a certain disorder allowing a deeper understanding of it which takes more time to analyse
V - High practical issues due to diagnosis of patients involving unstructured interviews that often provide mainly qualitative data that is open to subjectivity and bias when being interpreted
E - High practical issues due to being unethical as ppts are vulnerable people and so they may feel obligated to partake in the study or may experience distress during intense evaluation

Question 42

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how longitudinal studies in Clinical Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 42

G - High practical issues due to chance of high drop out rate during the course of the study and so smaller sample is harder to represent
R - High practical issues due to the complexity of the study and its need for adaptability in changing situations making it harder to replicate same conditions to test for consistency
V - Low practical issues due to the cohort effect being controlled for due to changing factors as the study progresses making their shared identities different overtime
V - High practical issues due to the qualitative data gathered providing rich in-depth detail on the circumstances of the mental illness and its progression overtime meaning it takes more time to analyse
E - High practical issues due to being unethical as the invasion of privacy of the vulnerable patients which may cause them to drop out

Question 43

Using the acronym ‘GRVE’, describe how cross-cultural studies in Clinical Psychology may experience practical issues.

Answer 43

G - Low practical issues due to representing other cultures and how a mental illness may vary as a result
G - High practical issues due to practical issues causing smaller sample as can’t represent every country
R - High practical issues due to miscommunication issues in different countries causing inconsistencies in data gathered
R - High practical issues due to non-standardised procedures as they may have to change to accommodate the different cultures of different countries
V - Low practical issues due to encouraging the researcher to be mindful of other cultures which would reduce subjectivity in the interpretation of their behaviours
V - High practical issues due to there still be an element of researcher bias as it is difficult to not compare their own culture to the ones being studied when considering what is ‘normal’

Question 44

Using the acronym ‘GRAVE’, describe how Rosenhan’s (1973) study may experience practical issues.

Answer 44

G - Low practical issues due to using a range of types of institutions such as old and new, higher staff ratios to lower ones, underfunded, etc.
G - High practical issues due to only using 12 institutions from America which is ethnocentric and so cannot represent other countries
R - Low practical issues due to a standardised procedure of all patients instructed to describe the symptom of hearing “thud” and recording data for a structure observation of things like how many times the nurse interacted with a patient meaning the study can be accurately replicated
R - Lowe practical issues due to gathering quantitative data from how many times the nurses and psychiatrists interacted with patients, etc which is easy to analyse and compare
A - Useful to society due to highlighting the poor conditions of institutions, the over-medication of patients instead of finding other ways to treat disorders and the improvement of diagnosis methods
V - Low practical issues with ecological validity as staff were assessed in a familiar environment and were unaware of the study so their behaviour would be free of DCs and reflect real life
E - High practical issues as lawyers were on hand to remove any records of them having a mental illness which would have been expensive