practicals Flashcards
what was the aim of your criminological psychology practical?
we designed a correlational investigation to measure, specifically: neuroticism, as part of eysenck’s theory of personality and to determine whether high neuroticism scores correlate with positive attitudes towards anti-social behaviour.
what was the research design of your criminological practical?
a correlational design to measure whether there is a positive correlation between those with high scores in neuroticism and attitudes towards anti-social behaviour.
what was the sample used in your criminological psychology practical?
our target population was 16-18 year olds, both male and female. we recruited PP’s via an opportunity sample where each of us (4 of us) recruited 4 PP’s each.
- as part of our sample, we avoided psychology students because we thought it may affect the validity of our research, as they may hold potential bias.
briefly describe the procedure of your criminological psychology practical
1) our first step was to obtain a sample of PP’s. we recruited our PP’s via an opportunity sample, where we approached individual’s and ensured that we adhered to our script. this included lightly debriefing our PP’s to avoid any ethical or distress that may arise if they took part.
- we also clarified the definition of anti-social behaviour, in case the PP’s were unclear. this ensured that they were well-informed and this increases the validity of our research because their answers are more likely to be accurate.
2) then, we handed a physical (paper) copy of our questionnaire which was composed of two measures.
(1) neuroticism personality questionnaire
(2) attitudes towards ASB
3) we ensured to give the questionnaire’s to our PP’s in a controlled, undisturbed setting. we, as researchers, left the room too in order for them to feel comfortable and non-pressurised.
- allowing our PP’s to complete the questionnaire themselves, reduces the risk of them presenting demand characteristics or social desirablity bias.
4) after the PP had completed the questionnaire, we reassured them by completely debriefing them and informing them that their information/data will remain confidential and private.
(AO3) evaluate your practical in criminological psychology
(S) standardised procedure/controlled environment one strength of our practical was how we kept the conditions controlled and adhered to a standardised procedure. we aimed to investigate if there was a correlation between neuroticism scores and attitudes towards ASB. we allowed the PP’s to complete the questionnaire alone in a controlled setting (a classroom) to prevent the risk of social desirability bias. furthermore, we adhered to a script throughout our investigation to reduce the risk of researcher bias, since there was four of us conducting the research.
(S) ethical guidelines another strength of our criminological practical was our adherence to the BPS guidelines and code of ethical conduct. We followed a script in order to clearly debrief the PP’s at the end of the investigation to reduce harm or distress, this maintained the principle of responsibility that we as researchers have when conducted an investigation. furthermore, we maintained the BPS guidelines of integrity and respect as we reassured PP’s that their data from the questionnaire will remain anonymous. this protects their privacy.
(W) generalisability while we set out a sample of male and female PP’s to form our target population, we only asked 1 male PP to take part in our investigation. this is a weakness because our findings are difficult to generalise to the wider population. we investigated 15 female PP’s and only 1 male; therefore, our findings cannot be generalised to the male population. This is a problem because it reduces the external validity of our research and our correlational findings may not be applied to males between the ages of 16-18.
what was the aim of your clinical psychology practical?
what was the research design of your clinical practical?
a content analysis which is a method used to analyse qualitative data (non-numerical data) and to establish patterns, which could be construed into quantitative data (numerical data).
what was the rationale of the content analysis in your clinical psychology practical?
we expected to find more stigmatising attitudes and words in older articles because mental health/illness was less informed at the time. for example, in the ‘nursing times’, as part of our literature review we discovered an article about a man with bipolar disorder and he was described as being ‘zombified’ and having ‘erratic behaviour’. this was significantly contrasted with the newer articles, like one we found in 2023 of a woman with bipolar disorder where the focus was more encouraging and educational. it repeatedly referred to her name ‘rosie’ which suggested respect towards her. this contrast in time and attitudes highlights the change in stigmatising attitudes towards mental health.
what was the research question for your clinical psychology practical?
How has mental health stigmatisation and attitudes changed over time (2000s-2020)?
how did you collect the data for your literature review in your clinical practical?
