Psyco 212- 3.2 Research Designs

Question 1

Descriptive Research, pros n cons.

Answer 1

Research designed to provide snapshot of current affairs.
+ complete picture of what’s occurring
-does not assess relationships among variables. May be unethical if participants don’t know their observed.

Question 2

Correlational Research, pros n cons

Answer 2

Research designed to assess relationships among two or more variables.
+ can assess relationships in everyday life. Allows testing of expected relationships between & among variables and making predictions.
- cannot draw inferences about causal relationships among variables.

Question 3

Experimental Research

Answer 3

Assess the causal impact of one or more experimental manipulations on a dependent variable.
+ draw conclusions about causal relationships among variables
-cannot experimentally manipulate important variables. May be expensive & time consuming.

Question 4

Case studies

Answer 4

Descriptive records of one or more individuals experiences and behaviour.

Question 5

Survey

Answer 5

Measure administered through either an interview or written questionnaire to get a picture of beliefs or behaviours of a sample of ppl of interest.

Question 6

Naturalistic observation

Answer 6

Research based on observation of everyday events.

Question 7

Common Causal Relationship

Answer 7

Variable that is not part of the research hypothesis but that causes both the predictor and outcome variable and thus produces the observed correlation between them.

Question 8

Spurious Relationship

Answer 8

Relationship between two variables in which a common-causal variable produces and “explains away” the relationship.