Research Methods

Question 1

Human Research:

What is observational research

Answer 1

watching or listnening for what people do

Question 2

Human Research:

Advantage of observational research

Answer 2

Observations give different takes on human behaviour that other research methods like self reports.
- What people say vs what people do may be different

Question 3

Human Research:

Disadvantage of observational research

Answer 3

Mya be subject to observer bias
- researchers expectations, opinion or prejudice may influence what they record

Question 4

Human Research:

How is qualitative data gathered

Answer 4

where the observer records everything

Question 5

Human Research:

advantage of using qualitative in observations

Answer 5

It’s a first step into creating a structured quanlitative system.
- Later thematic analysis can be used to create behavioural catagories

Question 6

Human Research:

disadvantage of using qualitative data in observations

Answer 6

Behaviours recorded may be the most visible and eye-catching and not necessarily the most relevant.

Question 7

Human Research:

What is a method that can gather quantitative data

Answer 7

Behavioural catagories

Question 8

Human Research:

Wat are behavioural catagories

adv and disav

Answer 8

behaviours are counted and put into catagories

adv - systematic observation can be made so important behaviours aren’t overlooked (+ validity)

disav - catagories may not cover all possibilities, so some behaviours isn’t recorded (- validity)

Question 9

Human Research:

What are the 2 ways in which behaviour catagories can gather data

Answer 9

event sampling

time sampling

Question 10

Human Research:

Event sampling, what is it?

adv and disav

Answer 10

Draw list of behavours then tally how many times they appear in a given time period

adv: useful when behaviour only occurs occasionally

disav: may not be representative if list is not comprehensive

Question 11

Human Research:

What is time sampling

adv and disav

Answer 11

Recording behaviours at regular intervals (like every 2 minutes), or take a sample at different times of day

adv: allows tracking of time related changes to behaviour

disav: - validity as some behaviours may be missed out if they occur outside the time interval

Question 12

Observation

Participant observation

Advantages and disadvantages

Answer 12

Observer is a participant in the behaviour being observed, for example being in a bus stop queue and observing behaviour in that queue

+ PArticipnat has greater familiarity on what is likely to happen and therefore has a greater insight on behaviour

• Objectivity is reduced due to observer bias. Observer is familiar with what is going on they observe more subjectively

Question 13

Observation

Non-participant observation

Advantages and disadvantages

Answer 13

Observer is not a participant in behaviour being observed

+ Can observe unobstrusibely so participants may be less self-conscious about being observed. Increases validity

• Communications within groups may be misinterpreted communications reducing validity

Question 14

Observation

Structured observation

Advantages and disadvantages

Answer 14

Some variables cahnged by researcher

+ Controlled environment allows focus on paticular areas of behaviour, allowing behvaiour specific conclusions to be drawn

• Environment may be unnatural so participants may not be acting normally. Lacks ecological validity

Question 15

Observation

Naturalistic observation

Advantages and disadvantages

Answer 15

Environment is unstructured but may use structered techniques like behaviour chatagories

+ High in ecological validity as the environment is realistic so it enables participants to act normally

• Difficult to draw conclusions if the focus is too wide and if behavioural chatagories have been used may restrict amount of patterns spotted

Question 16

Observation

Overt observation

Advantages and disadvantages

Answer 16

Participants are aware they are being observed

+ Easier to see everything going on as observer doesn’t have to hide

• participants more likely to exhibit demand characteristics

Question 17

Observation

Covert observation

Advantages and disadvantages

Answer 17

Observations made without participants knowledge

+ Participants behave more naturally as they are unaware they are being observed

• Raises ethical issues as participants are being observed without giving formal consent

Question 18

Animal research

What is the purpose of using animals in research

Answer 18

It’s an alternative of using humans in experiments as some animals like mice are 99% genetically similar to men

Question 19

Animal research

What is an example of ethical animal research in psychology

Answer 19

Pavlov’s dog salivation study. Small operation was performed so Pavlov could extract saliva. Caused little harm and pain to the dogs

Question 20

Animal research

Example of unethical study on animals

Answer 20

Skinners box - used rats and pigeons in his experiments on operant conditioning in a box that contained electrified floors that would shock the animals to punish behaviour

Question 21

Animal research

what is an arguement for the use of animals in research

Answer 21

Behaviourists argue that conditioning process is the same in all animals, so we can conduct experiments with animals and generalise them into humans.

Question 22

Animal research

What is an arguement against the use of animals in laboratory experiments

Answer 22

WHen studying complex behaviours, like addiction, it’s not wise to generalise the results to humans as human behaviour is more controlled by cognitive processes