Research Methods Flashcards
What is quantitative research?
Study of relationships between variables
Expressed numerically through statistical learning.
Systematic and scientific, trying to predict variables.
What is qualitative research?
Based on interpretation of qualitative data, seeking to understand human experience in depth.
Behaviour is complicated so seeks to understand richness in thought and feeling.
Discuss approaches to social psychological research
Qualitative, quantitative or mixed
Researchers would usually only use one but a mixed approach can be used
Describe the stages in quantitative research
- research question (usually derived from theory)
- theory (theory should allow testable hypotheses to be formed)
- hypothesis
- method (correlational or experimental, depends on nature of hypothesis)
Discuss correlational research including advantages and disadvantages
Designed to measure the association between variables not manipulated by the researcher- is merely an observation of whether variables are related
Benefits:
Can study naturally occurring variables which may be difficult/unethical to manipulate
May use existing data
Development of hypotheses to guide research
Develop highly accurate predictions
However:
Correlation doesn’t mean causation Data shouldn’t be overinterpreted
Correlation of 0 doesn’t mean no correlation exists (eg. when there is a curve in the data) so need to plot data
Approach not appropriate for non-linear cases
Discuss possible explanations for correlations
Correlation doesn’t mean causation
There may be a relationship between two variables
Third variable problem where third factor which mediates relationship and not a direct association
Discuss experimental research
Can demonstrate causal relationships Experimenter can manipulate one variable and hold others constant
Random assignment to conditions acts as an equaliser
Discuss field research
Greater ecological validity as real world experience
More difficult to draw conclusions as more uncontrolled
Best to use a mix of lab and field research and collaborate these
Discuss survey research
Asks questions about attitudes, beliefs and behaviour
Can be written questionnaires or structured interviews and collection may vary (eg. phone etc.)
Margin of error looks at the amount of sampling error in a survey’s results
Advantages:
Can sample small groups or large national populations
It would be unethical/ impossible to observe/ manipulate some variables directly
Disadvantages:
The way questions are asked can influence answers
Discuss sampling in survey research
Population = total number of individuals in a specific group
Sampling should be random (within a population each individual has an equal change of being selected), increasing representation
Convenience/opportunity sampling = recruit from individuals on hand = can lead to a bias with too many/too few of a certain individual = proportions skewed from population as a whole
What is a margin of error?
A statistical measure of the amount of random sampling error in a survey’s results
Eg. a margin of error of 3% means the survey’s results could be 3% higher or 3% lower than the average response and averages are accu
Within a margin of error, responses are acccurate 95% of the time
The larger the sample, the smaller the margin of error
Discuss key characteristics of qualitative approaches
Wants to capture rich individual experience (is idiographic)
Rejects positivism (eg. no hypotheses)
Accepts postmodern sensibility (characterised by subjectivity/ many versions of reality)
Data analysis = grounded theory, discourse analysis, interpretive phenomenological analysis
Advantages:
Focused on emerging theory and concepts
Openness to new or novel findings
Research strategies relatively unstructured
Disadvantages:
Researcher may influence participants
Not generalisable beyond the small sample
