Research Methods Flashcards
What is observer bias?
-When an observers reports are biased by what they expect to see
What is inter observer reliability?
-When many researchers conduct the observational study and the results are compared
-This eliminates observer bias
What can be used to minimised observer bias?
-Inter-observer reliability
What are the observational designs?
-Structured (split into time sampling and event sampling)
-Unstructured
What is the structured observational design?
-Structured design is when researchers quantify what they observe using predetermined lists of behaviours (behavioural categories) and record if this behaviour is done
What is the strengths and weaknesses of the structured observational design?
-Strengths; Easier to measure as is more systematic and objective. Quantitive data is easy to analyse, graph and compare with other data. There also is less risk of observer bias
-Weaknesses; not much depth of detail, e.g missing information important to the result of the study. Difficult to achieve high inter-observer reliability as the predetermined lists are subjective e.g. does a half smile count as a smile?
What is the unstructured observational design?
Researchers are continuously recording writing everything they see during the observation
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the unstructured observational design?
-Strengths; More richness and depth of detail
-Weaknesses; Qualitative data is hard to record and analyse and can be highly subjective when operationalising. Also higher chance for observer bias
What are behavioural categories in structured observation?
-This is when target behaviours which are being observed are broken up into more precise components which are observable and measurable (quantifiable)
What are the sampling methods used during the structured observational design?
-Time sampling
-Event sampling
What is time sampling?
-This is the recording of a behaviour within a timeframe that is pre-established (could be at intervals)
What are the strengths and weaknesses of time sampling?
-Strengths: Less time consuming as it reduces the number of observations that has to be made
-Weaknesses: the small amount of collected may be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole and vital data may be missed
What is event sampling?
-This involves counting the number of times a particular behaviour is carried out (No set time)
What are the strengths and weaknesses of event sampling?
-Strengths; It is good for infrequent behaviours that are likely to be missed in time sampling
-Weaknesses; Counting errors of very frequent behaviours, it is subjective when a behaviour begins and ends and what counts as a behaviour. Important details may be missed
What are the observational techniques?
-Naturalistic
-Controlled
-Overt
-Covert
-Participant
-Non-participant
What is naturalistic observation?
-Researchers watch and record behaviours in a setting where it would normally take place
What are the strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic observation?
-Strengths: both high ecological and external validity as it is done in a natural environment
-Limitations: Low ecological validity if the participants are aware they are being watched. Replication can be hard. Uncontrolled confounding extraneous variables are present
What is controlled observation?
-Watching and recording behaviours in a structured environment like a lab
What are the strengths and weaknesses of controlled observation?
-Strengths: Researchers are able to focus on a certain aspect of behaviour. Easy replication and more control of extraneous variables and confounding variables
-Limitations: Low mundane realism and ecological validity with demand characteristics. More likely to observe unnatural behaviour in this unnatural environment
What is overt observation?
-Participants are knowingly watched and recorded
What are the strengths and weaknesses of overt observation?
-Strengths; Ethical as there is informed consent
-Weaknesses: Demand characteristics and low ecological validity. More likely to observe unnatural behaviour
What is covert observation?
-The participants are unaware that they are being watched and recorded
What are the strengths and weaknesses of covert observation?
-Strengths: Natural behaviour hence high internal validity. Removes the issue of participants guessing the aim of the study
-Weaknesses: ethical issues as no informed consent and could be invading the privacy of participants
What is the participant observational design?
-The researcher who is observing is part of the group that is being observed
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the participant observational design?
-Strengths: Can be more insightful increasing validity
-Weaknesses: Participants behaviour likely to change if found to be observed and the researcher may lose objectivity as they may start to identify strongly with participants
What is the non-participant observational technique?
-The researcher observes from a distance
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the non-participant observational technique?
-Strengths: Researcher can be more objective as they are less likely to identify with participants
-Weaknesses: Reseacher may lose valuable insight and observer bias as he may be looking only for specific behaviours
What is acquiescence bias?
-When in questionnaires, the participant answers yes to all the questions (Or no or the same answer instead)
-This can be tested by asking the same question later on but in reverse
What are self report techniques and what are some examples?
-Self report techniques report to any sort of method where a person is asked personal information (e.g. opinions, feelings and experiences) in relation to a particular topic
-Examples are Questionnaires and Interviews
What are questionnaires?
-They assess a persons thoughts or experience through a number of different written questions
-They can be either open-questioned or close-questioned
What are open questions?
-This is when a question is asked and phrased in a way that the participant is free to answer any way that they like hence collecting qualitative data
What are the strengths and weaknesses of open questions?
-Strengths; Rich in depth and detail and is better for sensitive topics as participants can elaborate upon their answers.
-Limitations; Difficult to convert to statistical data hence more difficult to analyse (hard to operationalise to quantitative data)
What are closed questions?
-Questions which restricts you to a fixed number of responses e.g. rating scales
-collects quantitive data
What are the strengths and weaknesses of closed questions?
-Strengths; easy to analyse data and compare with data from elsewhere as it is qualitative
-Limitations; lack of depth and detail and can limit true reposes which can be infuriating for participants
What are some strengths of Questionnaires?
-Cost-effective
-Gathers large amounts of data quickly
-The researcher does not always need to be present
-Data can be easy to analyse
-can be anonymous allowing for participants to be more open
What are some limitations of Questionnaires?
-Difficult to know whether the target population it was intended for answered, for example, if its online
-May take a long time to design
-difficult to assess validity as biases are present for example social desirability bias (when the particpant wants to present themselves in a positive light)
-Participant bias from factors such as age, gender and time
-Response bias where particpants may simply agree with all the questions instead of putting effort into it
What are interviews and the types of interviews?
-This involves a live encounter where a set of questions is asked by an interviewer to an interviewee to assess their thoughts or experiences
-There are two main types of interviews, structured and unstructured
What are Structured interviews?
-Only a set predetermined questions are asked during the interview
What are the strengths and weaknesses of structured interviews?
-Strengths; Standardisation is possible, easily replicable and can make comparisons between participants easily
-Limitations; Interviewer bias presented through aspects like listening skills and body language. Furthermore, the interviewer may have interpretive bias, recording answers differently. The interviewee may have social desirability bias
What are unstructured interviews?
-There are no predetermined questions and rather, they can develop as the interview goes on
What are the strengths and weaknesses of unstructured interviews?
-Strengths; Lots of data is collected with more depth and detail and questions can be tailored to the individual giving more insight
-Weaknesses; skilled interviewers are needed, interviewer bias, social desirability bias. Different to make comparisons between participants. The analysis of data is difficult as may have to sift through a lot of irrelevant data
What should be implemented in the design and method of a self report?
-Avoid complex language as participants may not understand the terms used and feel to embarrassed to ask or in questionaries to guess
-Interviews are great as questions as questions can be reworded to be understood easier whilst meaning the same thing
-There should be no leading questions which bias the response to in one direction by suggesting a ‘correct answer’
-a pilot interview/questionnaire can be done
-Filler questions can be used to ease participants into harder questions and through them of what the research is on hence reducing demand characteristics
What are case studies?
-A detailed study onto a person(s) with unusual psychological behaviour covering great detail into their background and life
-Data is collected by interviews, observation and content analysis
What are the strengths of case studies?
-Detailed to gain depth and insight
-forms basis for future research
-permits investigation of situations that would be otherwise unethical or impractical
-From studying unusual case, we can infer things about normal usual human behaviour
What are the weaknesses of case studies?
-Not generalisable
-Many biases such as social desirability bias from the unusual person(S) or interpretive bias from the researcher
-retrospective studies may rely on memory or possibly false sources
-Time consuming and difficult to replicate
