research methods

Question 1

why is cross cultural research conducted

Answer 1

it is carried out by researchers who want to compare an attitude or behaviour in different cultures, allowing psychologists to see what is common across cultures and what is culturally specific

Question 2

how does cross cultural research investigate nature vs nurture

Answer 2

if a behaviour is repeated across all cultures it can be argued that the behaviour is nature

if a behaviour is found in some cultures but not others it can be argued that the behaviour is nurture

Question 3

why do we need cross cultural research (3 ways)

Answer 3

it can remove ethnocentric views

researcher can immerse themselves in different cultures and learn their ways, making it ethnographic (increase generalisability)

improve understanding of culture factors

Question 4

what is meant by an emic approach

Answer 4

studying a culture from within to find out about cultures and norms and seeing if that behaviour is relevant to that culture

Question 5

what is meant by an etic approach

Answer 5

studying a culture from outside, looking at norms and ideas between them

Question 6

give 1 overall study that can be used to look at cross cultural research

Answer 6

Lin (1996) schizophrenia was looked at cross culturally and it was found the prevelance seemed similar across all cultures, similarities outweighed the differences, the only difference seemed to be in terms of the outcomes for the patient, patients in developed countries seemed to have more positive outcomes

Question 7

name 3 strengths of cross cultural research

Answer 7

allows psychologists to see if behaviours are universal

same procedures are replicated across different cultures

reduces ethnocentrism in research

Question 8

name 3 weaknesses of cross cultural research

Answer 8

communication difficulties may arise

observer bias may occur

participants may not be reflective of that culture and be influenced by personal upbringing rather than cultural upbringing

Question 9

what is alpha bias

Answer 9

exaggerating differences between groups

Question 10

what is beta bias

Answer 10

minimising differences between groups

Question 11

what is afrocentrism

Answer 11

defining psychological experiences from an African-centered point of view

Question 12

why is cross sectional research conducted

Answer 12

quick snap shot of behaviour in a population rather than waiting for longitudinal data to be gathered, they use a large sample size in order to get a good cross section of the whole target population

Question 13

give 1 study surrouding cross sectional research

Answer 13

Mynard and Joesph(1997) investigated peer victimisation (bullied by other children) is positively related to psychological maladjustment, they used one group of bullies, one group of victims and one control group

Question 14

what is a cohort effect

Answer 14

factors relating to this group which might make them special in some way and thus not entirely comparable to another similar group

Question 15

give 3 strengths of cross sectional research

Answer 15

practically more time and cost efficient

increased validity

more ethical than longitudinal studies

Question 16

give 3 weaknesses of cross sectional research

Answer 16

cohort bias

participant variables (low validity)

how descriptive is the data compared to longitudinal

Question 17

what are longitudinal designs

Answer 17

involves studying the same participants over a long period of time, monitoring changes or the experience under a therapy or drug

Question 18

give 1 examples of a study using a longitudinal method

Answer 18

Goldstein (1988) used the longitudinal method to look at gender differences in schizophrenia in terms of their experience such as how they coped with everyday life, where she recorded number of hospitalisations

Question 19

give 4 AO1 points surrounding primary data

Answer 19

gathered directly from a group of participants

can give information which is unique to the aim of the research

can be gathered from clinical interviews with mentally ill patients regarding their symptoms and experiences

can be gathered from interviews or questionaires

Question 20

give 4 AO1 points surrounding secondary data

Answer 20

data gathered by other researchers

data can come from assessing other peer reviewed articles or public access statistics

information can be used in the aim of the study but not directly purposeful for the study

can be gathered from hospital records, criminal records or education records

Question 21

give 3 AO1 points about structured interviews

Answer 21

pre planned interview with questions

in a fixed order of questions

closed ended questions

Question 22

give 3 AO1 points about semi-structured interviews

Answer 22

set few questions

flexibility

can ask further questions to learn more about the symptoms

Question 23

what is meta analysis

Answer 23

where researchers combine findings from multiple studies to draw an overall conclusion

Question 24

what is the purpose of the HCPC

Answer 24

legal regulations to protect the public and ensure good practice and failure

Question 25

name 5 standards of the HCPC

Answer 25

able to work appropriately with others

maintain records appropriately

assure quality of their practice

communicate effectively

understand the importance of confidentiality

Question 26

why does psychology practice require regulation (3 reasons)

Answer 26

protect the service user
protection of the practioner
protect the profession

Question 27

2 negatives of the HCPC guidelines

Answer 27

too vague

is 2 years enough for a re-registration if done wrong

Question 28

how does meta analysis work

Answer 28

define the research question

conduct a literature search (retrieve and review published and unpublished studies)

select studies which are included in the meta analysis

extract data for analysis

Question 29

what is content analysis

Answer 29

it is an observation which studies human behaviour, it is usually presented in qualitative data

Question 30

how does content analysis work

Answer 30

a sample of content artefacts are collected

they are categorised (top-down approaches make categories before looking at data)

researcher has to create a coding system (e.g. tallying)