Research methods Flashcards
What is content analysis
a kind of observational study in which behaviours usually observed indirectly in visual written or verbal material, may involve either qualitative or quantitative analysis or both
What is thematic analysis
a technique used when analysing qualitative data, themes or categories are identified and then data is organised according to these themes
What is coding
coding is the process of placing qualitative data in categories
what are the strengths of content analysis
- it has high ecological validity because it is based on observations of what people actually do - real communications that are current and relevant such as recent newspapers or the books that people read
- when sources can be retained or accessed by others the content analysis can be replicated and therefore observations can be tested for reliability
what are the limitations of content analysis
- observer bias reduces the objectivity and findings because different observers may interpret the meaning of the behavioural categories differently
- content analysis is likely to be culture biased because interpretation of verbal or written content will be affected by the language and culture of the observer and the behavioural categories used
describe the content analysis procedure
sampling method
researcher has to decide the following
- if analysing the content of books, does the researcher look at every page or every fifth page
- if comparing the content in various books does the researcher select books randomly from a library or identify certain characterstics
- if analysing ads on TV does the researcher sample behaviours every 30 seconds and not whenever certain behaviours can occur
coding the data
- the process of coding basically means that the researcher uses behavioural categories, for example if the researcher wishes to look at the way men and women are portrayed in books they create a list of behavioural categories and then count instances
method of representing data
- data can be recorded in two ways
- you can count the instances = a quantitative analysis
- you can describe examples = a qualitative analysis
describe a quantitative content analysis
- Anthony Mansted and Caroline McCulloch were instested in teh way men and women were potrayed in TV ads, they observed 170 ads over a one week period
- they ignored those that contained only children or those with animals and in each ad they focused on the central adult figure and recorded frequencies in a table
describe a qualitative content analysis
- A Finnish study considered the role of the family in adolescent peer and school experiences
- conducted a semi structured interviews with 19 adolescents aged 12-16 using questions such as what does your family know about your peers and how is your family involved in your school activities
- produced 243 pages of notes which were analysed using a qualitative content analysis
1. All answers to the question were placed together
2. each statement was compressed into a briefer statement and given an identifier code
3. these statements were compared with each other and categorised so that statements with similar content were placed together and a category identified
4. the categories were grouped into larger units producing eight main categories for example - - enablement - yeah since my childhood we had lots of kids visiting
- support - they help if i have a test by asking questions
- negligence - my sister is not at all interseted in my friends
- one of the conclusions if that schools should pay more attention to teh mutiple relationships that determine an adolescents behaviour
what are the main intentions of thematic analysis
- to impose some kind of order on the data
- to ensure that the order represents the participants persepctive
- to ensure that the order emerges from the data rather than any preconceptions
- to summarise the data so that hundreds of pages of test or hours of videotapes can be reduced
- to enable themes to be identified and general conclusions to be drawn
what is an issue with thematic analysis
- uses qualitative data
- qualitative data is difficult to summarise
- has to be summarised by identifying repeated themes in the material to be analysed
- takes a long time as every item is carefully considered and the data is gone through repeatedily
what are the general method of thematic analysis
- read and reread the data transcript dispassionately trying to understand the meaning communicated and the perspective of the participants, no notes should be made
- break the data into meaningful units - small bits of text which are independently able to convey meaning, this may be equivalent to sentences of phrases
- assign a label or code to each unit, such labels/code are initial categories that you are using, each unit may be given more than one code/label
- combine simple codes into larger categories/themes and then instances can be counted or examples provide
d- a check can be made on the emergent categories by collecting a new set of data and applying the categories, they should fit the new data well if they represent the topic area investigated
What is a case study
A research method that involves a detailed study of a single individual, institution or event. case studies provide a rich record of human experience but are hard to generalise from
what are the strengths of case studies
- the method offers a rich in depth data information, such data can provide insights into the complex interaction of many factors, in contrast with experiments where variables are held constant this means that insights overlooked using other methods are likely to be identified
- they can be used to look at instances of human behaviour that are rare, for example investigating instances of children locked in their room during their childhood, this enables researchers to see what effects disruption of attachment can have on an emotional development and it would not be ethical to generate such conditions experimentally
what are the limitations of case studies
- it is difficult to generalise from individual cases
- each one has unique characteristics, for example the case study of HM told us a great deal about the effects of his operation on his memory but we don’t know to what extent his epilepsy rather than the brain damage may have affected aspects of his behaviour
- there are important ethical issues such as confidentiality and informed consent, many cases are easily identifiable because of their unique characteristics even when real names are not given
- many individuals such as little Hans or HM are not able to give their consent
- psychological harm may also be an issue when an individual such as HM is tested repeatedly over decades
describe some individual case studies
HM - hippocampus was removed to reduce epiletic seizures resulting in the inability to form new memories,
- Little Hans and Freud
What is inter-observer reliability
- the extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviour
what is reliability
reliability is consistency, the consistency of measurements, we would expect any measurement to produce the same data if taken on successive occasions
what is test-retest reliability
the same test or interview is given to the same participants on two occasions to see if the same results are obtained
how do you assess the reliability of observational techniques
- important that this record is a reliable measurement of behaviour and they way this is assessed is for the observer to repeat the observations a second time
- if the observations are reliable then the second set of observations should be more or less the same as the first set
- better to have two or more observers to make sure there is not observer bias - better way to assess accuracy is to have two or more observers making separate recordings and then compare these records
- the extent to which observers agree on the observations they record is called inter-observer reliability
- this can then be calculated as a correlation coefficient for pairs of scores, has a result of .80 or more suggests good inter-observer reliability
How do you improve the reliability of observational techniques
- if the score for inter-rater reliability is low then there are ways to improve this
- it may be that the behavioural categories were not ope rationalised clearly enough, so one observer interpreted an action as hitting whereas another interpreted it as touching therefore behavioural categories need to be clearer
- it may be that some observers just need more practise using the behavioural categories so they can respond more quickly
How to you assess the reliability of self-report techniques
- test-retest reliability
- test-retest reliability is used to assess the reliability of a psychological test or other self-report measure
- test is given to a group of people and then the same group of people a second time
- short interval between tests, so that people dont remember there answers
- if the measure is reliable the outcome should be the same every time and the scores for each person are compared using correlation
How to you assess the reliability of self-report techniques
- inter-interviewer reliability
- in the case of interviews a researcher could assess the reliability of one interviewer by comparing answers on one occasion with answers from the same person with the same interviewer a week later
- researcher may assess the reliability of the two interviewers using the same method as with two observers
How do you improve the reliability of self report techniques
- low reliability in psychological test may be because some test items are ambiguous so people give different answers
- for exdample a question might be what are your thoughts about dieting and some people might interpret this as being a question asking for factual information whereas some might think the question is about emotions and respond with their own feelings
- need to be re-examined and rewritten
what is the dependent variable in an experiment measured with
- rating scale or behavioural categories for example
- study by Bandura et al on aggression using a bobo doll, in this study the dependent variable was teh aggressive behaviour of the children, this was assessed by observing their behaviour in a room full of toys and using behavioural categories such as vernal imitation
- rutter and songua barke - used IQ test in study of Romanian orphans
- reliabiltiy in an experiemnt may be concerned with whether the method used to measure the dependent variable is consistent
how do you improve the reliability of experiments
- standradisation
- make sure the procedures are exactly the same each time otherwise we cannot compare the performance of participants
what is validity
- refers to whether an observed effect is a genuine one
what is concurrent validity
a means of establishing validity by comparing an existing test or questionnaire with the one you are interested in
what is ecological validity
the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular setting in which it is demonstrated to other settings
what is face validity
the extent to which test items look like what the test claims to measure
what is temporal validity
concerning the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular time period of the study
what are internal validity examples
- investigator effects
- demand characteristics
- confounding variables
- social desirability bias
- poorly operationalised behavioural categories
what are investigator effects
- anything that an investigator does that has an effect on a participants performance other than what was intended
what are demand characteristics
- cues that inadvertently communicate the aims of study to participants such as the bobo doll in Banduras study inviting an aggressive response
what are confounding variables
- a variable in an experiment that varies systematically with the independent variable, and therefore confusion cannot be drawn about what caused changes in the dependent variable