Research methods

Question 1

What assumptions are research questions based on?

Answer 1

Ontological i.e. world/people

Epistemological i.e. what can be known and how

Question 2

What are the 3 approaches to knowledge generation?

Answer 2

Realist/relativist (ontological positions)
Phenomenological
Social constructionist
(Can be pluralist i.e. multiple)

Question 3

What is ontology?

Answer 3

Fundamental assumptions implicitly made about the nature of the world

Question 4

What is epistemology?

Answer 4

Branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge and how we obtain it
Before we decide a research method i.e. the way to our goal, we need to decide our epistemological position to identify and justify our goal

Question 5

What are the 2 main epistemological perspectives?

Answer 5

POSITIVISM - “Correspondence Theory of Truth” i.e. our perception of phenomena is directly determined by that phenomena, one correct view of the world which is independent of viewing circumstances;
a philosophical system recognizing only that which can be scientifically verified or which is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and therefore rejecting metaphysics and theism.
EMPIRICISM - Knowledge acquired through senses and observation, all knowledge claims must be grounded in data rather than pure theory

Question 6

How do empiricism and positivism differ?

Answer 6

It depends on what type of empirical activity are being recognized in Empiricism. If an Empiricist recognizes internal activities in mind such as reasoning, then it becomes different from Positivism. Pure Positivism only recognizes experiments done in the world outside the mind. Pure Positivism actually rejects universal concepts which are by-products of mind activities like abstraction. Hence it rejects that type of activities.
Essentially, all positivists are empiricists but not all empiricists are positivists

Question 7

What is the social constructionist approach?

Answer 7

The idea that knowledge is CONSTRUCTED within the mind rather than being external and simply assimilated within the mind as behaviourists suggested.
“Knowledges” rather than knowledge i.e. glass is both half empty and half full
This approach considers cultural influences on construction of someone’s social reality - what have been used to construct a particular individual’s internal architecture

Question 8

Why is language so important to constructivists?

Answer 8

All human experience considered to be “discursively constructed” i.e. no such thing as a purely individual experience
Relativist approach = language constructs reality, reality does not determine how we describe it

Question 9

What is hypothetico-deductivism?

Answer 9

The problem with pure inductive reasoning is the possibility of exceptions to a rule - observations can never lead to categorical statements of fact
Additionally, no theory can ever be fully verified
The hypothetico-deductive model or method is a proposed description of scientific method. According to it, scientific inquiry proceeds by formulating a hypothesis in a form that can be falsifiable, using a test on observable data where the outcome is not yet known.
Instead of looking for evidence –> verification, looking to falsify

Question 10

What is meant by Theoretical Perspective?

Answer 10

Influences how the same bit of data gets interpreted

Different epistemological perspectives will use different theoretical frameworks

Question 11

What is the Idiographic approach to research methodology?

Answer 11

Focus on the individual/uniqueness
Subjectivity, consciousness, personal experience
Not able to be generalised

Question 12

What is the Nomothetic approach to research?

Answer 12

Establishes “laws”/generalisations and objective knowledge obtained using pure scientific method (remember though that FULL objectivity is never fully possible because we are all human)
Produces categorizable numerical data

Question 13

What is the Hermaneutic approach?

Answer 13

Theory and methodology of INTERPRETATION which emphasises subjective interpretations of researchers
Cultivating ability to understand from others’ perspectives and the influences on their outlook
HERMANEUTIC RESEARCH IS CONCERNED WITH MEANING - meanings in social life, meanings we place on experiences, and meanings encountered during everyday life
Meanings occurs on unconscious, personal, social, cultural and socio-political levels

Question 14

What types of approach are used in quantitative and qualitative methodologies?

Answer 14

Quant uses hypothetico-deductive approach

Qual uses inductive approach

Question 15

What is the relationship between epistemology and methodology?

Answer 15

Epistemology –> methodology (general approach to studying topic e.g. quantitative) –> method (specific research techniques)

The exception is hypothetico-deductivism –> this is both an epistemological position and a research method

Question 16

Not all research methods are compatible with all methodologies - give an example of this

Answer 16

Social constructivist methodologies problematise psychological variables and these cannot be investigated using “measurement”

Question 17

What is meant by little q and big Q?

Answer 17

2 meanings of qualitative research:
q = incorporation of non-numerical data collection techniques into hypothetico-deductive research designs, doesn’t work “bottom-up”
Q = Open-ended inductive research methodologies concerned with theory generation and exploration of meaning, bottom-up process

Question 18

What is meant by reflexivity?

Answer 18

Encourages reflection of the ways in which researcher involvement influences research e.g. through construction of meaning, assumptions made and their implications

Question 19

What are the two types of reflexivity?

Answer 19

PERSONAL - Involves reflecting on ways in which own values etc have shaped the research
EPISTEMOLOGICAL - How the research question has defined and limited what can be found

Question 20

What are 3 key critiques of the hypothetico-deductive scientific method?

Answer 20

1) Does not acknowledge historical, social, cultural factors in knowledge formation
2) Doesn’t provide enough room for theory development - hypotheses simply based on existing theories
3) Elitist - encouraging formation of scientific communities from which outsider scientists are excluded

Question 21

What are the main feminist critiques of the scientific method?

Answer 21

Men considered the “standard” and women directly compared to that - found as abnormal and inferior
Findings perpetuated existing inequality

Question 22

What is meant by “The God Trick”?

Answer 22

“Seeing everything from nowhere”
Attempts made wherever possible to complete detach the researcher and standardise and decontaminate all procedures
However we should instead be encouraging reflexivity and reflection on this “God’s eye view” approach - it isn’t physically possible to remain completely outside of subject matter but it is possible to consider the extent of impact and reflect on it

Question 23

What is the realist perspective?

Answer 23

Aim to collect data to reflect how things really are, methods need to facilitate true and undistorted representations, researcher as more of an archaeologist than an architect

Question 24

What is the relativist perspective?

Answer 24

No such thing as “pure experience”
How cultural/discursive etc resources influence how we construct our reality
Researcher considered more of a builder/author in this case, need to use methods which are sensitive to variations in accounts, contradictions etc

Question 25

Describe the hypothetico-deductive method

Answer 25

Phenomenon observed –> Data collected about potential causes –> Trends examined and theory developed –> Theory tested –> Theory accepted or rejected

Question 26

What are the qualities of a good research questions

Answer 26

Focused, relevant, realistic and safe (lit review)

Question 27

What must be considered when evaluating sources for a lit review?

Answer 27

Specificity - Can the findings from the source be generalised?
Validity - How current is it? How much is based on theoretical framework and how much on observation? Risk of any bias? Methods used? etc.

Question 28

What are the three types of extraneous variables?

Answer 28

Participant variables - individual characteristics which may influence results
Situational variables - environmental factors
Confounding variables - related to IV and DV making the link between them uncertain

Question 29

What is a non-experimental study design and what are 4 examples?

Answer 29

Describes and predicts behaviour but cannot determine causality as no manipulation of variables
Observations, archival, case studies and surveys/interviews

Question 30

What are the two meanings of “control” in experimental designs?

Answer 30

1) Control group for comparison

2) Minimising variability

Question 31

How can experimental control by maximised?

Answer 31

Standardised equipment/procedures - use of a lab
Make nuisance variables into IVs
Statistical control
Replication

Question 32

What is a “within-subjects” design?

Answer 32

Single sample of subjects used for each treatment condition (act as own control)
Controls for individual variation and also cheaper and more efficient as fewer participants needed

Question 33

What is a “between-subjects” design?

Answer 33

2 groups, one experimental and one control
Random assignment to either group
“Matching” –> makes sure groups are as equal as possible on one or more variables before experiment starts e.g. age, gender etc.

Question 34

What is a quasi-experimental research design?

Answer 34

Do not have complete control over some features of the study
Participants selected into a condition rather than randomly assigned
Cannot be fully sure DV change is caused by IV

Question 35

What is meant by the term “emergent properties”?

Answer 35

Properties which come into being as soon as different elements are combined - they are not present in the individual elements themselves
e.g. the symbolic nature of a birthday cake only comes into being once the elements of flour and sugar etc. have been combined into cake form

Question 36

What are 4 features of the positivist approach to science?

Answer 36

1) Emphasises particular assumptions about causality - causality is inferred by human senses, and causes are replicable (only that which can be observed/measured counts as knowledge)
2) Emphasises belief that observer is independent of their observations
3) Ideal of scientific knowledge as being value-free, independent of cultural and social contexts
4) Maintains that all sciences should be conducted using the same overall methodology

Question 37

What is anti-positivism?

Answer 37

Interpretivism/social action approach
Emphasises importance of distinguishing human/cultural sciences from natural sciences - fundamentally different forms of knowledge

Question 38

What is “Verstehen”?

Answer 38

German word for understanding
Approach involving an interpretative treatment of social and cultural events, concerned with understanding rather than simply objective approaches to causality in human behaviour

Question 39

What is meant by a “phenomenological” approach?

Answer 39

In order to catch a meaning of a social event we need to look through the eyes of the people involved - social scientists must be receptive to people’s own ideas and explanatory frameworks
Inappropriate to formulate hypotheses in advance
Producing knowledge of subjective experiences without making any claims as to the cause - MORE CONCERNED WITH TEXTURE AND QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

Question 40

What is meant by a Modernist theory and what is a classic example?

Answer 40

Theory promoting one scientific approach for all of psychology, ignoring the past and rejecting all other approaches as inadequate/unscientific
Behaviourism

Question 41

What sources contributed to driving the end of the narrow “quantitative only” approach to research promoted by behaviourists?

Answer 41

Advent of explicitly feminist psychological research in late 1980s - argued conventional methodology sterile and positivistic, emphasising instead the importance of human meaning
Increased recognition of ethical issues and the need to treat participants as human beings rather than simply subjects to be manipulated - importance of their choices

Question 42

Why is pure empiricism treated with scepticism?

Answer 42

Perception is inevitably selective and people can be trained to observe the same phenomena in different ways depending on the purpose of observation

Question 43

What was Kuhn’s argument against Popper’s hypothetico-deductive method?

Answer 43

Science does not progress in an evolutionary piecemeal fashion but rather in leaps through scientific revolutions leading to paradigm shifts
Paradigms (conceptual frameworks) are stretched to accommodate all kinds of evidence and anomalies/inconsistencies accumulate until a new paradigm emerges and provides a legitimate alternative which will then again resist change for some time until the same process happens again

Question 44

What is meant by Critical Language Awareness?

Answer 44

Part of reflexivity - words we use to describe experiences play a part in construction of meaning attributed to such experiences
So the categories and labels researchers use during the research process will shape and essentially construct their findings (certain answers will be impossible through use of certain questions)

Question 45

Describe the realist approach to knowledge generation

Answer 45

Assumes processes of a social and/or psychological nature which exist and can be identified - these processes are “real” in that they characterise or even determine behaviour/thinking of participants irrespective of conscious awareness
Researcher as an archaeologist

Question 46

Distinguish between naïve/direct and critical realism

Answer 46

Direct realism takes things at face value i.e. accepts peoples answers as to why they smoke
Critical realism digs deeper and looks into interpretations of the reasons given, and the forces driving behaviour which participants may not even be aware of

Question 47

Distinguish between descriptive and interpretative phenomenology

Answer 47

DESCRIPTIVE - Capturing experience as it is presented, obtaining an account of the structure of a phenomenon based entirely on participant accounts and without attributing any meaning
INTERPRETATIVE - Seeks to also understand meaning, stepping outside of the account and reflecting on possible meanings
Takes the first level descriptive account (which provides texture and quality) and relates it to the wider context

Question 48

Distinguish between radical and moderate social constructionism

Answer 48

RADICAL - Interested in the particular reality constructed for the purposes of a specific conversational context, which will need to change for a different context e.g. first psychotherapy sessions
MODERATE (less relativist) - Invoke social reality which pre-exists and shapes the way individuals then discursively construct the social realities which suit their needs in a particular context i.e. how the stereotype of counselling influences how individuals view themselves and their need to use discursive strategies to distance themselves from this

Question 49

What is the pluralistic approach to qualitative research based on?

Answer 49

The assumption that human experiences are complex, layered and multi-faceted and methodologies used need to reflect this i.e. conduct analysis on a number of different levels e.g. begin realist, then return to a phenomenological approach and then go to a social constructionist approach
The number of levels able to be adopted is constrained by experience and also by resources

Question 50

How can validity be defined?

Answer 50

The extent to which our research describes, measures or explains what it aims to (as a result of their flexibility and open-endedness, qualitative approaches generally have greater potential for validity issues)

Question 51

What is meant by Grounded Theory?

Answer 51

Developed to allow movement from data to theory so new theories could emerge, i.e. new theories would be “grounded” in the data from which they emerged rather than relying on analytical constructs, categories or variables from pre-existing theories

Question 52

What is the relationship between empiricism, positivism and realism?

Answer 52

Realism involves assuming that a real world does exist. Once this assumption is made we can find things out by adopting a positivist approach which suggests that knowledge about reality can be reliably obtained through empirical observation

Question 53

What are three key criticisms of quantitative methods?

Answer 53

Cannot measure experience accurately by reducing it to numbers - key variables get missed
Lab environments are artificial i.e. not conducive to natural behaviours (LACKING ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY)
Faulty assumptions e.g. assuming that measured phenomena are broadly universal, which many may not be

Question 54

What is “Theoretical Sampling”?

Answer 54

Commonly linked to Grounded Theory, involves adding new cases to the sample in order to provide more insight into the theory being developed from the data analysis

Question 55

What is the relativist viewpoint of validity/reliability?

Answer 55

The terms are essentially meaningless - there is no “fixed” criteria for judging research, but rather it should simply be assessed within its context

Question 56

What is meant by “Triangulation”?

Answer 56

Process of assessing the outcome of a piece of research by viewing it from a number of standpoints. If the different perspectives all converge on the same conclusion this supports the validity of the qualitative methods used

Question 57

Directly compare and contrast relativism and realism

Answer 57

REALISM - Theory of knowledge holding that there is a unitary reality in the world that can be uncovered through use of appropriate investigative methods
RELATIVISM - Theory of knowledge holding that objective facts are purely an illusion and knowledge is constructed by each individual through a unique personal framework (social constructionism is a branch of relativism)