Research Methods B Flashcards
BPS
The British psychological society
The British psychological society
A professional body with a code of ethics which includes a set of ethical guidelines
BPS code of ethics
A set of ethical guidelines
Outlines what types of things are unacceptable
What are ethical guidelines?
Gives ways to deal with ethical issues
Difference between ethical issue and an ethical guideline
Issues are the difficulties faced by the researcher in terms of what they would like to do to the participants, whereas guidelines show them how to do it in a responsible way
What’s an ethics committee
A group of professionals who look at the research proposal to decide whether or not it should be allowed
Cost benefit analysis
Weighing up whether the price paid by the participant is worth it
What are Ethical issues
Issues that arise when a conflict exists between the rights of participants and the goals of the research to provide meaningful, valid data
Name the ethical issues
Consent Confidentiality Deception Withdraw Protection
Difference between confidentiality and privacy
Confidentiality is not sharing other people’s details. Personal info
Privacy is freedom from intrusion. Personal matters
Ways researchers might try to deal with informed consent
Participants should be given full details of the study including the aims, what they will be asked to do and how the data will be used.
Only once they have this info they should be asked to formally indicate their agreement to take part in the study
If under 16, a signature by a parent or guardian is required
Other ways of dealing with informed consent
Presumptive consent
Prior general consent
Retrospective consent
Presumptive consent
Rather than getting consent from the participants, a similar group of people are asked if the study is acceptable
Prior general consent
Participants give their permission to take part in a number of different studies- including one that will involve deception
Retrospective consent
Participants are asked for their consent having already taken part in the study. They may not have been aware of their participation
Problems that might occur when the researcher deals with informed consent
Knowing the aim of the study can lead to participants not acting naturally so little of value is learned. So sometimes other ways of dealing with informed consent are used
There is still no guarantee that the participant does actually understand what they’re agreeing to be part of
Ways researchers might try to deal with deception
Avoid it if at all possible particularly if it seems likely that participants will object when they find out later
Debrief participants fully after the study and give them a chance to withdraw their data
Gain the approval of an ethics committee who will weight up the benefits of the study alongside the costs to the participant
Ways researchers might try to deal with the right to withdraw
Participants should be told their participation is entirely voluntary and they can leave at any point and they can take their data if they wish
Ways researchers might try to deal with protection from harm
Steps should be taken to ensure p’s aren’t physically or psychologically harmed
P’s shouldn’t be placed at anymore risk than they would in their normal lives which includes the feeling of embarrassment or stress
The study should be stopped immediately if the p’s appear to be uncomfortable, they can then withhold their data
P’s should be reassured at the end of the study if they feel embarrassed or concerned. The researched should provide counselling if required
Ways researchers might try to deal with confidentiality
P’s name not used and instead they should be referred to as a letter or number or use a fake name
Nothing that would identify the p (e.g. photos or addresses) should be published
Problems that might occur when the researcher deals with deception
Debriefing doesn’t stop the p feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed
Problems that might occur when the researcher deals with the right to withdraw
P’s may still feel they cannot withdraw because they are worried they might spoil the research. This is particularly true if they are being paid to take part
Problems that might occur when the researcher deals with protection form harm
It’s hard to predict the risks involved in some studies until real p’s are actually involved
Problems that might occur when the researcher deals with confidentiality
It’s sometimes impossible to still work out who the p’s are
What should a debrief include
The studies’ aim / purpose
Explain any deception, provide right to withdraw, emphasise confidentiality
The conditions and/or manipulations – what they were, how did they differ
Offering of help/details of researcher provided
Any questions?
What format should the debrief be in?
Verbatim
What do observation studies involve
Watching and recording people’s behaviours
Types of observation techniques
Naturalistic Controlled Overt Covert Participant Non-participant
Naturalistic observation technique
Observing people in the natural environments
Behaviour isn’t controlled. Researcher doesn’t interfere
People can choose how to behave
Controlled observation technique
Some variables in the environment are regulated/manipulated by the researcher
Researcher can investigate the effect of certain things on behaviour
Can take place in lab or natural setting
Covert observation technique
Participants are not aware that they are being observed
Overt observation technique
Participants are aware that they are being observed. Paragraph the research is not hidden/can be seen
Participant observation technique
Observers become actively involved in the situation being studied to gain “hands on“ experience
Nonparticipant observation technique
Researchers do not become actively involved in the situation
Observational designs
Structured
Unstructured
Structured observational design
Researchers provide some structure. Behaviour categories and sampling methods are used
Unstructured observational design
Write down everything you see
Structured behavioural categories observational design
This involves breaking a target behaviour down into observable and measurable components
They should be: objective, cover all possible behaviours and be mutually exclusive
These categories are then organised into a table with the space to tally the number of times each one occurs
Pilot study – smaller scale version of your study – to decide your behaviour categories in an observation
Structured sampling methods observational design
Time sampling
Event sampling
Time sampling
Counting behaviour in a set time frame
E.g. recording what behaviour is exhibited for 1 minute every 10 minutes using behaviour checklist
Event sampling
Counting the number of times a behaviour occurs in a target individual or individuals
Inter observer reliability
The extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in an observation of behaviour
Observations should be consistent- ideally two observers should produce the same record
Lessens the chances of observer bias
Observer bias
When an observer records behaviour in a subjective way (seeing what they want to see)
Types of self techniques
Questionnaire
Interview
Questionnaire
Open questions
Doesn’t have a fixed range of answers and respondents are free to answer in any way they wish
Questionnaire
Closed questions
Offers a fixed number of responses
Likert scales
Rating scales
Fixed choice options
Questionnaire advantages
Less expensive than interviews because can gather large amounts of info quickly as can be distributed to many people
Answers from closed questions are straightforward to analysis as there’s only fixed choice answers
Questionnaire disadvantage
Responses may not be truthful because p’s May be presenting themselves in a positive light- influencing their answers
Typically have low response rates as there’s no pressure to actually answer the questionnaire
People can read the questions wrong
Interview
Unstructured interview
No set questions
General aim that a certain topic will be discussed
Interaction tends to be free flowing
Interview
Semi structured interview
List of questions have been worked out in advance but interviewers are free to ask follow up questions
Interview
Structured interview
Made up of a predetermined set of questions that are asked in a fixed order
Interview advantage
unstructured interviews more flexible as interviewers can follow up points
Allow participants to expand on certain topics in more detail than would on a questionnaire
Interview disadvantages
Answers from unstructured interviews are harder to analyse
Risk that interviewees lies for social desirability
Expensive - interviewer, room, travel cost
Naturalistic Observation Evaluation
Tend to have high external validity as findings can often be generalised to every day life, as the behaviours studied are within environment where it would normally occur
The lack of control over the research situation makes replication of the investigation difficult
May also be uncontrolled extraneous variables that make it more difficult to judge any pattern of behaviour
Controlled observation evaluation
May produce findings that cannot be as readily applied to real life settings
Extraneous variables may be less of a factor so replication of the observation becomes easier
Covert observation evaluation
The fact that participants do not know that they are being watched removes the problem of participant reactivity and ensures any behaviour observed to be natural this increases the validity of data gathered
however the ethics of this study may be questioned as people even in public may not wish to have their behaviours noted down.
Overt observation evaluation
More ethically acceptable but the knowledge participants have that they are being observed may act as a significant influence on their behaviour
Participant observation evaluation
The researcher can experience the situation as the participants do, giving them increased insight into the lives of the people being studied. This may increase the validity of the findings
However the researcher may come to identify too strongly with those they are studying and lose objectivity. Some researchers refer to this as going native when the line between being a researcher and being a participant becomes blurred
Nonparticipant observation evaluation
Allow the researcher to remain an objective psychological distance from the participant so there is less danger of them going native
However they may lose the valuable insight to be gained in a participant observation as they are too far removed from the people and behaviour they are studying
Structured observation design evaluation
Involves the use of behavioural categories and making the record of data is more systematic
Data produced is likely to be numerical which means that analysing and comparing the behaviour observed between participants is more straightforward
In contrast unstructured observations tend to produce qualitative data which may be much more difficult to record and analyse
Unstructured observation design evaluation
Benefit from a more richness and depth of detail in the data collected
though there may be a greater risk of a observer bias with unstructured observations as the objective behavioural categories that are feature of structured observations are not present here
The Researcher may only record these behaviours that catch their eye and this may not be the most important or useful
Behavioural categories design evaluation
Can make data collection more structured and objective although it’s important that such categories are as clear and unambiguous as possible
They must be observable measurable and self-evident. They should not require further interpretation
Researchers should also ensure that all possible forms of the target behaviour are included in the checklist
Categories should be exclusive and not overlap
event Sampling methods design evaluation
Event sampling is useful when the target behaviour or event happens quite infrequently and could be missed if time sampling was used
However if the specified event is too complex the observer may overlook important details if using event sampling
Time sampling methods design evaluation
Effective in reducing the number of observations that have been made
That said those instances when behaviour is sampled might be unrepresentative of the observation as a whole
Qualitative data
Data that is expressed in words are non-numerical
Quantitative data
Data that can be counted, usually given as numbers
Qualitative data pros and cons
+ offers much more richness of detail. It is a much broader in scope and gives the participant more license to develop their thoughts feelings and opinions on the subject
+ tends to have greater external validity. Provides the researcher with a more meaningful insight into the participants worldview
X often difficult to analyse. Tends not to lend it self to be summarised statistically so that comparisons within and between data may be hard to identify
X Conclusions often rely on subjective interpretations of the researcher and these may be subject to bias
Quantitative data pros and cons
+ Relatively simple to analyse, therefore comparisons between groups can be easily drawn
+ data in numerical form tends to be more objective and less open to bias
X quantitative data is much narrower in scope and meaning, thus may fail to represent real life
Correlation definition
A mathematical technique in which a researcher investigates an association between two variables, called covariables
Covariables definition
The variables investigated within a correlation, for example height and weight
They’re not referred to as the independent and dependent variables because a correlation investigates the association between the variables, rather than trying to show a cause and effect relationship
Positive correlation
As one covariable increases so does the other
Negative correlation
As one covariable increases the other decreases
zero correlation
When there is no relationship between the covariables
Correlation coefficient
A number between -1 and +1 that tells us how closely the covariables in a correlation analysis are linked
Difference between correlations and experiments
Experiments- Repeated measures design Bar charts IV Cause and effect Matched pairs design Independent measures design Looking for a difference DV
Correlations- Looking for a relationship Scattergram Covariable 1 and 2 Continuous variables Correlation coefficient
Both-
Testing data significance
Quantitive data
Hypothesis
Measures of central tendency
Averages which give us info about the most typical values in a set of data
Mean, median and mode
Mean advantages and disadvantages
+ Uses all the data, most sensitive
Xcan be affected by extreme scores – misrepresentative
Mode pros and cons
+ Easy to calculate. Can be used when the data is in categories
X could have more than one answer
Median pros and cons
+ Cannot be affected by extreme scores
Xdoesn’t use all data – less sensitive
Measures of dispersion
Based on the spread of scores; that is, how far scores vary differently from one another
Range and standard deviation
Standard deviation
Measure of dispersion in a set of scores. It tells us how much scores deviate from the mean by calculating the difference between the mean and each score
All the differences are added up and divided by the number of scores. This gives the variance. The standard deviation is the square root of the variance
Range pros and cons
+ Easy to calculate. Doesn’t use all data
X affected by extreme values
Standard deviation pros and cons
+ Shows accuracy. Uses all data
X hard to work out
