research methods booklet 2

Question 1

observational techniques

Answer 1

location
overt/covert
participant/non participant

Question 2

naturalistic observation

Answer 2

ps observed in their natural environment
normal place of activity

Question 3

controlled observation

Answer 3

artificial and contrived environment where there has been a set up

Question 4

overt

Answer 4

participants are aware that they are being observed and informed consent is given before hand

they may use one way mirrors

Question 5

covert

Answer 5

ps are not aware they are being observed and didn’t give informed consent
expeerimeters are undercover

Question 6

non participant observation

Answer 6

researcher remains separate from those being observed and is simply a bystander. little/no interaction with the ps

Question 7

participant observariables

Answer 7

researcher participates in the behaviour being observed and becomes part of group being observed.

Question 8

design of observations

Answer 8

structured
unstructured

Question 9

structured observation

Answer 9

more frequent
a system is imposed before can observation is conducted which includes categorising exactly which behavious is to be observed.

Question 10

unstructured

Answer 10

the researcher freely records all relevant behaviour usually in note form without imposing a system on what is observed

Question 11

behavioural categories

Answer 11

structured observation
form of operationalising general behaviour into specific components

Question 12

behaviour sampling

Answer 12

event
time

Question 13

event sampling

Answer 13

observers record every time a certain behaviour occurs the total number -frequency- of behaviour

Question 14

time sampling

Answer 14

observers decide on time interval-1min- and records which behaviour occurs at that time

Question 15

when should event sampling be used

Answer 15

researchers don’t want to miss any behaviours

difficult if there are lots of behaviours

Question 16

when should time sampling be used

Answer 16

there are lots of behaviours that are likely to occur often

behaviours may be missed

Question 17

inter observer reliability

Answer 17

second observer is used snd coding done separatly

comparison of two observers will be made to see wethe4r the analysis produces similar results

a correlational analysis will be performed to check similarity

if correlation co efficient is 0.8 then they are similar.

Question 18

advantages of observations

Answer 18

• higher ecological validity
  -naturalistic observations, behaviour is being recorded in ps natural surroundings with nothing being manipulated artificially by researcher
  -naturalistic obersvations can be generalised to real life

-low in demand characteristics
-covert observations conducted without participants awareness will not change their behaviour to meet the expectations of the researcher
-behaviour observed in covert observations can be generalised to real life.

Question 19

disadvantages to observations

Answer 19

-low internal validity
-naturalistic observations no variables are being manipulated and it is often difficult to control extraneous variables such as situational and participant variables
-cant establish cause and effect

• can be affected by observer bias more than experimental methods
  -observer may be influenced by their own expectations and subjective interpretations in participant observations where the observer may Develop a relationship with those being observed
  -findings may not be reliable

Question 20

self report key features

Answer 20

• questionnaires are written questions
  -questions are pre determined before being administered
  -questions can be open or closed
  -can be administered in person, post , online , over the phone

Question 21

open ended Q

Answer 21

doesn’t require a fixed response
answer provides qualitative data

Question 22

closed ended Q

Answer 22

fixed response
yes/no
quantitative

Question 23

advantage of questionnaire

Answer 23

-less time consuming
it is possible to email or post questionnaires out in a relatively short period of time to hundreds of participants which can be completed without needing researches present
- More practical compared to inte4rvierws

• more honest with their answers
• they feel more comfortable with revealing personal info so they are less likely to feel uncomfortable
  -questionaires may bee more appropriate to use when investigating attitudes and opinions to socially sensitive topics

Question 24

disadvantages to questionnaires

Answer 24

-more likely to produce bias
-response bias:rush and or fail to read questions carefully.
social desirability bias: may be untruthful with answers if they want to present themselves in a favourable manner.
-means info received from closed ended questions could be unreliable and invalid

-questionaires produce less detailed compared to interviews
-clsoed questions are used, only allowed to select from limited choice of answers, which may not reflect on their true thoughts and feelings and can’t add futher comments
-less meaningful data

Question 25

key features of interviews

Answer 25

-verbal
face to face
open questions
structured / unstructured

Question 26

structured interviews

Answer 26

interviewer has a topic to explore with responded that contains set of predetermined questions
each interviewee is asked same pre determined list of questions and isn’t deviated from

Question 27

unstructured interviews

Answer 27

some pre determined questions
flexible, allowing new questions to develop

Question 28

advantage of interviews

Answer 28

-more detail compared to questionaires
-ps can elaborate on answers and in unstructured interviews can be tailored to specific responses
-means data from interviews is more valid, meaningful snd insightful

–opportunity to clarify misunderstnsadings
-interviewees can ask fr futher guidance ifs they are unsure what question needs
-this mean that the interview data id likely to be more reliable than questionaire

Question 29

disadvantages of interviews

Answer 29

-investigator effects
-this is because the precesnse of the interviewer along with personal characteristics cons affect the way questions answered.
-interview data can be unreliable

-interviews are more time consuming compared to questionaires
-its only possible to interview face to face one resonant at a time
-may be impractical ro conduct interviews when there is a large sample to investigate

Question 30

case studies

Answer 30

in depth investigation on either group of people or single individual or event or institution

rare/unusal
conduct case history by using range of different research methods such as interviews
info is gathered qualitative but some quantitative
most case studies are longitudinal
some are retrospective (after event has happened)

Question 31

advantages of case studies

Answer 31

-allows research into areas that are otherwise unethical/impractical
allow us to study things that can’t be studied experimentally eg neglected children, gender development etc
- gives opportunities to study rare behaviours that are otherwise hard to investigate

• provide an insight for futher research
  -they highlight extraordinary behaviours which may generate hypothesis for future study which can then be tested by using alt methods
  -allow areas of interest to be explored more thourghly

Question 32

disadvantage of case studies

Answer 32

• interpretations can be highly subjective
  -researcher often works closely with investigation so becomes less impartial and can infliuence their findings
• also personal accounts are prone to inaccuracy and memory decay
• findings are potentially bias and unreliable
• unrepresentative and unreliable
  -this is because they are unlikely to be replicated to extremely small sample sizes and unusual nature of the subject
  eg genie experienced severe neglect as a result its not possible to be certain that the same outcome regarding developmental decay
  -this means that the findings may not be generalised to the wider population and representative of similar instances

Question 33

analysing qualitative data

Answer 33

-thematic analysis
-content analysis

Question 34

content analysis

Answer 34

indirect observation

Question 35

thematic analysis considers…

Answer 35

manifest content- what text SEEMS to be about
latent context- what text is REALLY about

Question 36

conducting a content analysis

Answer 36

-starts with aim or hypothesis
-select a sample on which you will cary out content analysis
-create coding units of behaviours
-researcher carefully goes through the sample unit and tally eveytime behaviour category is seen
- total number of each coding unit is then counted to produced quanitive data.

Question 37

key features of thematic analysis

Answer 37

involves coding and identifying patterns and themes

use of quotes to support or challenge theories

retains data in its OG qualitative data

Question 38

conducting thematic analysis

Answer 38

-familiarise self with data - transcribe and read it
-produce coding units
-look for emerging themes- group the coding units to descriptive themes that identify what data means
-define and name each separate theme
-write up the report- using quotes from the data

Question 39

similarities of content and thematic analisyis

Answer 39

-indirect observation
-qualititve data
-coding

Question 40

differences of content and thematic analysis

Answer 40

qualitive in thematic analysis quantitative in content
themes in thematic coding units pre determined in context

Question 41

advantage of content analysis

Answer 41

• statistical analysis becomes possible
  -it becomes easier to compare findings from similar studies which it can act as a reliability check for particular effect
  -scientific technique

Question 42

negative of content analysis

Answer 42

-can be argued to be a reductionist technique
-bc converting detailed in depth data into numbers. the messages in communication may be lost
this means you are losing the richness and complexity of qualitative data

-researches subjective opinions may influence the content analysis
-categorising and coding may be bias by what the researcher personally believed to be important
-this means the findings may not br trustworthy or valid as they initially appear.