Research Methods I Pt. 3 New Materials

Question 1

Quasi-Experimental Research

Answer 1

Research which manipulates the independent variable but does not randomly assign participants to conditions or orders thereof.

Question 2

Nonequivalent Groups Design

Answer 2

Between-subjects design where participants are not randomly assigned conditions, the groups in question have an important difference between them. Has a number of extraneous variables, steps can be taken to minimize these extraneous variables

Question 3

Pretest-Posttest Design

Answer 3

Dependent variable measured before treatment and then after treatment, within-subjects but order is not counterbalanced. If posttest is better than pretest then logical to conclude treatment may be responsible but not the definitive answer.

Question 4

History

Answer 4

One reason why posttest scores are better and sees other events occurring between tests causing an improvement.

Question 5

Maturation

Answer 5

The other reason why posttest scores improve, sees participants changing in inevitable ways due to learning and growth.

Question 6

Regression to the mean

Answer 6

Statistical fact that individuals scoring extremely on variable will score less extremely on next occasion and could point to improvement or lack of in pretest-posttest design.

Question 7

Spontaneous Remission

Answer 7

Tendency for medical and psychological disorders to improve over time with no treatment.

Question 8

Interrupted Time Series design

Answer 8

Variant of pretest-posttest design. Time series see measurements taken at fixed intervals of time, interrupted has the time series interrupted by the treatment.

Question 9

Combination Designs

Answer 9

Type of design combining both nonequivalent and pretest-posttest design, if changes were result of maturation or history then scores should be similar in amount of change.

Question 10

Qualitative Research

Answer 10

Begin with less clear question or hypothesis, collect large amounts of unfiltered data from small number of people and describe data with nonstatistical techniques, less concerned with general conclusions, more interested in experience of research participants.

Question 11

Purpose of qualitative research

Answer 11

To generate novel and interesting research questions, detailed descriptions of behaviours in situations, and communicating experiences of group.

Question 12

Data Collection

Answer 12

Can involve interviews, naturalistic observation, archival data, artwork.
Most common is interviews can be unstructured asking general questions to have participant to talk of interest. Can be structured with a strict script, or semi-structured with some consistent questions and can ask more detailed questions.

Question 13

Focus Groups

Answer 13

Small groups of people participating in interviews focused on topic or issue, interaction is focus to bring information that one-on-one interview could not, group dynamics are at play and so it helps to be aware of them.

Question 14

Participant Observation

Answer 14

Researchers participate in group/situation being studied, collect unstructured data, notes, documents, photos, and rationale has important information only able to be interpreted by active member.

Question 15

Grounded Theory

Answer 15

Identify ideas repeated throughout data, organize into smaller number of broad themes, then write a theoretical narrative or interpretation of data in term of the themes identified. Interpretation focus on experience of participants and supported by quotes.

Question 16

Debate between Quantitative and Qualitative

Answer 16

Cons of quantitative: lack objectivity, difficult in reliability and validity, no generalization other than those studied.
Quantitative cons: Overlook richness of human behaviour and experience, focus on simpler question with easily quantifiable variables.

Question 17

Mixed-Methods Research

Answer 17

Combines quantitative and qualitative, take a general observation is a specific group which is then turned into a testable hypothesis by the quantitative group.

Question 18

Triangulation

Answer 18

Use both quantitative and qualitative methods at same to and compare results, if converge on same general conclusion, reinforce and enrich each other.

Question 19

Single-Subject Research

Answer 19

Quantitative research studying behaviour of small number of participants, can be 2-10, contrasted with group research with large numbers of participants and examine behaviour in group means, Standard deviation, etc.

Question 20

What do Single-subject research studies contrast?

Answer 20

Qualitative research, focus on objective behaviour with manipulation and control, structured data and quantitative analysis.
Case Studies, no determining whether specific events are causally related, can be unusual in some way and not representative of people in a general sense.

Question 21

Assumptions in Single-Subject Research

Answer 21

1) Focus intensely on behaviour of individual participants, individual could have side effect which would be hidden in group study, side effect may be of interest.
2) Manipulate independent variables measure dependent variable, control extraneous variables to find causal relationships.
3) Study strong and consistent effects with biological or social importance, applied researchers look at significant treatments on behaviours which can generalized to the real-world, a social validity.

Question 22

Experimental Analysis of Behaviour

Answer 22

B.F. Skinner saw it as a subfield of psychology which relies on single-subject research,

Question 23

Applied behavioural analysis

Answer 23

Roel in contemporary research on developmental disabilities, education, organizational behaviour, and health, and other areas.

Question 24

Who else uses Single-Subject Research?

Answer 24

Not only behavioural perspective but theoretical perspectives like cognition, psychodynamic, or humanistic to study therapeutic changes with individual clients and document improvement.

Question 25

Features of Single-Subject Designs

Answer 25

Dependent variable is measured repeatedly over time at intervals

2) Study is divided into phases and test participant in one condition per phase.
3) Change from one condition to next depends on participant’s behaviour, will wait for consistent behaviour before changing- steady stage strategy were dependent variable reaches steady state to make changes easier to detect.

Question 26

Reversal Designs

Answer 26

AKA ABA design has phase A, baseline established, then phase B begins with treatment introduced, wait for steady state, then remove treatment until steady state once more, phase A. Can reintroduce treatment (ABAB), then go back to baseline (ABABA)

Question 27

Why Reversal Design?

Answer 27

Possible for something else changing at time of treatment being introduced which caused change. If dependent variable changes with introduction and removal of treatment, then treatment is more likely the cause.

Question 28

Multiple-treatment reversal design

Answer 28

Has baseline established, then introduce first treatment, then a new treatment which is different than first a ABCACB design.

Question 29

Alternating Treatments Design

Answer 29

Two or more treatments are alternated quickly on regular interval/schedule, quick and effective in comparing treatments when they are fast acting.

Question 30

Problem with reversal design

Answer 30

If treatment works, then unethical to remove it.

Dependent variable may not return to baseline when treatment is removed.

Question 31

Multiple-baseline design

Answer 31

Has baseline established for several participants, then treatment introduced for each one at a different time. If dependent variable changes when treatment is introduced at different times then unlikely to be a coincidence.

Other version sees multiple baselines for same participant with different dependent variables with treatments at different times for each dependent variable.

Third version has multiple baselines in different settings for one participant, if change is found after treatment in each setting then confidence in treatment grows.

Question 32

Visual Inspectino

Answer 32

Data-analysis in single-subject research, plotting individual data points, observe and make judgments about whether independent variable had effect on dependent variable.

Question 33

Level

Answer 33

Changes in level of dependent variable from condition to condition sees it being higher or lower than other condition pointing to an effect.

Question 34

Trend

Answer 34

Gradual decreases/increases in dependent variable across observations, if change with change in conditions then points to an effect, telling when trend changes directions as well.

Question 35

Latency

Answer 35

Time taken for dependent variable to change after conditions have changed, points to treatment being responsible once more.

Question 36

Results of Single-Subject Research

Answer 36

Statistical procedures can be used with means and standard deviations.

Alternatively can compute percentage of nonoverlapping data or PND for participants, the most extreme response compared to most extreme response in relevant control condition. The greater the PND the stronger the treatment effect.

Question 37

Debate between group-/single-research

Answer 37

Single-research con: visual inspection not sensitive to detect weak effects, unreliable with different conclusions, and results cannot be clearly or efficiently summarized and compared across studies.

Steady state strategy was argued to minimize most of the problems, reduce noise or control extraneous variables.

Group Research Cons: Focus on means is misleading, strong positive effect on half people exposed to it and strong negative effect in other half would be cancelled out so treatment has no effects.

Rebuttal: Emphasize importance of examining distributions of individual scores, detected by histogram of data, within-subjects study allows observation at individual level and specify effects.

Question 38

External Validity in single vs. group research

Answer 38

Single Cons: Difficult to know whether results in few participants can be generalized to population.

Rebuttal: Strong and consistent effects are likely generalized to others in population, even try to replicate with slightly different group.

Group Cons: Studying large group does not solve issue of generalizing to other individuals. Small, medium and large effects in a group would come out as medium effect but when it comes to the individual we can not be sure what kind of effect will actually occur. Also requires careful consideration of similar peoples and situations studied to population of participants and situations.

Question 39

Complementary Methods

Answer 39

Single Research is good for effectiveness on individuals with a focus on strong, consistent, biological or socially important effects, and when behaviour is interesting.

Group research is ideal for effective treatments at group level, allows to detect weak effects, can help refine treatment and produce larger meaningful effect.

Both methods present different research traditions, analysis of behaviour look to conceptualize research questions in amenable ways to single-subject approach. Others conceptualize to group approach.