research methods in developmental psych

Question 1

what are cross sectional designs

Answer 1

-groups of children of different ages are tested, the behaviours of interest are compared between the groups

Question 2

what is a weakness of cross sectional designs

Answer 2

-potential cohort effects: e.g undergraduate experience is different to that of 3rd year students due to covid
-attrition

Question 3

what is the simple developmental assessment task

Answer 3

-example of a cross sectional design
-picture naming task
-younger child has less lang. skills compared to the older child who speaks more clearly and has further lang. skills

Question 4

what is a longitudinal design

Answer 4

same pp tested several times as they grow older

Question 5

weakness of longitudinal design

Answer 5

attrition issues as people may drop out, hard to get people to come back multiple times

Question 6

what is sequential designs

Answer 6

-pp of different ages are selected and followed up over time
-comparisons made for individuals over time and between groups of children the same age
-combines the best of cross sectional and longitudinal

Question 7

weakness of sequential

Answer 7

hard to run and issues with attrition

Question 8

what are observational methodologies

Answer 8

-solution to lack of validity in verbal reports
-naturalistic observations made in common everyday environments e.g nurseries, home etc to increase ecological validity

Question 9

what are the two types of observations

Answer 9

time sampling: frequency of a behaviour at a certain time interval
-event sampling: recording frequency of behaviour as it occurs

Question 10

weaknesses of observations

Answer 10

-observer bias: if observer aware of hypoth, aims, methodology etc
-reactivity: pp may change behaviour if being watched

Question 11

weaknesses of observations

Answer 11

-observer bias: if observer aware of hypoth, aims, methodology etc
-reactivity: pp may change behaviour if being watched

Question 12

what are case studies

Answer 12

detailed data about individuals

Question 13

what is an example of a case study

Answer 13

-Deb Roy birth of a word TED talk
-wired house with cameras and microphones to record almost every waking moment of his son’s first years to see the development of his language

Question 14

limitations of case studies

Answer 14

not always generalisable to the wider population

Question 15

ethical considerations in child research

Answer 15

-children considered ‘special population’ due to their lack of ability to understand the nature of a study
-many unis require a DBS to study children
-ethics board/BPS code review study, decisions made by committee not researchers

Question 16

consent in child research

Answer 16

-children not able to provide informed consent so must be given by parent or guardian
-some studies ask for child to sign an assent form but this is not informed consent

Question 17

confidentiality in child research

Answer 17

the study must be appropriate by concealing personal info and not cause any danger to the pp