RESEARCH METHODS- in Psychopathology Flashcards
Demographics of a Disorder
Prevalence
Lifetime prevalence
Gender distribution
Age of onset
Prevalence =
no. of people with a diagnosis at one particular time
Why are demographics useful?
Identifies trends of disorders on a larger scale (global)
Identifies cross-cultural differences
Identifies potential risks
Helps with allocation of resources
What are limitations of demographics?
Purely correlational- cannot make conclusions about causation
Too broad
Unrepresentative sample
Why are questionnaire samples used?
to find VALID measures of symptoms
If a questionnaire has validity it…
is testing what it is intending on testing
Questionnaires can also be used to find out…. ?
To find out how different disorders may relate/ symptoms overlapping
What is the Dimensional Theory of Disorders?
= idea that psychological disorders lie on a continuum
& that everyone is placed somewhere on it, with thresholds
What is Phenomenology?
= Study of personal experiences
What techniques are used in phenomenology?
Structured interviews
- Allows to get as much detailed info. as possible from patient
LIMITATION OF PHENOMENOLOGY:
Time consuming
- takes time to recruit/collect data
- analyse it
- & credibility checks between researchers also
STRENGTHS OF PHENOMENOLOGY:
Helps examine areas with little previous research
Helps with picking up info. that falls through gaps of questionnaires
Helps with getting wider picture of their experiences/understanding their quality of life
Purpose of retrospective questionnaires?
To see if NEGATIVE things in their past, have led to onset of disorder
LIMITATIONS OF RETROSPECTIVE QUESTIONNAIRES
Memory is unreliable
- memory bias
- memory for negative events may have been suppressed
- possibility of false memories
Evidence of false memories?
‘Did you meet Bugs Bunny at Disneyland?’ Study
Many said Yes.
Because they had seen advertising, making them believe they had!
Purpose of experimental approaches=
To experimentally manipulate a variable in a controlled environment to see if a variable has a causal effect on a psychological disorder
What were Webb&Davey’s aim in their 1993 experiment?
= to see if disgust was involved in people’s fears of animals
What did Webb&Davey find in their disgust study?
Fear increased following disgust-induction to certain animals
When unable to access clinical samples, but want sample similar we can use __ sample?
Analogue
What are analogue samples?
= these are non-clinical individuals with HIGH levels of disorder symptoms, but not over the clinical threshold
Purpose of twin studies?
= to find correlation between pairs of MZ & DZ twins
What % genes do twins share?
MZ= 100%
DZ= 50%
Definition of heritability=
= how much variance of a trait is due to inherited genetics
When is a disorder genetic?
When trait differed between DZ twins, and not in MZ twins
Purpose of genetic association studies=
= to look for similarities/differences between disease status & genetic variation
Purpose of post mortems=
= to study abnormalities in patient’s brains AFTER death
Purpose of brain-imaging studies=
= to study how active certain brain regions are at rest/during tasks
Examples of brain-imaging methods:
fMRIs
EEGs
MRIs
PET scans
What did Reiss find in 2016?
= he found people with Schizophrenia showed lower levels of activity in striatum than control ps. during learning task
Purpose of animal models=
=to study hypothesis using animals, rather than humans
Example of animal study by which researchers?
J.T. Andraesen & Redrobe (2009)
- found that nicotine may enhance antidepressant action
- used mice
What are randomised control trials?
= Compares groups who are randomly allocated to either treatment/no treatment condition
