Research methods in Social Psychology

Question 1

What is Variables?

Answer 1

• Logical set of attributes that can vary

Question 2

What is Independent Variable?

Answer 2

• The variable under the experimenter’s control, or the variable that is intentionally altered between groups

Question 3

What is Dependent Variable?

Answer 3

• the variable that is not manipulated at all,
• the one where the effect happens.
• the dependent variable “depends” on what happens to the independent variable

Question 4

2 characteristics of Experimental Group?

Answer 4

• Compared against the control group.

* it is a test sample.

Question 5

4 characteristics of Control Group?

Answer 5

• Compared against the experimental group(s).
• Isolated from the effects of the IV.
• Helps rule out alternative explanations for the experimental results.
• Not always present in a research.

Question 6

What is Experimental Research?

Answer 6

• Systematic and scientific approach to research in which DVs are measured in relation to IVs.
• Explores cause-and-effect relationships between variables

Question 7

What is Quasi-Experimental Designs?

Answer 7

It is similar to experimental research, except that random assignment to conditions is not used and we and don’t manipulate the variables. Instead, we rely on existing group memberships (e.g., married vs. single).

Question 8

What is Correlational Research?

Answer 8

• A type of descriptive research that involves measuring the association between two variables, or how they go together.

Question 9

5 steps of Scientific method?

Answer 9

• begins with observing the world around us and thinking of an interesting question.
• generating a specific testable prediction, or hypothesis
* Next, researchers must operationalize the variables they are studying by manipulating IV and measuring DV.
• carrying out the research and looking at your results
• Often this then leads to more research.

Question 10

5 Characteristics of an Experiment?

Answer 10

• researchers typically look at behaviour in a very controlled way (either in a laboratory or controlled setting).
• The aim of an experiment is to manipulate, or cause changes, in the independent variable, and observe or measure any impact of those changes in the dependent variable to test to a hypothesis.
• Experiments can then look at causation i.e. changing this led to this change.
• The most important thing about experiments is random assignment
• Researchers should avoid introducing confounds into their experiments.

Question 11

What is Confounds? Give some examples.

Answer 11

Confounds are things that could undermine the ability to draw causal inferences.
Examples of confounds are placebo effects, experimenter expectations and participants demand (trying to please the researcher).

Question 12

8 Characteristics of Correlational research

Answer 12

• researchers passively observe (without controlled variables) and measure phenomena
• can be conducted in a lab or be a field experiment or done via a survey.
• researchers look for patterns of relationships but cannot infer what causes what.
• you can examine only two variables at a time, no more and no less.
• correlation looks for a relationship and how strong that relationship is
• the stronger the correlation is, the tighter the dots in the scatterplot will be arranged along a sloped line.
• The strength of a correlation has to do with how well the two variables align.
• Correlation does not mean causation because a relationship can exist completely by chance or another variable might be influencing the relationship.

Question 13

3 characteristics of Field research?

Answer 13

• It is similar to a experiment conducted in the laboratory or in a controlled environment except it uses real-world situations, such as people shopping at a grocery store.
• people in field experiments do not know they are participating in research, so—in theory—they will act more naturally.
• researcher loses control in this type of research i.e. they are not controlling the variables but looking at relationships.

Question 14

What is Survey research?

Answer 14

• A survey is a way of gathering information, using old-fashioned questionnaires or the Internet. It can reach a larger number of participants at a much lower cost.
• correlational research as well experiment can be carried out using surveys.

Question 15

4 characteristics of Archival research?

Answer 15

• The examination of archives, statistics, and other records such as speeches, letters, or even tweets
• due to the lack of control over the relevant variables this method is typically used as a type of correlational research design
• this technique is especially flexible and often involves less expenditure of time and other resources during data collection.
• shares the higher ecological validity of naturalistic observation, that is, the observations are conducted outside the laboratory and represent real world behaviors.

Question 16

What is Longitudinal studies?

Answer 16

• track the same people over time but can be very costly to do.

Question 17

What is the most influential Longitudinal studies in the world?

Answer 17

the Dunedin multidisciplinary which was launched in 1972.

Question 18

What is the most important longitudinal studies in NZ?

Answer 18

the Health, Work and Retired Study (HART). This study began in 2008 and has been following older adults (50+ years) since this time. This study is being run by Massey university

Question 19

What is Interviews and other methods? Give examples

Answer 19

where you talk to people about their lived worlds. Some of these research designs might be phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography or action research.

Question 20

What is Case studies?

Answer 20

• in-depth exploration of a person or group of people which can include quantitative and qualitative data.
• The researcher may examine only one person, but in doing so, the researcher will put the participant through a very extensive round of tests.
• Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was famous for using this type of methodology

Question 21

What is Quantitative data?

Answer 21

objective approach to seek precise measurement in numerical form where variables are clearly understood and defined in advanced by the research.

Question 22

What is Qualitative data?

Answer 22

Subjective approach to seek in-depth description in narrative form. Researchers may have only rough idea about variables in advance.

Question 23

Why Psychology is important?

Answer 23

• Because its useful for creating interventions that help people live better lives;
• Psychology can also use research to help people across the life course

Question 24

How research in psychology should be done?

Answer 24

• it should be done scientifically (systematically, skeptically, ethnically, where the research design helps you answer your question.

Question 25

Why is important to know the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods?

Answer 25

Because the strength of a scientific finding lies in the strength of its method and research design.

Question 26

Define a quality research.

Answer 26

Quality research should follow a rigorous research design that uses the scientific principles. These principles need to be ethical as well.

Question 27

What are the 5 core ethical principles?

Answer 27

1. Risks/benefits - do no harm, the benefits must outweigh any potential risks
2. Informed Consent - the participant needs to know their rights and responsibilities (what do you think these are!)
3. Confidentiality - information should be kept confidential and participants should not be able to be identified
4. Privacy - where is the research taking place (public or private spaces), what is social media data (private or public?)
5. Deception - are the participants being deceived so that the researcher can try and avoid fake answers? What should you do with participants if you are using deception in your study? Think of an example of where this might be ok?

Question 28

What is science?

Answer 28

Science is the result of systematic and intentional study of the natural world.

Question 29

How hypotheses are tested ?

Answer 29

• there are many ways to test hypotheses. Which method you choose will depend on the type of questions you are asking, as well as what resources are available to you. All methods have limitations, which is why the best research uses a variety of methods.

Question 30

What is operational definitions ?

Answer 30

It is how researchers specifically measure abstract concepts, such as happiness and intelligence.

Question 31

What is random assignment ?

Answer 31

Assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by chance.

Question 32

Why random assignment is important in a experiment?

Answer 32

• Because the distribution of all factors will generally be consistent across the groups, and this means that on average the groups will be relatively equivalent on all factors.
• It is critical to experimentation because if the only difference between the two groups is the independent variable, we can infer that the independent variable is the cause of any observable difference on the dependent variable.

Question 33

Define placebo effect.

Answer 33

Sometimes a person just knowing that he or she is receiving special treatment or something new is enough to cause changes in behavior or perception.

Question 34

Define participant demand.

Answer 34

When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants them to behave.

Question 35

Define experimenter expectations.

Answer 35

When the experimenter’s expectations influence the outcome of a study.

Question 36

What is the way to prevent confounds?

Answer 36

Through double-blind procedure. In a double-blind procedure, neither the participant nor the experimenter knows which condition the participant is in.

Question 37

What is the correlation coefficient?

Answer 37

It provides information about the direction and strength of the association between two variables.
It will be a number between +1 (strongest positive relationship), 0 (no correlation or relationship) and -1 (strong negative relationship).

Question 38

How can we identify a positive correlation?

Answer 38

the two variables go up or down together. In a scatterplot, the dots form a pattern that extends from the bottom left to the upper right

Question 39

How can we identify a negative correlation?

Answer 39

the two variables move in opposite directions. That is, as one variable goes up, the other goes down. The dots extend from the top left to the bottom right.

Question 40

How can we identify a strong correlation?

Answer 40

• The r value of a strong correlation will have a high absolute value. Disregard whether there is a negative sign in front of it.

Question 41

What is Qualitative research design? Examples.

Answer 41

• Qualitative designs allow us to investigate topics we can’t experimentally manipulate (e.g., whether you have a large or small income) . Ex: participant observation, case studies, and narrative analysis.

Question 42

Define Participant observation research.

Answer 42

It involves the researcher embedding him- or herself into a group in order to study its dynamics. However people being observed usually know that the researcher is there to study them.

Question 43

Define Narrative analysis.

Answer 43

In Narrative analysis a researcher will examine people’s personal testimonies in order to learn more about the psychology of those individuals or groups. These stories may be written, audio-recorded, or video-recorded, and allow the researcher not only to study what the participant says but how he or she says it

Question 44

Tradeoffs in Research

Answer 44

• to selecting a method that is appropriate to the question taking into consideration resource availability—how much time and money do you have to invest in the research?
• ethical considerations are another crucial factor

Question 45

Define Social facilitation.

Answer 45

Social facilitation was the first experiment in social psychology published in 1898 by Norman Triplett where he found that the performance on simple or well-rehearsed tasks tends to be enhanced when we are in the presence of others (even when we are not competing against them).

Question 46

Define complex experimental designs.

Answer 46

This method uses multiple independent and/or dependent variables and thus, permit researchers to study both the individual and joint effects of several factors on a range of related situation.

Question 47

What are experience sampling methods .

Answer 47

It is another way of conducting naturalistic observation where participants are notified several times during the day by a pager, wristwatch, or a smartphone app to record data.

Question 48

What is electronically activated recorder?

Answer 48

Its recently developed technique which uses small portable audio recorder or smartphone app to automatically record brief snippets of participants’ conversations throughout the day for later coding and analysis.

Question 49

In Social psychology field experiments, naturalistic observation, and surveys work well to investigate unconscious mental process and behavior?

Answer 49

No. They work well when the thoughts, feelings, or behaviors being investigated are conscious and directly or indirectly observable.

Question 50

What are the 3 different Subtle/Nonconscious Research Methods in Social Psychology?

Answer 50

the implicit association test (IAT), Priming and terror management theory (TMT)

Question 51

What is the implicit association test (IAT)?

Answer 51

It consists in a computer-based task that requires participants to sort a series of stimuli (as rapidly and accurately as possible) into simple and combined categories while their reaction time is measured (in milliseconds).

Question 52

What is priming ?

Answer 52

It is the process by which exposing people to one stimulus makes certain thoughts, feelings or behaviors more salient.

Question 53

What is terror management theory (TMT)?

Answer 53

A theory that proposes that humans manage the anxiety that stems from the unpleasant reality that some day we will all die by embracing firmly to systems of cultural and religious beliefs that give our lives meaning and purpose.

Question 54

What is manipulation check ? Give an example of manipulation check in a TMT study.

Answer 54

It is a measure used to determine whether or not the manipulation of the independent variable has had its intended effect on the participants.
Ex: To verify that the questions about one’s death has the intended effect activating death-related thoughts , right after being primed, participants in a TMT study might be given a word fragment task in which they have to complete words such as COFF_ _ or SK _ _ L

Question 55

What is social or behavioral priming?

Answer 55

It is a field of research that investigates how the activation of one social concept in memory can elicit changes in behavior, physiology, or self-reports of a related social concept without conscious awareness.

Question 56

What are the Research Issues in Social Psychology?

Answer 56

Social psychologists have been guilty of recruiting samples of convenience (Participants that have been recruited in a manner that prioritizes convenience over representativeness) because 96% of participants in psychology studies come from WEIRD cultures and most most of them are also psychology students. However, individual differences and culture plays a key role in social behavior.

Question 57

Define Informed consent in Social Psychology ethics.

Answer 57

People should know when they are involved in research, and understand what will happen to them during the study , along with the freedom to withdraw from the study at any time. However, naturalistic observation in public spaces, or archival research based on public records—do not require obtaining informed consent.

Question 58

Define privacy in Social Psychologic ethics.

Answer 58

• Researchers cannot violate their privacy by observing them in restrooms or other private spaces without their knowledge and consent.
• Researchers also may not identify individual participants in their research reports;
• researchers also have to collect only the data that they really need and have a plan to securely destroy the data after it is no longer needed.

Question 59

Define Risks and Benefits in social psychology ethics .

Answer 59

People who participate in psychological studies should be exposed to risk only if they fully understand the risks and only if the likely benefits clearly outweigh those risks.

Question 60

Define deception in social psychology ethics

Answer 60

Social psychologists sometimes need to using a cover story to avoid demand characteristics by hiding the true nature of the study.
Deception is typically only permitted
(a) when the benefits of the study outweigh the risks, (b) participants are not reasonably expected to be harmed,
(c) the research question cannot be answered without the use of deception, and
(d) participants are informed about the deception as soon as possible, usually through debriefing.

Question 61

What is debriefing?

Answer 61

the process of informing research participants as soon as possible of the purpose of the study, revealing any deceptions, and correcting any misconceptions they might have as a result of participating. Debriefing would therefore be the time to return participants’ moods to normal by having them think happy thoughts, watch a happy video, or listen to happy music

Question 62

What is demand characteristics

Answer 62

Subtle cues that make participants aware of what the experimenter expects to find or how participants are expected to behave.

Question 63

Define Confidentiality in social psychology ethics.

Answer 63

Information that researchers learn about individual participants should not be made public without the consent of the individual.