Research Methods Part 3 Flashcards
When should deception only be used?
What are to other important parts of deception?
What must be ensured concerning protection from harm?
What can’t we expose them to?
What two things must we always do after the investigation?
What can’t be published about the participants?
What are four ways to deal with ethical requirement?
What is not everyone capable of giving?
When do we therefore have to give special care and why?
If there is no alternative
- We should seek approval from an ethics committee
- Debriefing doesn’t justify deception
Participants psychological and physiological safety must be ensured
Greater risk than their normal life experiences
- Debrief the participants after a study to allow them to ask questions
- And for the researcher to remind them again of their right to withdraw
They must not be identifiable in published research
- Sign a formal consent form
- A full and thorough debrief
- The right to withdraw
- Anonymised through pseudonyms
Informed consent
When studying vulnerable people who may not understand the implications of taking part in a study.
What is prior general consent?
Who is then accepted?
What is presumptive consent?
When do we assume their views are representative of others?
What is retrospective consent (full detail)?
What are the participants then subject to?
What is the definition of pilot study?
What is the aim of pilot studies?
Why are pilot studies an important part of the design process?
The researcher informs the potential participants that the study may involve deception
Only those participants agreeing that this would be acceptable to them are selected to take part
Individuals similar to the sample (ie also from target population) are given full details, including true aim and use of deception
If they agree that they would not have minded being deceived in this way, we assume their views are representative of others
During debrief, participants are asked for their consent. Not usually aware that they have been pat of the study
Subject to deception
A small-scale trial run of the actual investigation- the investigation might be an experiment or any one of the other methods
The aim is to check that procedures, materials, measuring scales etc, work and to allow the researcher to make changes or modifications if necessary
A pilot study may involve a handful of participants, rather than the total number, in order to “road-test” the procedure and check the investigation runs smoothly.
What are single-blind procedures?
What else may be kept from participants?
What is this an attempt to control?
What are double-blind procedures?
Who often conducts these investigations?
What are double-blind procedures often an important feature of?
What is control used for?
What are the two types of groups/conditions?
When does the researcher conclude that the cause of this effect was the independent variable?
Participants will sometimes not be told the aim of the research at the beginning of the study
Other details may be kept from participants, such as which condition of the experiment they are in or whether there is another condition at all
An attempt to control for the confounding effects of demand characteristics
In a double-blind procedure neither the participants nor the researcher who conducts the study is aware of the aims of the investigation
A third party conducts the investigation without knowing its main purpose
Drug trials
Control is used in many experimental studies for purpose of comparison
Experimental group/condition; control group/condition
If the change in behaviour of experimental group is significantly greater than that of the control group.
What is the observational method?
What two observations does this include?
What are naturalistic observations?
What is a positive of naturalistic observations?
What is a negative of naturalistic observations?
What are controlled observations?
What is a positive of controlled observations?
What is a negative of controlled observations?
This refers to the use of observation as the research method to investigate behaviour
Naturalistic and controlled observations
This is where the researcher leaves everything as it would normally be and does not interfere with the environment
It allows the researcher to observe behaviour as it would normally occur
However, it means that the researcher can not control for any extraneous variables
This is where the researcher tries to control for possible extraneous variables (or influencing factors) by controlling aspects of the environment
This allows for some control of variables giving greater internal validity
However, it loses ecological validity as it is not a real-life setting, so it is not necessarily possible to generalise findings to real life situations.
What are overt observations?
Why might this be necessary?
What are two positives of overt observations?
What are two negatives of overt observations?
What are covert observations?
What are two positives of covert observations?
What are two negatives of covert observations?
When participants are aware they are being observed
To observe behaviours that may otherwise be unobservable
+ This reduces ethical issues as pps are aware they are being observed and there is no invasion of privacy
+ It also means researcher can place themselves in the best location to view behaviour as they are not trying to remain hidden
- If pps know they are being observed, there is a risk of demand characteristics and individual may change their behaviour
- This means the research is likely to lack ecological validity as pps are not behaving as they would in real life
When participants are unaware they are being observed (the researcher is hidden)
+ This method allows a researcher to observe behaviour as it would normally occur, so increasing the ecological validity
+ It also increases demand characteristics as pps do not know they are being observed so will not change their behaviour
- However, their are ethical issues so BPS guidelines dictate that this is only allowable where those observed would expect to be observed by strangers
- The researcher may have trouble viewing behaviour as they are trying to remain hidden.
What is a participant observation?
What are two positives of participant observations?
What are two negatives of participant observations?
What is a non-participant observation?
What are two positives of non-participant observations?
What are two negatives of non-participant observations?
A researcher may participate in an activity in order to observe the behaviour of participants more closely
+ This allows researchers to observe behaviour that may be difficult to gain access to otherwise
+ It may also help the researcher to see behaviours close up that might hard to observe from afar
- It may make their observations more subjective and they may have to rely on memory
- The researcher’s presence may change the behaviour observed leading to investigator effects
The researcher merely observed behaviour from the outside
+ This approach reduces investigator effects as the researcher is not part of the process
+ The researcher can record all behaviours as they see them without relying on memory, making their observations potentially more objective and accurate
- However, it may be harder to observe all participants equally well
- It may be difficult to access certain types of behaviour.
Why is continuous observation and recording of all behaviours usually not possible?
What is event sampling?
Why is all data recorded in sampling procedures?
What is time sampling?
What is a positive of time sampling?
What is a negative of time sampling?
What are unstructured observations?
What is a positive of unstructured observations?
What is a negative of unstructured observations?
As there is too much information so researchers must decide on a sampling method
Consists of recording all specified behaviours (events) every time they occur
So key data should not be missed as there are no intervals in the observation period
Consists of observing behaviours at specific times for the duration of the observation period
+ Provides consistent data if there is lots going on and it would be hard/impossible to record all behaviours using event sampling
- Not all data is recorded so key data could be missed in the intervals between recordings
In these circumstances the researcher records all relevant behaviour but has no system
+ It may be useful as a starting point in area where there is no previous research and no one is quite sure what behaviours will be presented
- The lack of structure means that inter observer reliability will be low and it will be difficult to replicate the study.
What are structured observations?
What is a positive of structured observations?
What is a negative of structured observations?
What is inter-observing reliability?
What is the full explanation for behavioural categories?
What two things should each category of this be?
What should they also be?
Where psychologists use various methods to structure their observations
+ Using a structured approach follows researchers to obtain meaningful data that can be analysed. It also increases reliability as researchers can use pre agreed systems that can be replicated
- This is not always possible in situations which have not previously been investigated as researchers might not know what kinds of behaviours they are likely to observe
Consistency across the observations of all observers
In order to carry out systematic, reliable, observations, researchers try to split the behaviour they want to study into observable units
Mutually exclusive (behaviours should fit in only one category) and should cover all possibilities
Easily observable, object behaviours that could not be confused.
