Research Methods: set 2

Question 1

State the different types of observation techniques.

Answer 1

Controlled and naturalistic
Overt and covert
Participant and non-participant

Question 2

What is a controlled observation?

Answer 2

Controlled observation takes place in an artificial environment where the researcher can control the extraneous variables.

Question 3

State pros and cons of controlled observation.

Answer 3

Pros: High control over extremist variables because the observation is in a controlled environment increasing the validity of the study.
High reliability as it is controlled this means it is easy to repeat in the exact same conditions to see if the researcher can gain consistent results.
Cons: Low ecological validity because the research is carried out in a controlled and artificial environment which means it is more difficult to generalize the results beyond the setting of the observation, decreasing the validity of the observation.

Question 4

What is naturalistic observation?

Answer 4

Naturalistic observation takes place in a real life environment for the participants. The behaviours are taking place where they would normally occur.

Question 5

State pros and cons of naturalistic observation.

Answer 5

Pros: High ecological validity because the research is carried out in a real life environment which means the results are easier to generalise beyond the setting of the observation, increasing the validity of the observation.
Cons: Low control of our extremist variables because the observation is carried out in a real life/natural environment with low levels of control. This decreases the validity of the observation.
Low reliability because the observation is conducted in a real life environment which makes it difficult to repeat the study in the exact same conditions to see if the researcher gains consistent results.

Question 6

What is overt observation?

Answer 6

An overt observation is when participants are aware that their behaviour is being observed and so are aware of the purpose of the research. The researcher is clearly visible to them.

Question 7

State pros and cons of overt observation.

Answer 7

Pros: The researcher can gain informed consent because the participants are aware they are being observed so the researcher can get their permission.
Cons: There is a high chance of demand characteristics because the participants are aware they are being observed so may change their behaviour due to the presence of the researcher decreasing the validity of the research.

Question 8

What is covert observation?

Answer 8

Covert observation is when participants are not aware they are taking part in research. This may be done through a hidden camera or a two-way mirror

Question 9

State pros and cons of covert observation.

Answer 9

Pros: Less chance of demand characteristics because the participants are not aware they are being observed so it will not change their behavior as a result of the researcher.
Cons: Lack of informed consent as the participants do not know they are being observed so have not given their permission. This devalues the research and decreases psychology’s reputation.

Question 10

What is participant observation?

Answer 10

Participant observation is when the researcher joins in and becomes part of the group they are studying.

Question 11

State pros and cons of participant observation.

Answer 11

Pros: The researcher can gain an understanding of the behaviour as they are part of the group. They are more likely to understand the motivations behind the behaviors demonstrated by the group.
Cons: A greater chance of researcher bias as the researcher is involved in the group. It may be harder to be objective when reporting their findings because they have built up relation ships with the members of the group.

Question 12

What is non-participant observation?

Answer 12

Non-participant observation is when the researcher does not join in with the group they are studying and watches the group from afar.

Question 13

State pros and cons of non-participant observation.

Answer 13

Pros: Reduced chance of researcher bias as the researchers not involved in the group. This means they are more likely to be objective when reporting their findings because they have not built up a relationship with the participants.
Cons: May miss behaviours and motivation for behaviours as they are not part of the group. They may be less likely to understand the reasons behind this behaviour as they are not experiencing situations first-hand, and are just observing from a distance.

Question 14

What is inter-observer reliability and how ot check for it.

Answer 14

Inter-observer reliability is when researchers want to see if their behavior categories are reliable. In order to do this we use a second observer to check if the results are the same as the original observer.
To check for inter-observer reliability, 2 observers should use the same behavior categories, watch the same behavior for the same amount of time and compare their data using a correlation. If they are similar, they have a high inter-observer reliability.

Question 15

What are the 2 types of self-report methods?

Answer 15

Questionnaires and interviews.

Question 16

What are questionnaires?

Answer 16

Questionnaires are a prepared list of written questions to which a person responds to. Can be done face-to-face, over the phone, on the internet or by post.

Question 17

State pros and cons of questionnaires.

Answer 17

Pros: A strength of using questionnaires as a research method is that they can be easily distributed to a wide range of people. This means the research can gather lots of results which are easier to generalize to the target population.
Cons: One weakness of questionnaires is that they are open to social desirability bias. This is because people may lie to present themselves in the best possible light, reducing the validity of the findings.
Another weakness is that doing questionnaires the researcher is usually not present so if a participant does not understand a question they cannot ask what it means. Similarly, the researcher cannot ask a participant what they mean by an answer which may leave them confused and therefore misunderstand.

Question 18

What is an interview? and state 3 types of interviews.

Answer 18

An interview involves a face-to-face conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee, however, they can be conducted over the phone or via text.This the main thing is that the conversation is happening in real-time.
Structured interview- The interviewer reads out a list of prepared questions to the interviewee. They are following an exact script.
Unstructured interview- there is a general aim of the conversation with maybe a few questions thought about in advance. The interviewer develops a new question based on the answers given.
Semi structured interview- questions have been set in advance but during the interview, the interviewer will ask follow up questions at certain points based on the answers given and then we’ll return back to the scripted questions.

Question 19

State the pros and cons of interviews.

Answer 19

Pros: one strength of an interview is that participants can ask for clarification if they do not understand a question as the researcher is present during the interview, or the researcher could ask for clarification if they do not understand a response.
Cons: One weakness of interviews is that they are open to social desirability bias. This is because people may lie to present themselves in the possible light, reducing the validity of the findings.
Interviews are more time consuming and expensive compared to questionnaires as the researcher has to talk to everyone individually full. This means it is difficult to gather results from a large sample of people in order to generalize.

Question 20

What is an open question and state pros and cons.

Answer 20

Open questions or questions with no fixed response, which participants can answer using their own words. They can express their views of their own behaviour and responses, tend to include greater detail.
Pros: open questions provide more in-depth and detailed answers because they allow participants to expand on the topic which can increase the validity of the results.
Cons: Open questions are difficult to analyse because there is a wide range of different answers from participants.

Question 21

What is a closed question? State the pros and cons.

Answer 21

Close questions are questions that have responses which are fixed. For example, yes or no answers or rating scales.
Pros: questions are easier to analyze because you can count responses which is quicker.
Cons: Closed questions do not allow participants to expand on their answers so the researcher may never know why the participant feels the way they do which can lower the validity of the results.

Question 22

What is a case study? State pros and cons.

Answer 22

A case study is an independent investigation based on a single individual, a group, an event or an institution e.g. prison. Researchers are interested in their/its unique experience. Case studies tend to involve people or events that are usual, where or unexpected full sthey can also be based on everyday experiences too, such as how a new mother adjusts to going back to work.
Pros: One strength of a case study is that they provide rich and detailed information about a person, group or event full sthis is because they use qualitative such as interviews and questionnaires which allow researchers to gather a deep understanding about behavior, increasing the validity of their study.
Another strength of a case study is that it allows researchers to study where an unusual behaviours. This would be difficult to do in a lab experiment because the variables will be hard to manipulate e.g. the effects of brain damage or memory loss therefore increasing our understanding of human behaviour.

Cons: One weakness of using case studies is that they have low population validity. It’s because they are only based on a person or a small group of people and sometimes that have unique experiences. Makes it difficult to generalize the findings to a wider population.
Another weakness of a case study is that the data can be subjective. The findings and conclusions from a case study are based on the researchers own interpretation of the case. It is hard for another researcher to replicate the case study and find the same results which reduces reliability.

Question 23

What is a correlation?

Answer 23

A correlation shows an association/relationship/link between two co-variables. They are plotted on a scattergraph.

Question 24

What is a difference between an experiment and a correlation?

Answer 24

An experiment has an IV and a DV. The researcher manipulates the ivy to see the effect on DV and therefore can establish cause and effect. Whereas, a correlation only shows an association/relationship/link between two co-variables. There is no manipulation.

Question 25

State the 3 types of correlations.

Answer 25

Positive correlation- As one co-variable increases so does the other co-variable.

Negative correlation-has one co-variable increases the other co-variable decreases.

Zero/no correlation- there is no relationship between the co-variables

Question 26

State pros and cons of correlations.

Answer 26

Pros: One strength of a correlation is that there is no manipulation of the variables so it is appropriate to use when studying sensitive issues that may raise ethical issues or when it would be inappropriate to manipulate a situation e.g. is there a relationship between addiction and stress? Whereas in an experiment it would be impractical and unethical to investigate a cause and effect.
Relations are often used as a starting point to assess possible patterns. If a relationship is found between the 2 variables it could be suggested that we can predict one variable may impact on the other. Therefore, this may add further experimental research into the topic or save time and money if no relationship is found before researchers commit to an experimental study.
Cons: One limitation of correlations is that it is difficult to establish cause and effect between the 2 variables as only a relationship is found between the 2 variables. Therefore, other extremist variables could have been responsible for the relationship found.
Another limitation of correlations is that they can be misinterpreted by the media and society when a link has been found between 2 variables. Some may assume a conclusion can be made about the causes for the relationship which can then be misused by the public to support or contradict an argument.

Question 27

What are the four types of data?

Answer 27

Quantitative data
Qualitative data
Primary data
Secondary data

Question 28

What is quantitative data?

Answer 28

Quantitative data is data that is expressed numerically. This type of data can be gained from individual scores in experiments, such as the number of words recalled or the number of seconds it takes to complete a task or from self-report methods and the use of closed questions. The data is open to be analysed and can be easily converted into graphs, charts etc.

Question 29

State pros and cons of quantitative data.

Answer 29

Pros: Quantitative data is easier to analyze which allows comparisons to be drawn between groups of data and patterns and trends to be established. This means that it may be easier to make conclusions about behavior.
Cons: Quantitative data lacks depth and meaning as it prevents participants from being able to develop their thoughts, feelings and opinions on a given subject. Therefore, quantitative data may lack vital detail which reduces the validity of the data.

Question 30

What is qualitative data?

Answer 30

Qualitative data is expressed in words/is descriptive data. It may take the form of a written description of the thoughts, feelings and opinions of participants such as from notes recorded within an interview, a diary entry or answers from open questions in a questionnaire. Qualitative methods are concerned with the interpretation of people’s written words.

Question 31

State pros and cons of qualitative data.

Answer 31

Pros: Qualitative data provides rich detail and depth, which allows participants to develop their thoughts and feelings on a given subject. This provides a greater understanding of the behaviour being studied and increases validity of the research.
Cons: Qualitative data is harder to analyse as it is difficult to summarise in a graph to establish patterns and trends. This opens the data up to potential researcher bias is based upon their own subjective interpretations of the data.

Question 32

What is primary data?

Answer 32

Primary data is gathered directly/first-hand from the participants themselves and is specific to the aim of the study. Data which is gathered by conducting an experiment, questionnaire, interview or observation would be classed as primary data.

Question 33

State pros and cons of primary data.

Answer 33

Pros: Primary data is collected first-hand from the participant specifically for the aim of the research which allows researchers to specifically target the information that they require and organise an experiment in a way that suits them and their aim.
Cons: Primary data is conducted by the researcher themselves which involves time and effort to obtain the data as well as analyzing the findings.

Question 34

What is secondary data?

Answer 34

Secondary data is data that has previously been collected by a third party not specifically for the aim of the study, and then used by the researcher. Such examples of pre-existing data are government statistics.

Question 35

State pros and cons of secondary data.

Answer 35

Pros: Secondary data is easily accessed and requires minimal effort to obtain. The researcher might find that information that he/she wants to collect already exists therefore there is no need to collect primary data.
Cons: Secondary data may be poor quality or have inaccuracies. It may appear to be valuable at first but could be outdated or incomplete and might not meet the direct needs of the research.

Question 36

What are ethical issues?

Answer 36

Ethical issues are concerned with what is morally right and wrong when using participants in research. They occur when there is conflict between the needs of the research and the rights of the participants. Ethical guidelines that researchers must follow are set out by the British psychological society.

Question 37

What is deception and how do we overcome it?

Answer 37

Deception is when the participants are not told the true aim of the study deliberately, to prevent participants from showing demand characteristics.
To overcome this we must debrief the research. This means a post research interview where the participant is told the true aims of the research and full details of the study are given e.g. knowledge of any other experimental groups.

Question 38

What is informed consent and how do we overcome it?

Answer 38

Informed consent is where participants give permission to take part in the study after being informed of the true aims of the research.
Participants should be given a consent form at the beginning of the research, detailing the true nature and the aims of the study so they can make a decision about whether to take part. If they agree they will be asked to sign a consent form. A child under 16 cannot give their consent so we need to gain consent from their parents. If consent wasn’t gained from the participants in the study a debrief should be given and participants can give retrospective consent. Participants may wish to withdraw their data if they do not consent.

Question 39

What is protection from harm and how can we overcome it?

Answer 39

Protection from harm is participants being protected psychologically and physically. They must not be placed at more risk than they would have been in everyday life.
Cardiff pins should be offered the right to withdraw at any point. Participants must be reminded that their behavior is typical/normal of the general public. In extreme cases if participants feel embarrassed or stressed as a result of the procedures used in the research, they should be offered counselling (if relevant).

Question 40

What is confidentiality and how can we overcome it?

Answer 40

Confidentiality is ensuring participant details and data remain anonymous so they cannot be identified in the research.
All personal information should be kept anonymous. For example use of numbers, initials or fake names. Psychologists should not share their data with other researchers unless the participants have been told.