T3 Slide W8 Flashcards
Define Non Experimental Research
Ways of answering research questions without direct manipulation of variables
Descriptive Research
- asks about the characterisits of a unit or event
- describes the current state of affairs at the time of the study
- do not include treatment or control group
- do not make causal comparisons
- provides a picture of what is occurring not why it occurs
- there are many descriptive methods but psychology mostly use survey and correlational methods.
Survey Research
- Examines the frequency and relationships between psychological and sociological variables
- Assumes attitudes, beliefs, prejudices
Interview Research
- Basic tool of survey
- an “oral questionnaire”
- two types of questions
- Structured questions require an explicit answer
- Open-ended questions allow the interviewee to elaborate
Interview Research
- Interview Protocols vary in their degree of structure
- Unstructured Interviews
- Semi-structured Interviews
- Structured interviews
Interview Research - Unstructured Interviews
Are characterised by a lack of predetermined schedule; they are exploratory.
N.B., although flexible, this comes at the cost of reliability and difficulties in bias and analyses.
Interview Research - Semi-Structured Interviews
- uses a standardised interview
- uses a standardised interview schedule.
- contains pre-set questions
- however, it is not reliant on the rigorous application of the schedule (often uses probes).
Interview Research - Structured Interviews
- Rely on a fixed and ordered set of questions
- no room for probing
Critical Decision Method Probes (Klein et al., 1989) - (11)
- Cues
- Knowledge
- Analogues
- Goals
- Options
- Basis
- Experience
- Aiding
- Time Pressure
- Situation Assessment
- Hypotheticals
Critical Decision Method Probes (Klein et al., 1989) -
Cues
What were you seeing, hearing, smelling?
Critical Decision Method Probes (Klein et al., 1989) -
Knowledge
What information did you use in making this decision and how was it obtained?
Critical Decision Method Probes (Klein et al., 1989) -
Analogues
Were you reminded of any previous experience?
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Goals
What were your specific goals at this time?
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Options
What other courses of action were considered by or available to you
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Basis
How was this option selected/other options rejected?
What rules were being followed?
Critical Decision Method Probes (Klein et al., 1989) -
Experience
What specific training or experience was necessary or helpful in making this decision?
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Aiding
If the decision was not the best, what training, knowledge or information could have helped
Critical Decision Method Probes (Klein et al., 1989) -
Time Pressure
How much time-pressure was involved in making this decision?
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Situation Assessment
Imagine that you were asked to describe the situation to someone else, how would you summarise the situation?
Critical Decision Method Probes (Klein et al., 1989) -
Hypotheticals
If a key feature of the situation had been different, what difference would it have made to your decision?
Interview Research - Advantages
- Flexibility in collecting data
- Interviewer can set tone and agenda
Interview Research - Disadvantages
- Expensive
- Lacks in anonymity
- Responses may not be honest
- Lack standardised questions
Ten Commandments of Interviewing (Salkind, 2011)
- Do not begin the interview cold
- Remember that you are there to get information
- Be Direct
- Dress appropriately
- Find a quiet place to conduct the interview
- If your interviewee doesn’t give a satisfactory answer the first time don’t give up
- Use a tape recorder
- Make the interviewee a part of the interview
- Practice
- Thank interviewees for their help and ask for questions.
How to do Survey Research
- Clarify the objectives
- Identify a sample
- Define a method
- How will the questions be structured?
- How will the sample be defined?
- How will the data be collected?
- What types of questions will be asked? - Coding and scoring
Survey Research - Advantages
- Permits good generalisation
- Efficient data collection
- Can yield very accurate results
Survey Research - Disadvantages
- Bias
- Interviewer Bias
- Interviewee Bias
- Non Response
Correlation
- Examines the relationship between two variables
- Correlational relationships can be displayed using a scatterplot
- correlation does not imply causality, just because two things correlate does not imply causality
Scatterplot
- Plots scores on one variable plotted agains scores on a second variable
- Work best with Interval or Ratio measures
- can reveal different types of relationships
Correlation: Scatterplots
- Show how well two measures agree with each other
- Can show positive relationships, negative relationships or zero relationships
- Different relationships can vary anywhere from perfect positive to perfect negative
Correlation Coefficient
- is used to measure the degree of correlation between variables
- Pearson’s product-moment correlation (r) most common
- Used when variables are at least the interval level of a measurement
Correlation Coefficient - Pearson’s r
- r is used to gauge the strength of the relationship
- r can range from +1 to -1
- whether the sign is + or - does not indicate the strength, only the direction of the relationships
- +1 is a perfect positive relationship
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