Topic 1 (introduction) lecture 4 (methods used in dev. research)

Question 1

when are correlational designs useful in developmental psychology?

Answer 1

• when we want to describe developmental occurances as opposed to assessing causal mechanisms

Question 2

what is a pro and con of using experimental designs in developmental psychology?

Answer 2

pro= can establish causality
con= ensuring ecological validity is difficult

Question 3

what are 3 benefits of longitudinal designs?

Answer 3

• we can explore causations not just correlations
• we can look at impact over time
• we can minimise issues in relation to comparing groups of different ages

Question 4

what are 5 disadvantages of longitudinal designs?

Answer 4

• they require a lot of time, money and resources
• participants tend to drop out
• they can be influenced by major events affecting everyone, e.g covid
• participants may be influenced by knowledge that they are part of a study
• context quickly becomes outdated. E.g what was the case for a child in 2000’s may not be the case for children in 2020’s

Question 5

what is a cross sectional design in developmental psychology and what are advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 5

• when you compare participants of different age groups at the same point in time

PROS

• require less time and money than longitudinal designs
• less risk of participant drop out
• less risk of the influence of major events

CONS

• less able to make conclusions about causation or impact over time
• can be issues with comparing groups

Question 6

what are pros and cons of using self reports to collect data?

Answer 6

• good for gaining information about participants own feelings
• however it relies on participants having insight and understanding of questions

Question 7

what is a pro and con of using family, teacher and peer reports to collect data?

Answer 7

• good for collecting information over a variety of contexts and time points
• however it is prone to biases