RESEARCH METHODS

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

Albert Einstein

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH Basic Purpose: To

observe and record behavior.

Case Studies Surveys Correlational

Studies Naturalistic

Observation

CASE STUDY & IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW

Advantages Provides in-depth

information on individuals, or a particular group.

Provides ideas for further research

Disadvantages Cannot always generalize

the results to other individuals (atypical sample)

Cannot draw cause & effect conclusions

Time, expense

Examines one individual in depth in hopes of revealing things true of all people

SURVEYS Advantages

Can obtain descriptive information about large groups of people.

Disadvantages May produce biased

results because of atypical sample, overly positive answers, and/or inaccurate recall

Cannot draw cause & effect relationship

Consistency is very important in writing the list of responses. All of the responses should be similar so that no single response stands out to the individual except the answer that is true for them. Consistency simply helps to ensure that you are not leading respondents to a particular answer by making that answer different from the others. It also makes it much easier for respondents to find the answer that is relevant to them.

In the previous example, the second choice is exactly the same as what we had before, but it is listed in minutes rather than hours making it inconsistent with the other answer choices. Listing answer choices in this way is very confusing for the respondent and makes it more likely that they will provide you with incorrect information

Stop! Read “Random Sampling” and then

discuss and fill out your guided reading for question 12, c and d.

Define Population

Define Random Sample

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION

Advantages Provides information

about people and animals in real-world settings.

Disadvantages May be difficult to

conduct research on infrequent behavior.

Cannot draw cause & effect relationship

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate or control the situation

CORRELATION

Advantages Can study behavior

in real world settings.

Can determine whether two variables are related. (predictive)

Computing statistical association, sometimes among survey responses.

DisadvantagesCannot draw cause &

effect relationship

Correlation between smoking and lung cancer in US males, showing a 20-year time lag between increased smoking rates and increased incidence of lung cancer.

Measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus how well one either factor predicts the other

CORRELATION Positive

Correlation Perfect = +1Two sets of scores

rise or fall together

Negative Correlation Perfect = -1Two sets of scores

relate inversely, one set going up as the other goes down

Correlations (Co-relation) r = -1.0 (strong

negative correlation)

↑↓ r = +1.0 (strong

positive correlation)

↑↑ or ↓↓ r = 0 (No Correlation)

Correlation coefficients help us determine the direction and strength of a relationship.

Correlation does NOT imply causation!!

Correlations help us to Predict. They can not

PROVE a cause/effect relationship

Perceived by nonexistent correlation When we believe there is a relationship

between two things, we recall instances that confirm our beliefs.

Illusionary Correlation

EXPERIMENT

Advantages: Can control

potentially confounding variables

Can draw cause & effect relationship

Disadvantages: May be difficult to

generalize to real world settings.

Cannot manipulate many variables.

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or ore factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable).

EXPERIMENT Independent Variable

Experimental factor being manipulated; the variable being studied

Confounding Variable A factor other than the independent variable

that might produce and effect on a an experiment

Dependent Variable The outcome factor; the variable that may

change in response to manipulations of the independent variable

WHICH RESEARCH METHOD ? A director of a child welfare agency wants to understand the current beliefs and feelings of her many clients who were abused when they were children so that she can provide them with the support they need to prevent them from abusing their own children.

WHICH RESEARCH METHOD?

A high school teacher wants to know if allowing his students to listen to their favorite music on their iPods during tests will cause their test scores to increase.

WHICH RESEARCH METHOD?

A life insurance executive wants to know the percentage of people who obey traffic laws (i.e. wearing their seat belts or coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.)

WHICH RESEARCH METHOD ?

A political biographer wants to know the specific people and events that motivated Bill Clinton to enter politics and eventually run for president.

WHICH RESEARCH METHOD ?

Ms. Norman wants to explore the relationship between the number of hours spent sleeping and GPA.

Operational Definitions Underlined Words

1. Sense of humor2. More friendly toward the other children3. Depressed4. Study more efficiently5. Tiredness6. Affection7. Dream8. Smart9. Prettier10. Snobs11. School spirit12. Effeminate13. Better athletes14. Best rock group15. Better school