Research Methods

Reshma Rana
 Case studies

 A case study is a detailed investigation of a single unit

usually just one person or a single family or institution.
 The data collected is detailed and in-depth and may be
obtained using a variety of different techniques. For e.g.
interview, observation, given tests or questionnaires.
 It is often a longitudinal study, but this is not a key
feature.
Advantages of case studies
 There are some circumstances where it is impossible to have a large
number of participants making case studies ideal; rare or unique
behaviours can be studied in detail.
 Participants can be studied over a period of time so developmental
changes can be recorded. this is longitudinal and it often means that
the data gathered are detailed.
 The sample may be self-selecting which means that the participants
are not chosen by the researchers.
 Ecological validity is usually very high – the participant is often
studied as part of every day life.
 The validity of the findings from case studies are highly valid as the
data gathered are rich and detailed. The validity may be improved
further using triangulation.
Disadvantage of case studies
 Case studies might not produce enough quantitative data for
statistical testing; this means that some people regard case studies as
little more than anecdotal evidence.
 Researcher may lack objectivity due to the long term relationship
between the researcher and the participant which might reduce the
validity and reliability of the study.
 The level of detail can also be an ethical threat as the question asked
may intrude into the participants’ private life and they may feel
unable to refuse to answer them.
 The detail about the individual may make it hard to disguise their
identity, even if they are not referred to by name, which would risk
breaking the guideline of confidentiality.
 There might be only one participant or very few involved and so any
conclusions cannot be generalised to other people.
 The participant might be unique and possibly not ‘normal’ in some
way this might mean that the researchers do not know how to proceed
or they might draw false conclusions.
 Observations
In an observation, data are collected through observing or watching
participants with the aim of recording the behaviour that is witnessed.

Types of Observation
An observation can best be understood by considering how it applies to
its four main features: the participants, the observers, the setting and
the data to be gathered.

 The Participants: Overt or Covert

• Overt observation is where the participants know that they are being
observed.
• Covert observation is where the participants do not know that they
are being observed.

 The Observers: Participant or Non-Participant

• Participant observation is when the observers become part of the
community (or group of people) they wish to observe (this could be
overt or covert).
• Non-participant observation is when the observer isn’t part of the
group and observes from a distance (this could be overt or covert).
 The Setting: Natural or Controlled
• Naturalistic observation is when the observation is conducted in an
environment that is natural for the participant.
• Controlled observation is when the observation is conducted in a
non-natural environment such as a laboratory where the environment
is controlled.

 The Data: Structured or Non-structured

• In a structured observation, the observer creates a list of what is to
be observed (response, categories or tally chart), known as
behavioural checklist for human and ethogram for animals at the
beginning of the observation and only these behaviours are recorded.
This helps the observers to be consistent and improves inter-observer
reliability.
• In a non-structured observation, the observer records the whole
range of possible behaviours, i.e. what is happening as it happens.
 Recording observational data
Structured observations use:
• Event sampling where the observer is looking for certain behaviours
and a tally chart or record is kept of every Instance of these behaviours.
• Time sampling where the observer notes down or records the
behaviour at certain times. E.g. at 5-second intervals.

The reliability of observations can be checked in two ways (depending on

the type of observation):
• Test/re-test reliability where an observation is repeated at a later date
and the two sets of observations are compared.
• Inter-rater reliability where two observers observe the same behaviour
independently. The data are compared and the level of agreement can
be calculated using a correlation test. Note that this simply checks the
reliability (which may be good or bad), it does not make and
observation reliable.
 Advantages of observation
• The observed behaviour can be natural. As ‘real’ behaviour is
observed, because the person is unaware, it is high in
ecological validity.
• The data are often quantitative through using response
categories, meaning they can be measured objectively and
statistical tests can be applied.
• The data can be extremely rich if unstructured observation or
participant observation is used.
• If the participants are unaware of the observation (covert or
naturalistic), they are unaffected by demand characteristics.
 Disadvantages of observation
• In non-participant/covert observations, the participants, cannot explain why
they behaved in a particular way (and the observer should not make
assumptions about it).
• Practically, the observer’s view might be obstructed and the observations
might not be reliable, although this can be resolved with inter-rater reliability.
• With natural observation there is a lack of control over variables, making it
difficult to conclude cause-and-effect relationships.
• With unstructured observation or participant observation there might be bias,
with the observer ‘seeing’ things he or she desires; with structured
observation and no time or event sampling the observer might mis-record
instances of a behaviour.
• It might be difficult to replicate natural observations as some circumstances
can be unique (however, a good replication of controlled observation is
possible.
• It is unethical if people are observed without their permission in a non-public
area; it is also deception if the observer, in order to obtain data, pretends to
be something he or she is not.
 Correlations
 Correlation is a research method which looks for a relationship
between two variables.
 Correlations are useful when it is not possible to manipulate variables.
In correlation both the variables are measured and they are known as
co-variables.
 To look for correlation between tow variables, each variable must be
possible to measure numerically.
 Several methods such as self-reports, observations and different kinds
of tests can be used to collect data for correlations.
 A change in one variable is related to change in another variable.
However strong the relationship might be, we can never automatically
assume that one variable causes another. All we can conclude is that
the two variables are related.
 The nature of the relationship between the two variables in a correlation
can be described in terms of its direction:
• Positive correlation: If the two variables increase or decrease
together, i.e. the change is in the same direction, it is known as positive
correlation.

• Negative correlation: If the increase in one variable accompanies a

decrease in the other variable, i.e. the change is in the opposite
direction, it is known as negative correlation.
 The strength of correlation is expressed by correlation
coefficient (r), which is a number from +1 to -1.

• Values close to +1 are strong positive correlations.

• Values close to -1 are strong negative correlations.

• Values close to 0 are weak positive or negative correlation.

• If the r value is 0 than there is no correlation.

 The results from a correlational study are displayed on a scatter graph.
• In a strong correlation all the data lie close to the line of best fit (line
drawn which comes close to as many points as possible).
• In a weak correlation the data are more spread out.
 Advantages of Correlations
 They can provide useful information about the specific strength of the
relationship between two variables.
 Correlations are useful because they enable researchers to explore
problems when it is not practically or ethically possible to conduct
experiments.
 They might provide information that could prompt future research to
determine whether one variable does cause another variable.

 Disadvantages of Correlations
 Causality should never be assumed, i.e. that on variable causes the
other, because sometimes totally unrelated variables might co-vary
together.
 The reliability of a correlation depends on the measures of both
variables being consistent. So for some correlations, such as those
using scientific scales, the measures will be highly reliable but in
studies using lesser objective method such as self-report or
observations, the reliability might be lowered.