11.

Research Design, Measurement, Sampling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47rQkTPWW2I
Research Design

Researchers are most interested in studying large groups of people, referred to as

populations.

Researchers can’t examine the entire group of individuals in the population. So,
they select a sample: a smaller group of individuals who are typical of the
population.

Representative samples - a group of people who closely match the larger

population in characteristics of interest (such as the distribution of gender, age,
race, etc.) and allow researchers to draw accurate conclusions about their
populations of interest

Random sampling - a technique whereby each individual in the population has an

equal chance of being included in the sample.

Generalizability - the degree that study results that are based on a sample can be
extended (or applied) to the entire population.
Research Design (cont)
External validity - the extent a study’s results apply to different groups of
individuals or different situations.

Sampling bias - favoring the selection of only certain types of individuals either
intentionally or unintentionally.

Unbiased sample - a sample that is representative of the population.

Samples of convenience - a sample including only participants that are readily

available.
Research Design

Descriptive research methods - research methods used to objectively

and systematically describe human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors,
without manipulating variables (or factors)

1. Case studies - in-depth analyses of individual people, with the goal of

revealing tendencies true of all humans. Case studies are often used to
understand both normal and abnormal psychology.

Piaget’s wife and

children
<

Freud’s parents
and family
>
Research Design

2. Survey method - collecting information by asking participants structured

sets of questions in a predetermined order and recording their answers.

Interviews - dialogues between researchers and study participants

typically completed in person or by telephone

Questionnaires - written sets of questions given on paper, via the

internet, or by mail
Research Design

Inaccuracies can occur when relying on self-reports - participants’ spoken

or written answers to the questions researchers pose.

“The Institute of Things You Already Know, found that a whopping 81% responded
“Yes” when asked if people lie when asked survey questions.”
http://ronnlehmann.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/startling-survey-results-people-lie-in-surveys/

Social desirability - the tendency for people to give socially acceptable

answers that create favorable impressions, rather than honest answers.

What is your annual income?

Who are you voting for in the election?
How much do you weigh?
Research Design

The social desirability response bias is a challenge for researchers

interested in studying subjects like prejudice, substance abuse, risky sexual
behaviors, and so on.

One strategy researchers use to increase honesty is to ask the same basic
questions at different times as a cross-check for honesty and consistency.

Here are some examples of self-report surveys on personality:

drphil.com/shows/bigfivepersonalityquiz

http://psychcentral.com/personquiz.htm

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
Research Design

A third descriptive method is naturalistic observation, which consists of

watching people in real-world situations and drawing conclusions based on
their responses.

non-participant observation - the researcher observes behavior but does

not get involved in the situation.

participant observation - the researcher observes behavior and is involved

in the situation.
Research Design

Advantages of using naturalistic observation:

•allows for the direct observation of individuals in natural settings
(e.g., bullies in schools)
•has ecological validity (it reflects real life).

Disadvantages:
•difficult to observe behaviors that occur infrequently (e.g., public displays of
aggression) or in private (e.g., criminal acts)
•lack of control over extraneous variables (factors other than those being
studied by researchers that may affect the outcomes of their studies).

In summary, descriptive methods may be used to describe human nature.

Importantly, these are non-experimental methods—these methods cannot
be used to determine cause-and-effect relationships.

Descriptive methods often become the foundation for other research

methods that are required to uncover general truths about human nature.
Research Design

Correlational research - examines the relationship (or

association) between two variables (or factors), but
correlations do not demonstrate causal relationships.

A positive correlation indicates a direct relationship

between variables, such that high scores on one variable are
related to high scores on the other variable, and low scores
on one variable are similarly related to low scores on the
other variable.

(intelligence and academic achievement)

A negative correlation indicates an inverse relationship
between variables, such that high scores on one variable are
related to low scores on the other variable and vice versa.

(high stress, decreased health)

A zero correlation indicates no systematic relationship

between variables, such that scores on one variable are
unrelated to scores on the other variable.

(height, intelligence)
Sometimes are illusory correlations, in which one perceives that a
relationship exists between two variables where none exists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITbhE9Kuhwg

Superstitions are illusory correlations.

Correlational research may suggest, but does not prove, cause

and effect.
Research Design

Experimental research — it is the only research method that allows

researchers to establish the causes of behavior.

Experiments are carefully controlled scientific procedures that are necessary

to determine cause-effect relationships between variables (any factors that are
being measured)

Independent variables - (sometimes called treatment variables)

conditions or situations deliberately manipulated by researchers.

Think: what’s manipulated so its effects can be observed

Dependent variables - (sometimes called outcome variables)

factors that researchers expect will be affected by the independent variable.

Remember: must be something that can be measured.

Research Design

Experimental group - the group of participants exposed to one level of the

independent variables. Those who get the treatment.

Control group - the group of participants that undergoes the same

procedure as the experimental group except they are not exposed to the
same level of the independent variable. Those who don’t get the treatment,
but all other conditions are the same.

Random assignment - the process of assigning research participants to

the experimental or control groups, such that each participant has an equal
chance of being in either group.
Experimental Process
The Experimental Process allows researchers to draw conclusions once a specific protocol is
completed.
Interpreting Data

Statistics is a branch of mathematics that researchers use to organize,

analyze, and interpret large amounts of recorded data.

Data is measurements of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are

typically recorded as, or converted to, numbers (a statistic).

A statistic is a number that is computed from data collected from

participants in a research study of interest to researchers. Statistics
provide useful information about research measures or scores.
Interpreting data

Descriptive statistics enable researchers to organize and summarize

large amounts of information in meaningful ways.

Researchers typically report descriptive statistics as frequencies (rates of

occurrence). There are three primary shapes of frequency distributions.

Normal Distributions are seen most often. The scores of everyone from a
representative sample plotted on a graph
demonstrate a symmetrical bell-shaped
distribution (also called normal curve).

Think: test scores

Interpreting data

Negatively skewed distributions indicate

that there are fewer scores on the left side
of the distribution than on the right, with
the tail of the distribution pointing to the left,
toward negative numbers.

Positively skewed distributions

indicate that there are fewer scores on
the right side of the distribution than on
the left, with the tail of the distribution
pointing to the right, toward positive
numbers
Interpreting data

There are two primary ways researchers use statistics to describe the data
they collect as part of a research study: central tendency and variability.

1. Measures of central tendency (typicality of scores in data sets)

Mean is the mathematical average of a set of scores. The mean is

calculated by adding all of the scores in a data set, then dividing by the
total number of scores in that set.

Median is the middle point of a set of scores (50% percentile). To

calculate the median, simply re-order the scores from lowest to highest,
then determine the middle point—the point at which half of the scores are
above and half are below.

Mode is the most frequently occurring number in a set of scores

Interpreting data

2. Measures of variability (how spread-out scores are from

one another). There are two ways to variability is: range and
standard deviation.

Range is the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a set of
scores.

Standard deviation is a measure of how much scores in a distribution

vary (on average) above and below the mean.

“The average American male is 70

inches with
A standard deviation of 3”