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Ch 2: research methods
Scientific Method

aim: make observations of phenomena of special interest in order to collect data

psychology is empirical - uses direct observation rather than pure intuition to gather
knowledge

data - any information collected through formal observation/assessment.

hypothesis - a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables.
variables - any measurable conditions, events, characteristics or behaviours that are
controlled/observed in a study.
theory - system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations.

must be testable

test a couple of hypotheses - either support or don't → influences confidence in theory

Passer & Smith - 4 goals of psychologists as scientists:

1. describe how people and animals behave

2. understand and explain the causes of these behaviours

3. predict how people and animals will behave under certain conditions

4. control behavior through knowledge and control of its causes

Steps in a Scientific Investigation

1. problem statement - goes in the introduction section

2. rationale - motivation on why the problem needs investigation

3. research question - addresses/answers the problem identified

4. hypothesis - in quantitative studies

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 a. operational definition - describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure
or control a variable.

5. research design

6. collect data - procedures for making empirical observations and measurements

a. sample - a subgroup of people who are similar in terms of their characteristics and
relatively representative of the population a researcher is interested in drawing a
conclusion about.

7. analyse data

8. report results

a. journal - a periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a

narrowly defined area of inquiry.

advantages to the scientific approach:

clarity and precision - through operational definitions, enhances communication

relative intolerance of error

Research Approaches

design type quantitative qualitative

test hypotheses, assess cause and effect understand and interpret social
purpose
relationships and make predictions interactions

sample size large small

objectivity objective subjective

qualitative research is a means to decolonise research (Eurocentric research methods

prioritise stats and numbers)

NB there is a difference between research approaches and data

Major Types of Research Designs

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 quantitative qualitative

experimental non-experimental

true experimental correlational observation

quasi-experimental descriptive case study

survey phenomenology

Quantitative research design

experimental research design - involves experimentation, in which one or more variables are
manipulated while others are held constant, so that the effects of experimentation can be
observed.

random assignment - each participant has equal chances of either being in the experiment
or control group

independent variable - condition or event that the experimenter varies to see its impact on a
another variable

dependent variable - variable that is thought to be affected by the manipulation of the

independent variable

extraneous variables - variables that compete with the independent variable in explaining
the outcome of a study

Validity
internal validity - the extent to which a researcher can precisely state that the independent
variable produced the observed outcomes.

Threats to internal validity are:

selection bias - when there are pre-existing differences in the participants selected for a
study

usually in quasi-experimental

mortality - dropping out or withdrawing from study

instrumentation threat - when the test is changed from pre test to post test, difference in
results can be from the test itself and not the independent variable

(other peoples interpretation of the results)

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 history threat - unrelated event during a study

maturation threat - people change psychologically and physically as they age

testing threat - repeated experiments → learning with practice

external validity - the extent to which the results of a study can be generalised to a larger target
population or across environments. Threats are:

multiple treatment effect - results can be the result of the multiple treatments and not just the
one variable

small sample size - more susceptible to deviations and anomalies

advantages of experimental research

researcher is in control

disadvantages of experimental research

external validity - difficult to replicate outside test

many variables cant be experimentally manipulated

expensive and time consuming

Quasi-experimental research design - where the independent variable is manipulated, but it

doesn’t provide full control of less important variables because there is no random assignment.

stronger than correlational and descriptive designs

Descriptive research design - snapshot/summary of the present thoughts, feelings or behaviour

of individuals regarding a particular phenomenon.

focus is determining how often a variable occurs

Survey design- type of descriptive research that involves asking a large sample of people
questions about their perceptions, attitudes and behaviour.

weakness - participants self report bias

Correlational research design - the strength of the relationship between two or more variables

does NOT equal causation

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 Qualitative research designs
observational design - direct observation in their natural setting.

case study design - in-depth observation of an individual/small group. Collect case studies to
look for patterns.

good for something that cannot be experimented easily

disadvantages

results cant be generalised because they focus on small groups

concern about reliability of judgements made by the researcher (see what they want to
see)

phenomenology - based on understanding that the world and reality are not objective but
socially constructed by people.

what is this experience like? what does this experience mean?

Types of data collection methods

primary(direct) - surveys, questionnaires, interviews, experiments

secondary(indirect) - documents, electronically published info, journals, newspapers

used in meta-analyst studies - epidemiological design, commonly used to systematically

assess previous research studies to derive conclusions.

Quantitative methods:
standardised tests - participants ability to solve problems (performance tests)

norm-referenced - skills compared to others in age group

questionnaires

advantages

economical

disadvantages

too lengthy

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 poorly phrased

can have double barrelled questions (need to split into two separate questions)

Qualitative methods

interviews

face to face

costly, participants could get stage fright

telephone/online

widen geographical range, more cost effective

absence of non-verbal cues, people are more likely to ignore the interview

focus group - group discussion led by a moderator from the same demographical group as
the participants. Get peoples attitudes and experiences. Homogenous strangers.

6-10 participants per group, 3-5 groups per research project, takes 1.5-2 hours

adv: inexpensive, build on ideas → very exploratory

disadv.: need a trained moderator, dominant speakers in group, lots of qualitative data to
analyse

structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews`;

structured - questions developed before interview is conducted

asked in a neutral tone

asked in same order

unstructured(conversational) - many open ended questions

when. interviewer does not know much about the research topic

semi-structured - script of prescribed questions AND generate questions during

interview

naturalistic and laboratory observation

naturalistic observation/‘field study’ - in-depth observation of a phenomenon as it occurs in a

natural setting without the experimenter interfering with it in any way.

greater ecological validity (the extent to which the results can be used in real life situations)

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 disadvantages:

lack of generalisability

lack of control over confounding variables

people behave differently when they know theyre being watched (’observer effects’)

participant observation - immerse themselves in the social setting of the study

documents

Statistics in Psychological Research

descriptive statistics - procedures to analyse data

measures of central tendency

mode - most frequently occurring value. Can have multimodal distribution

median - middle value of all given values in numerical order

mean - sum of a set of data divided by the number of data

measures of spread - describes the variability or spread of data in a population

range - difference between maximum and minimum

variance and standard deviation - variance is an average of the squared differences

between each data value and the mean. Standard deviation is one of the most commonly
used measures of spread. Like the variance, it provides information about how the
values of the data set vary (or deviate) from the mean of the data set.

correlation - examines whether there is a relationship between two or more variables

correlation coefficient (r) ranges from -1 to +1

-1 is perfect negative correlation (one variable decreases when the other is

increased) and +1 is perfect positive correlation

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 inferential statistics - concerned with making predictions or inferences

statistical significance - probability that observed findings are due to chance is very low
(less than 5 chances in 10 → 0.05 level significance)

Ethics

HPCSA (Health Professions Council of South Africa) and Professional Board for
Psychology give guidelines to prevent harm to psychologists and participants

voluntary participation - usually given incentives

informed consent - freely, without coercion, with a clear understanding of what participation
entails

choose the language to discuss informed consent in

free to withdraw

consent forms protect the psychologist too

confidentiality - explicit or implied guarantee given by the researcher to a research participant

that steps will be taken to protect the identity of the participant
debriefing

deception - when the researcher withholds information from the research participants about the
true (or full) intention of the study.
Animal Research

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 psychologists use animals because they can expose them to treatments that would be
unacceptable with human participants.

some argue that animals are entitled to the same rights as humans (if they are similar enough
to be tested on instead of us)

others argue that results may not even apply to humans

Evaluating Research
Replication is the repetition of a study to see if the same results can be achieved.

difficult to achieve

majority of scientists who have tried to replicate studies haven’t been successful (replication
crisis)

poor study design and implementation

Bias - a form of systematic error that can affect scientific investigations and alter the
measurement process
selection bias - when potential research participants, selected to take part in a study, are not
representative of the population of interest.

groups to be compared are different, and these differences may influence the outcome.

it is a requirement to indicate how participants were selected or excluded

sampling bias - a type of selection bias, and refers to a particular error that occurs due to the
sample selection. A sample is biased if some participants are under-represented or over-
represented, relative to others in the population.

selection bias is a systematic error that results in a non-random research sample, sampling
bias is a subtype of selection bias and refers to the decreased likelihood of including a fair
representation of the intended population

Sampling bias suggests that proper randomisation will not be achieved, and therefore has
greater potential to influence internal validity

Selection bias suggests that potential participants are not equally likely to be included in the
sample, and therefore has greater potential to influence external validity

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 measurement bias - a systematic error that can occur during the collection of data.

instrument bias - when the instrument used to assess a particular phenomenon gives
incorrect information because of a communication barrier between the researcher and the
participant.

insensitive measure bias - when the instrument used is not sensitive enough to detect what
might be important in understanding the specified research variables

experimenter bias (experimenter expectancy effect) - subjective bias that occurs towards
particular results because the experimenter anticipates such findings.

social desirability bias - participant’s tendency to respond in a socially acceptable manner

Placebo Effect - occur when participants' expectations lead them to experience some change
even though they receive empty, fake or ineffectual treatment.

often double blind (both experimenter and participants dont know which is the placebo)

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