Research Methods

Question 1

What is a case study ?

Answer 1

• combination of methods used to collect detailed and in depth information about one person or a small group of people

Question 2

Why are case studies useful?

Answer 2

• they focus on unique individuals or rare situations
• so researchers can get insights into CONDITIONS/ BEHAVIOURS that would be unethical to create/ study

Question 3

What type of data do case studies gather and through what?

Answer 3

• generally qualitative: interviews with pp or people close to them, natural observations of behaviour, personal documents such as diaries or journals
• also quantitative: psychometric tests (IQ or personality), scores from memory or problem solving tasks , clinical data (e.g. MRI scans or medical reports)

Question 4

What is the length of most are studies?

Answer 4

Longitudinal

Question 5

Pros and cons of case studies?

Answer 5

• pros: rich qualitative in depth data, we can study things that are rare and normally unethical to recreate, high validity due to exploring real life or personal experiences often and over a long period of time
• cons: small samples are less generalisable, researcher bias and objectivity if they become too close to pp, subjective findings that are difficult to verify or replicate since case was unique

Question 6

What does standardisation involve?

Answer 6

• same instructions
• identical briefing and debriefing
• keep the same number of participants in each condition
• run each condition for the same amount of time
• use identical materials unless they’re necessary to change IV

Question 7

Importance o ststanderdisation?

Answer 7

Ensures reliability

Question 8

What is randomisation?

Answer 8

• deliberate descisions made randomly, or by chance, wherever possible
• avoids experimenter bias ensures their objectivity

Question 9

Ways to randomise?

Answer 9

• Random assignment of pp to groups
• presenting things in random order

Question 10

Cons of randomisation?

Answer 10

May lead to uneven grouping such as one condition ending up with all female participants

Question 11

What do reaserachers use in RMD since random allocation isn’t possible?

Answer 11

Counterbalancing to reduce order effects

Question 12

Pros and cons of standersdiatsion?

Answer 12

• pros: reliability, helps establish cause and effect, replicated easily to support theories
  -cons: low eceological validity, repetitive and artificial tasks can produce demand characteristics

Question 13

Pros and cons of field experiments?

Answer 13

• high EV And less chance of demand characteristics
• less control over extraneous variables, pps may not have given informed consent if they’re dont know they’re part of study

Question 14

Pros and cons of of natural experiments?

Answer 14

• high ecological validity no demand characteristics, some unethical things could be studies (e.g. you cant make someone get brain damage)
• no control over variables so hard to establish cause and effect, hard to replicate