Paper 2: Research methods
What is a paradigm?
- A distinct set of concepts - That counts as a legitimate contribution to the scientific field - Paradigm shift - A fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of the scientific field
Sample
- A group of people that are drawn from the target population to take part in a research investigation
Pilot studies and the aims of piloting
- A small scale study conducted to ensure the method will work according to plan - If it doesn't then amendments can be mad - Aims:
Thematic analysis
- Analysing qualitative data to identify and report patterns within the data
The role of peer review in the scientific process.
- Before publication - The research report is sent to other independent psychologists who are knowledgeable in the research topic to review the study - To check for any problems Purposes 1. Allocation of research funding - Limited government and charity funding - To determine if research is worth the funding - To ensure researchers spend funding responsibility 2. Publication in academic journals and books - To prevent incorrect information from the public - The burden of proof lies with the researchers 3. Assess research ratings of universities - University science departments are expected to conduct research - Quality of research pave the way for future funding
Concurrent validity
- Comparing a new test with another test of the same thing to see if they produce similar results - If they do then the new test has concurrent validity
Economic Psychology - Irrational thinking: the framing effect
- Decision-making depends on whether the choice is presented as a gain or a loss - Kahneman (1986) - Positive framing: 72% agreed to it - Negative framing: 22% agreed to it
The implications of psychological research for the economy
- Economic Psychology - Daniel Kahneman - Seeking a better understanding of people's behaviour in their economic lives - Investigating the effects of social, cognitive and emotional factors on economic decisions - Concerned with the rationality of decisions relating to economics - Irrational thinking 1. Availability heuristic 2. The framing effect 3. Real-world influences
Temporal validity
- How likely it is that the time period when a study was conducted has influenced the findings - Whether they can be generalised to other periods in time
Content analysis and coding
- Indirectly observing behavior from written or verbal material - Newspaper, interviews, books - Analyse qualitative data - Coding the written data into categories - Converting qualitative data into quantitative data - Behavioural categories to sort the qualitative data into
Test-retest reliability
- Presenting the same participants with the same test on two separate occasions - Seeing whether there is a positive correlation between the two
Statistical test: the sign test
- Purpose of a stat test: - To determine the likelihood that the effect/difference/relationship have found has occurred due to chance. - Paired or related data - Repeated measures - Matched pair - Test of difference - Improvements - Deterioration - No changes 1. State the hypothesis - One-tail - Two-tail 2. Record data and find the sign of the difference 3. Find the number of + and - (calculated value) - Take the larger one 4. Compare the calculated value with the critical value 5. Confirm direction of results - Calculated value < critical value -> significant results - Level of significance - Probability that that results would occur anyways even if dependent variable has no effects
Q: Design - include reference to the experimental design, variables and controls (part of 12 marks)
- The experimental design to be used (repeated/independent/matched). - IV and DV - note the DV must be suitable for ordinal level analysis - Any relevant aspect of control eg duration of study, control of relevant environmental variables
Ecological validity
- The extent to which the findings of a research study are able to be generalized to real-life settings
Inter-observer reliability
- The extent to which two or more observers are observing and recording behaviour in the same way
Population
- The group that the researchers draws the sample from and wants to be able to generalise the findings to
Meta-analysis
- The researchers examine the results of several studies that have already been conducted
Economic Psychology - Irrational thinking: availability heuristics
- The rule that the likelihood of selecting something is related to its availability Example - Irrationally overestimating probability of plane accident - News about plane accidents are more available than news about no plane accidents
Face validity
- Whether the test measures what it claims to measure - Concerned with face value
Observational design
1. Behavioural categories - Key behaviours that the researcher conducting the observation will pay attention to and record 2. Time sampling - Sampling the observed behaviour by recording what happens in a series of fixed time intervals 3. Event sampling - A target behaviour is identified - The observer records it every time it occurs
Problems with peer review
1. DIfficult to find an expert - Difficult to find an appropriate expert - Researches can be approved because the reviewer didn't understand the complex concepts 2. Problem with anonymity - Anonymous reviews can be biased - Subjective to social relationships - Competition for research grants 3. Publication bias - Editors favour research with important implications to increase standing of the journal - Avoid replication of other research (which is important for validation) - Misperception of true facts 4. Preserving the status quo - There is a preference for research that agree with the paradigm - Biased 5. Peer review has no power over published researches
Presentation and display of quantitative data
1. Graphs 2. Tables 3. Scattergrams 4. Bar charts 5. Histograms
Choosing a statistical test
1. Level of measurement - Nominal - Ordinal - Interval 2. Experimental design - Unrelated - Independent groups - Related - Matched pair - Repeated measures 3. Test of difference/correlation
Measures of central tendency
1. Mean 2. Median 3. Mode
Levels of measurement
1. Nominal data 2. Ordinal data 3. Interval data
Features of science
1. Objectivity and the empirical method 2. Replicability and falsifiability 3. Theory construction and hypothesis testing 4. Paradigms and paradigm shifts.
Sampling techniques
1. Random 2. Systematic 3. Stratified 4. Opportunity 5. Volunteer
Measures of dispersion
1. Range 2. Standard deviation
Experimental design
1. Repeated measures - Each participants takes part in all conditions of the IV - Related 2. Matched pair - Pairs of participants are matched on important characteristics - One member is allocated to each condition of the IV - Related 3. Independent groups - Each participants only takes part in one condition of the IV - Unrelated
Ways of assessing reliability:
1. Test-retest 2. Inter-observer
Q: Distinguish between a Type I error and a Type II error (4 marks)
A Type I error is when the null hypothesis is rejected when it actually should be accepted, the results are actually caused by a random variable. Whereas a Type II error is when the null hypothesis is accepted when it should be rejected, the researcher overlooked the relationship between the two variables.
Q: What is meant by a Type II error? Explain why psychologists normally use the 5% level of significance in their research. (3 marks)
A Type II error is when the null hypothesis is accepted when it is false and should be rejected. 5% level is used because it strikes a balance between the risk of making the Type I and II errors.
Q: This psychologist did not conduct a pilot study. Explain one reason why psychologists sometimes conduct pilot studies. (2 marks)
A pilot study is a small-scale run though of the actual experiment. One reason is that it can help check if there is anything wrong with the method. So that the researcher doesn't waste any time or money in the real study.
What is Type II error?
Accepting the null hypothesis when it is false The researcher believes that there is no relationship when there is False negative
Q: The report was submitted for peer review and a number of recommendations were advised. Describe the process and purposes of peer review. (6 marks)
An independent expert in the same field is invited to review the report before it can be published. The report is considered in terms of its validity, significance and originality The expert makes suggestion to the researcher to edit the report and review the edits again to finalise it. The editors have the final decision on whether the report can be published. Peer reviews is important because it can check whether the researchers used the funding responsibility because there is limited government and charity funding and a lot competitors for it. Furthermore, peer review make sure that the report gives accurate information to the public so that the public can use the information in a good way. This is necessary to maintain the reliable reputation of science so that the public can trust in future scientific researches.
Q: A researcher investigated whether memory for words presented with pictures was better than memory for words presented without pictures. The researcher used an independent groups design. In Condition 1, participants were given a limited time to learn a list of 20 words. They were then asked to recall the 20 words in any order. In Condition 2, participants were given the same time to learn the same 20 words, but this time each word was presented with a picture. For example, the word 'apple' was presented alongside a picture of an apple. They were then asked to recall the 20 words in any order. (a) A pilot study is a small-scale investigation carried out before the main study. Explain why it would be appropriate for this researcher to use a pilot study. In your answer you must refer to details of the experiment given above. (4 marks)
Because a pilot study is a small scale run through of the actual research, it can help check if the method is appropriate and works. Therefore, a pilot study can check if the research is a waste of time or money or not. For example, if the time limit is too little or too much. If there is any problem with the design, amendments can be made to improve the methods. Such as giving more time to the participants.
Q: As a follow-up to their observation the students decided to interview some of their peers about inconsiderate behaviours in their 6th Form Centre. The interviews were recorded. Explain how the students could develop their interview findings by carrying out a content analysis and why content analysis would be appropriate in this case. (3 marks )
Content analysis is suitable because the students had gathered qualitative data in the form of interviews. They can identify recurring themes and concepts in the interviews and then form specific categories and tally the concepts.
Q: In an observational study, 100 cars were fitted with video cameras to record the driver's behaviour. Two psychologists used content analysis to analyse the data from the films. They found that 75% of accidents involved a lack of attention by the driver. The most common distractions were using a hands-free phone or talking to a passenger. Other distractions included looking at the scenery, smoking, eating, personal grooming and trying to reach something within the car. (a) What is content analysis? (2 marks) (b) Explain how the psychologists might have carried out content analysis to analyse the film clips of driver behaviour. (4 marks) (c) Explain how the two psychologists might have assessed the reliability of their content analysis. (3 marks)
Content analysis is the process of turning qualitative data observed from written material into quantitative data by categorising indirectly observed behaviour with coding units. The psychologists can form coding units of the behavioural categories by watching some of the videos and forming potential categories for distractions . The recurring actions, such as using a hands-free phone, then become a category. The psychologists then rewatch the videos and tally the number of actions to provide a quantitative data. The two psychologists can independently come up with the categories of distraction by reviewing the videos alone and then use categories that are similar. Then they can tally the recurrence of behaviour independently and compare their results to reach an agreement. If the inter-rater reliability is high then the reliability of their content analysis is high.
The distinction between qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques
Ensure high inter-rater reliability: using two observers/raters and independently comparing separate recordings and then finding similar results to find agreements
Q: A researcher carried out an experiment to investigate misleading information. Participants were shown a photograph in which a man and a woman were talking. The photograph was then taken away and the participants were asked questions about it. Participants were randomly allocated to condition one or condition two. Participants in condition one were asked: Question A "How old was the youth in the photograph?" Participants in condition two were asked: Question B "How old was the man in the photograph?" Name an appropriate experimental design which could be used in this experiment. Explain why a repeated measures design would be unsuitable to use in this experiment (4 marks)
Independent groups Repeated measures design is inappropriate because the participants would take part in both conditions. They can be affect by the order effect and can guess the purpose of the research and display demand characteristics to the questions. Repeated measures cannot keep the participants naive.
Q: The participants were an opportunity sample of 40 first-year students. The students were told that they would be interviewed about university life. Each student was met by an interviewer and asked to wait. The interviewer then went into the next room. After two minutes there was a loud noise and a cry of pain from the next room. Twenty participants took part in Condition 1 and the other 20 participants took part in Condition 2. Condition 1 Each participant waited alone. Condition 2 Each participant waited with another person who had previously been told by the researchers not to react to the sounds from the next room. The researchers counted the number of participants in each condition who went to help the interviewer in the next room. Identify the experimental design used in the further investigation. Explain why this is a suitable experimental design for this study (3 marks)
Independent groups. The IV in this research is waiting with another person. So participants can only be exposed to the cry of pain once to prevent an order effect and in order to maintain the participants' naivety.
What is Type I error?
Rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true The results were actually caused by a random variable (due to chance) False positive
Q: Twenty primary school teachers were sent by their individual head teachers to attend a training course in classroom behaviour management run by educational psychologists at a local university. Before the training course, and again after training, the teachers were asked to say how confident they were in managing difficult classroom behaviour. The researchers compared the before and after answers to see how many teachers rated their confidence as 'better', 'worse', or 'the same' as it had been at the start of the course. Which experimental design is being used in this study and why would it be an appropriate design in this case? (3 marks)
Repeated measures, the purpose of the experiment is to see if the training course is effective so the researchers need to see the effect it has on each individual teacher who has gone through the same IV, the training course, to see their changes in confidence.
Q: Social influence research helps us to understand how it is possible to change people's behaviour: for example, understanding how to persuade people to eat more healthily. With reference to this example of social change, explain how psychology might affect the economy (4 marks)
Social influence research tells us how behaviour and attitudes can be changed and companies can use it to predict consumers' decision-making process. When more people are influenced to eat healthily, the sales of junk food companies may decrease because less people will buy from them. Instead, healthy eating companies will prosper because people are encouraged to shop from them. When more people are influenced to eat healthily, less people will need hospital services and the burden on the national health service will decrease. The government can then spend more money on other infrastructure. When more people are influenced to eat healthily, they become more healthy too. Less people will need to take time off work because they are ill, therefore productivity increase and benefits their employers and the economy.
Q: A psychologist is investigating causes of offending. She interviews offenders who are in prison for violent crime. She asks them to describe their family and early childhood, recording everything that they say. She also looks at information in the offenders' court and prison reports Explain how the psychologist could continue her investigation by carrying out thematic analysis of the interview recordings. (2 marks)
The psychologist can type out a transcript of the interview and use coding to tally the qualitative data. She can review the data to identify patterns that lead to violent crime, for example childhood abuse.
Q: Explain one way in which the researchers may have checked whether their categories for content analysis were reliable. (3 marks)
The reliability can be assessed by the inter-rater reliability by having 2 observers read the material and independently develop categories for the qualitative materials. Their independent categories can then be compared and if they are similar then the categories can be deemed reliable
Q: A researcher used content analysis to investigate how the behaviour of young children changed when they started day care. He identified a group of nine-month-old children who were about to start day care. He asked the mother of each child to keep a diary recording her child's behaviour every day for two weeks before and for two weeks after the child started day care. (a) Explain how the researcher could have used content analysis to analyse what the mothers had written in their diaries. (4 marks) (b) Explain one or more possible limitations of this investigation. (4 marks)
The researcher can identify the recurring concepts/themes in the mothers' diaries and then form categories from the coding units, which is the themes, from them and tally the number of recurrence for each categories. For example, one of the categories can be crying as the mother leaves day care. The mothers may be biased and want to portray their babies in the best light and may demonstrate demand characteristics, which will lower the validity of the results. The researcher may see more positive behaviours than negative behaviours. The sample of 9-month olds isn't representative enough of the whole group of young children because it is only limited to one age group.
Q: Briefly explain how the findings of psychological research into treating depression could have implications for the economy (2 marks)
These research can help companies develop better workplace environment to prevent their employees from having depression which cause them to take time off. WIth less absenteeism, the company can utilize all its human resources and increase productivity.
Q: A psychologist wanted to see if creativity is affected by the presence of other people. To test this he arranged for 30 people to participate in a study that involved generating ideas for raising funds for a local youth club. Participants were randomly allocated to one of two conditions. Condition A: there were 15 participants in this condition. Each participant was placed separately in a room and was given 40 minutes to think of as many ideas as possible for raising funds for a local youth club. The participant was told to write down his or her ideas and these were collected in by the psychologist at the end of the 40 minutes. Condition B: there were 15 participants in this condition. The participants were randomly allocated to 5 groups of equal size. Each group was given 40 minutes to think of as many ideas as possible for raising funds for a local youth club. Each group was told to write down their ideas and these were collected by the psychologist at the end of the 40 minutes. The psychologist counted the number of ideas generated by the participants in both conditions and calculated the total number of ideas for each condition (a) Identify the experimental design used in this study and outline one advantage of this experimental design. (3 marks) (b) Describe one other experimental design that researchers use in psychology. (2 marks)
This design is independent groups. One advantage of it is that participants will be less likely to recognise the purpose of the study because they have only done it once. One advantage is that participants are not affected by order effect so that they can perform without bias or display demand characteristics which may affect the results. The results can be kept more valid this way. Matched pairs, where participants are paired on important characteristics relevant to the research. Then they are each assigned to a condition.
Q: A researcher wanted to see whether cognitive behaviour therapy was an effective treatment for depression. Twenty depressed patients who had all recently completed a course of cognitive behaviour therapy were involved in the investigation. From their employment records, the researcher kept a record of the number of absences from work each patient had in the year following their treatment. This was compared with the number of absences from work each patient had in the year prior to their treatment. Outline the implications of psychological research for the economy. Refer to the investigation above in your answer (5 marks)
This research may lead to improvements in mental health education or treatment programme so that employees can manage their health better and take less time off work. Less absenteeism is good for the economy because the working population can be fully utilized and no human resources are wasted. Employers can benefit from this research, because they can learn how to help their employees avoid depression, which will prevent absenteeism.
Q: Briefly explain one reason why it is important for research to undergo a peer review process (2 marks)
To ensure that the public has access to correct information, because scientific discovery has large social implications. To ensure that the published research is taken seriously, because it has been independently scrutinised showing that it is reliable.
Q: Explain why statistical testing is used in psychological research (2 marks)
To show the likelihood that the effect/difference/relationship have found has occurred due to chance.
Q: Explain what is meant by a Type 1 error (2 marks) Q: Use the information in the table above to explain why the psychologists did not think that they had made a Type 1 error in this case (3 marks)
Type I error is when the null hypothesis is rejected when it is actually true and should be accepted because the effects are due to chance Calculated value > critical value, therefore less than the significance level and can be (1-X)% certain that the effects didn't happen by chance
