HIGHER PSYCHOLOGY UNIT 2 INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

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HIGHER PSYCHOLOGY UNIT 2 INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Unit 2 Investigating behaviour
• Research Log- Internal assessment (Log must be
  completed and submitted before the Investigation
  can be sent off to SQA- 25th January)
• NAB- Internal assessment (30 minute
  examination-20 marks- provisional date 25th Feb)
• Research Investigation (draft can be submitted to
  lecturer although report will be examined
  externally by SQA- must be submitted no later
  than 12th April)
• NB The research investigation will contribute to
  the overall mark as 20, main exam paper 80.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Research Methods
• Nature of research and key terms
• Sampling
• Methods of collecting data (experimental and
  non-experimental)
• Analysing data
• Descriptive statistics (measures of central
  tendency and measures of dispersion)
• Graphical representations

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• What are Research Methods?
• Research methods include all aspects of the
  research process, from planning, through
  implementation and on to reporting of findings.
• Cyclical nature of research due to the fact that
  we cannot prove any theory to be 100 correct!
  This is due to the fact that we do not know what
  evidence may be unearthed in the future although
  we can falsify theories by finding evidence
  against e.g. unlimited capacity of STM/thought
  inner language.
• Results can only confirm or refute a hypothesis
  which in both cases must lead to further
  research- to strengthen existing theory or find
  evidence for revised theory.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Aims
• The aim of a study is to answer a research
  question, which has been posed. Questions can
  come from casual observations or from ongoing
  research which may uncover further questions on a
  topic. The aim must therefore have an achievable
  goal.
• Hypotheses
• A hypothesis is a statement, which predicts what
  the experimenter expects to occur. The
  hypothesis should be tested against reality and
  can then be supported or rejected. It must be
  possible to gather evidence that will demonstrate
  whether the hypothesis has been supported. A
  hypothesis usually predicts some sort of link
  between two variables. It may predict an effect
  or a difference, or a relationship.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• An Experimental hypothesis (aka research
  hypothesis or alternative hypothesis) is the
  prediction that the manipulation of the
  independent variable will have an effect on the
  dependent variable.
• If the hypothesis is that the IV will simply have
  an effect on the DV then it is said to be a
  non-directional (or 2 tailed) hypothesis.
• Social pressure will have an effect on levels of
  conformity (2 tailed)
• If however, the hypothesis is more specific, eg
  heart rate will be expected to increase when
  adrenaline is administered because the
  prediction suggests a direction in which the
  change will be seen it is known as a directional
  hypothesis (or 1 tailed), eg
•  Social pressure will increase levels of
  conformity (1 tailed)
• Hypotheses in correlational studies propose that
  there will be a relationship between two
  co-variables e.g. watching violent movies and
  levels of aggression.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• A Null hypothesis is a prediction that the
  results obtained in the experiment will be due to
  chance or to some other factor not covered by the
  experimental hypothesis.
• The null hypothesis is used for statistical
  purposes to evaluate the results. The
  probability of the null hypothesis being correct
  is known as the significance level. In
  psychology we generally look for a significance
  level of lt0.05 (or 5).
• This means that we want to be more than 95 sure
  that the results did not occur through chance.
  For results of 0.05 or less, we reject the null
  hypothesis (ie there is less than 5 probability
  or 1 in 20 chance that the results were a fluke)
  and accept the experimental hypothesis (ie there
  is at least a 95 probability that the
  manipulation of the IV brought about the change
  in the DV), eg
• Social pressure will have no effect on levels of
  conformity.
• The main point is that if we try and falsify the
  null hypothesis then we have strong evidence to
  support the experimental hypothesis.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• A hypothesis predicts some sort of link between
  two variables.
• The experimental method of research is a
  controlled procedure that sees the manipulation
  of an independent variable (IV) to observe and
  measure any effect this has on a dependent
  variable (DV).
• The essential features of the experimental method
  are then the control, observation and measurement
  of variables.
• The experimental method makes us more confident
  about the validity of any cause-effect
  relationship established between an independent
  and dependent variable.
• In contrast, non-experimental and correlational
  studies cannot determine cause and effect as
  they are not manipulating the IV they merely
  explore and describe relationships between
  variables

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• OPERATIONALISATION refers to how variables
  (factors, things that we are interested in) are
  specified in such a way that they can be easily
  measured or manipulated.
• For example, in order to investigate the effects
  of caffeine on concentration and learning we
  need to operationalise the two variables we are
  interested in
• Caffeine -by specifying the exact amount of
  caffeine to be used 1 cup, 2 cups or 5 cups so
  that we can manipulate the IV
• Concentration and learning- by specifying a task
  that will allow us to measure e.g. comprehension,
  memory task.
• Many aspects of behaviour to investigate but can
  we operationalise the variables involved?
• E.g people are happier when they work/ people
  work better under quiet conditions

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• A variable is something that is open to change,
  eg behaviours, performance or emotions or
  something in the environment or situation.
• The independent variable (IV) is the variable or
  thing that the experimenter manipulates/changes
  to see whether it affects something else, eg
• If the experimental hypothesis is that
  background noise will have an effect on
  short-term memory performance 
• then background noise is the IV.
• The experimenter manipulates the background
  noise.
• The independent variable can have two or more
  conditions. A condition is a particular
  manipulation of the IV, eg
• Condition 1 No loud music (control group)
• Condition 2 Loud rock music (experimental
  group)

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• The dependent variable (DV) is the response being
  measured, eg behaviour, emotion, performance. In
  the above example short-term memory performance
  is the DV.
• An extraneous variable is any variable, other
  than the IV that may affect the DV. These
  variables can obscure or mask the effect of the
  IV on the DV. The researcher should try to
  eliminate or minimise their influence. They can
  be random factors that will affect any condition
  of the IV, eg
• There is noise from roadworks throughout both
  conditions of the memory task.
• A confounding variable is again a variable, other
  than the IV that affects the DV. Their effect is
  more systematic than extraneous variables and
  will affect only one condition of the IV, eg
• there is noise from roadworks during only one of
  the conditions.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Control Groups and Experimental Groups
• Often, two conditions of the IV will simply be
  presence or absence of a variable (as in the
  example above).
• In this case the control group is the group where
  the variable is absent. In the above example
  with loud music, the control group would not have
  loud music playing while they complete their
  short-term memory task.
• The experimental group, would have loud music
  playing in the background. Sometimes, conditions
  of the IV cannot be called control and
  experimental, but may simply be different, eg
  loud rock music in the background and loud
  classical music in the background.
• Control groups are an essential feature in
  scientific research (compare to placebo effect)
  and allow researchers to observe the DV in
  similar conditions to the experimental
  manipulations (e.g. major extraneous
  variable-time! See also Hawthorne effect).

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Experimental Design
• Although all experiments have the same basic
  structure, ie IV/DV, control group(s)/
  experimental group(s), a variety of experimental
  designs exist in psychology. Some of these
  designs are more complex than others.
• Experimental design concerns the decisions which
  are taken when an experiment is set up. These
  decisions focus on the ways in which participants
  are selected and then allocated to the conditions
  within an experiment.
• Three of the most commonly used designs are the
  repeated measures design, the independent groups
  design and the matched pairs design.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Repeated Measures Design
• The repeated measures design is sometimes also
  called the related measures design or the within
  subjects design. Regardless of which of these
  names it is given, this design always involves
  using the same participants in all conditions of
  the IV. An illustration of a repeated measures
  design-based on the previous example of
  background noise and short-term memory, would
  mean that the same people would take part in each
  condition.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Repeated Measures Design
• Advantages. These include the convenience of
  only having one set of participants to find (this
  is because you are using the same sample more
  than once), and the fact that you are avoiding
  the type of bias which inevitably arises from the
  individual differences between people. Because
  the same individuals are being used over again,
  there is less risk of bias from these normal
  variations which exist between people. However,
  the researcher may have to devise two (or more)
  memory tasks of equal difficulty.
• Disadvantage Practice effects, boredom and
  fatigue can all effect results and are more
  pronounced due to the fact that participants have
  to take part in all conditions. These order
  effects can lead to performance differing in the
  conditions and this results in a confounding
  variable due to the fact that performance is only
  affected in one condition.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Counterbalancing
• In order to get over this bias, the experimenter
  may counterbalance the order of the experimental
  conditions. Instead of always doing Condition 1
  first, followed by Condition 2, some subjects may
  do Condition 2 first, followed by Condition 1.
  The idea is that counterbalancing should cancel
  out order effects overall.
• The experimenter should also ensure that all
  materials used within the conditions are
  equivalent.
• Items and participants should be randomly
  allocated to the experimental conditions.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Independent Groups Design
•  
• The independent groups design involves using
  different participants for each condition. This
  is sometimes also called the independent subjects
  design, independent samples design, or the
  between groups design.
• Regardless of which of these names it is given,
  this design always selects two completely
  separate groups of people. An entirely different
  group of people take each condition of the
  experiment. Participants are allocated to each
  condition randomly.
• You may need fewer items or materials using this
  design but you do need more people!
•  

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Independent Groups Design
• The main difficulty with the independent groups
  design is that any differences in the DV between
  two conditions may be attributable to differences
  between the two participant groups. This is
  known as the problem of participant variables.
• Humans (or animals) are infinitely variable and
  there may well be differences between the
  participants chosen by you that could
  systematically affect one condition and spoil
  your results.
• To avoid or at least minimise this, the
  researcher must use something called random
  allocation. In random allocation, each person has
  an equal chance of being assigned to either
  condition. This can be assigned by pulling names
  out of a hat or tossing a coin to decide who is
  in which group. In this way you can get a
  balanced mixture of all sorts of people in each
  group, and the bias should be eliminated.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Matched Pairs Design
• Here each participant in one condition matches a
  participant in the other condition on one or more
  participant variable. Eg to control for the
  participant variable of memory ability, we could
  create two samples containing participants who
  have matching memory abilities. To create
  matched samples, we would first identify pairs of
  participants who have similar scores on the
  variable to be controlled (using a pre-test of
  memory ability). One member would then be
  randomly assigned to one of the two conditions
  and the other member to the other condition.
• If we select two people who have a very good
  memory, we would randomly assign one of them to
  the control condition of no background noise
  and the other to the experimental condition of
  loud rock music. Likewise someone with a very
  poor memory in the first condition would be
  matched with someone with an equally poor memory
  in the second condition. In this design the
  extraneous variable of memory ability is
  prevented from becoming a confounding variable.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

•  
• The aim of the experimental method is to control
  the IV to measure its impact on the DV.
  However, many other variables exist which can
  impact on the DV and the experimenter must
  attempt to control these.
• Extraneous variables include any situational
  variable found in the experimental setting (e.g.
  time of day, noise), experimenter variables,
  include experimenter and expectancy effect (see
  Rosenthal, 1966), and participant variables are
  those participant peculiarities that can
  influence results.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

•  
• These would include participant expectancy and
  demand characteristics (cues that unconsciously
  suggest what is expected of participants) as
  simply being in an experimental situation may
  influence behaviour (discuss Hawthorne effect).
• To control for extraneous and confounding
  variables the experimenter can use the single
  blind/double blind technique (participants/both
  participants and experimenter ignorant to purpose
  of study), standardised instructions and
  procedure (for replication) and select the most
  appropriate design for the study.
• A related, or within-subjects design like
  repeated measures, OR an unrelated, between
  subjects design like independent measures.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Demand Characteristics
• There is a further problem to do with the people
  you use in experiments known as demand
  characteristics (or participant bias). Demand
  characteristics is a term that is used to
  describe the process that occurs when people know
  or think they know what the experiment is about
  or what the experimenter is looking for. When
  this happens to people in experiments, it can
  affect the way they behave. Some people might
  try to be very nice and attempt to help you get
  the results they think you want. Other people
  might deliberately try to prevent you from
  getting the result they think you want perhaps
  because they want to show that they know what
  you are up to and are not going to be taken in by
  it!

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Demand Characteristics
• One way to combat this is to run the experiment
  as a single blind. In a single blind design the
  participants are not told what the experimenter
  is looking for until after the experiment is
  finished. Sometimes the experimenter may
  actually lie to them about the true nature of the
  research in order to prevent them from finding
  out the real purpose of the experiment. This of
  course raises some ethical issues.
• The reason for the use of the single blind
  technique is so that, if participants do not know
  what is being looked for, they cannot
  deliberately give you the results you want or
  prevent you from getting them. However, just the
  simple knowledge that they are in an experimental
  situation may result in some participants
  behaving or performing differently than they
  otherwise would. This is known as the Hawthorne
  Effect.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Experimenter Effect and Bias 
• Experimenter effects arise from the way in which
  an experimenter interacts with his/her
  participants. Experimenters can influence how
  people respond to them in a number of ways,
  simply by virtue of their age, sex, or
  personality and by their treatment of
  participants. These are known as experimenter
  effects.
• Of course, experimenters should always try to
  ensure that they treat all their participants in
  the same way. To do this, experimenters use
  standardised instructions. Standardised
  instructions are instructions that are written
  down by the experimenter prior to the experiment
  taking place. They are given or read out to each
  participant of the experiment in an identical
  fashion. This helps ensure that any differences
  found between groups cannot be due to the way
  participants were treated by the experimenter.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Experimenter bias occurs when the expectations of
  the experimenter unconsciously influence the way
  in which he or she behaves or interprets what is
  happening in the experiment. Experimenter bias
  can significantly influence the results of an
  experiment. One way to counteract experimenter
  bias is to use a double blind technique. Here,
  not only are the participants not told of the
  true nature of the study, but neither are the
  people who collect the results. In other words,
  the experimenter sets up the experiment and then
  lets other people run the research. Afterwards
  he or she simply collects the data for analysis.
  By doing this, it is hoped that the data is
  collected in an unbiased way.
•  
• The use of a double blind technique is quite
  common in medical research in general and in drug
  trials in particular. Here, some people are
  given the drug and others are given a placebo (ie
  a substance known to have no effect). Neither
  the participants nor the researchers know which
  (drug or placebo) any individual participant has
  been given. This information is only disclosed
  after the results have all been collected.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Key terms
• Experimenter effects e.g. gender of experimenter
  may effect results?
• Participant effects e.g. behaviour changes due to
  study (Hawthorne effect)
• Situational variables e.g. factors in the
  environment (noise, time of day etc)
• Demand characteristics e.g. cues that
  unconsciously suggest what is expected of
  participants (memory and noise- condition with
  noise more casual)
• Standardised instructions/procedure- used to
  avoid experimenter effects and situational
  variables (recipe?)
• Single blind/double blind-participant/experimenter
  and participant blind to actual purpose of
  study

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Methods of Collecting Data
• Laboratory Experiments
• There are several types of experiment but only
  laboratory and field experiments are considered
  to be true experiments in the sense that the
  experimenter has direct control over the
  independent variable.
• In a laboratory experiment, the investigation
  takes place entirely in a laboratory environment,
  ie not in the real world, but in a carefully
  controlled, artificial setting.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Methods of Collecting Data
• In a laboratory experiment, the environment is
  completely controlled by the experimenter. The
  relationship between two things is investigated
  by deliberately producing a change in one
  variable (the independent variable or IV) and
  carefully recording what effect this has on the
  other variable (the dependent variable or DV).
• Control and replication are key concepts in
  laboratory experiments in particular. If an
  experimental result is true it should always be
  possible to reproduce it, ie it is reliable.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Methods of Collecting Data
• However, laboratory experiments are not entirely
  suitable for many psychological investigations
  because they have to take place in such
  artificial situations and, therefore, the results
  cannot really generalise to real life situations.
  
• Simply by taking people (especially children)
  into laboratories, you are changing their social
  situation(s) in a very fundamental way. They
  therefore may not react to a stimulus in the same
  way as they would in a real life (normal)
  situation.
• There are also certain codes of conduct (ethics)
  which have to be strictly applied when carrying
  out experiments which involve people (and
  children in particular). These can make
  laboratory experiments difficult to carry out in
  practice (see BPS Guidelines on Ethics).

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Field Experiments
• In a field experiment, the investigation takes
  place in everyday surroundings. The participants
  are often unaware that they are participating in
  a psychology experiment at all. However, the
  independent variable is still being manipulated
  by the experimenter, who is interested in finding
  out what effect it has on the dependent variable.
  
• The environment, on the other hand, cannot be
  controlled by the experimenter in a field
  experiment. This is because field experiments
  take place in real-life settings, eg shopping
  centres, workplace, schools etc. In real life
  settings variables which may affect the result of
  an experiment are always present to some extent.
  They can never be eliminated. The degree of
  control that the experimenter has in a field
  experiment is therefore much less than in that of
  a laboratory experiment.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Field Experiments
•  
• Field experiments are useful in that they are
  more true to life and may tap human behaviour
  more accurately than a laboratory-based
  investigation. Also, because, in a field
  experiment, participants are usually unaware that
  the experiment is taking place, there is little
  risk that their behaviour will become affected by
  their knowledge of the experimenters presence or
  the experimental situation. These are strong
  points in favour of field experiments.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Field Experiments
• Field experiments do have some drawbacks
  associated with them also however. The loss of
  control which is an inevitable part of the field
  experiment means it is more difficult to be sure
  exactly what is causing what, and a much larger
  element of doubt must remain about this than with
  a laboratory based experiment.
• There is much less scope with a field experiment
  for replication. This is partly because the
  exact conditions are difficult to repeat (since
  they have not really been controlled in the first
  place) and partly because field experiments are
  much more time-consuming and expensive for a
  researcher to conduct than laboratory-based
  experiments.
• The problem of ethics exists for field
  experimenter also. There is a clear ethical
  issue in a situation where you are
  observing/experimenting with people without their
  full knowledge and prior consent being obtained.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Natural Experiments
• Natural experiments belong to a category of
  experiments known as quasi experiments.
•  
• As in all experiments, natural experiments have
  independent and dependent variables.
•  
• Quasi experiments are those where one or both of
  the following conditions apply
• The experimenter does not have control over the
  allocation of participants to the different
  levels of the IV.
• and/or
• The researcher cannot control the IV. This is
  because the IV is controlled by someone else, eg
  hospital managers (in example below).
•  

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• For instance, a hospital may decide to relax
  visiting regulations to allow parents to see
  their sick child at anytime during the hospital
  stay. In this situation there is a naturally
  occurring group which is not experiencing the
  change (control condition of the IV) who can be
  used for comparison purposes with the group of
  children who are experiencing the change
  (experimental condition of the IV).
• Recovery rates, morale and anxiety levels (the
  dependent variables) can be compared for the two
  groups with the aim of ascertaining whether or
  not the more relaxed visiting regulations produce
  faster recovery rates and lower anxiety levels in
  the group of patients who were given more access
  to their relatives.
• Although this is an experiment in most senses of
  the word, the IV is not at all controlled by the
  experimenter. In this case the IV has occurred
  naturally.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Natural experiments have an advantage over field
  experiments in that the investigator is not
  interfering in any way, since the situation will
  be occurring whether he/she investigates it or
  not.
• In fact, the natural experiment is really the
  only way to study cause and effect where there
  are ethical objections to manipulation of
  variables.
• Furthermore, natural experiments minimise the
  risk of having experimenter effects - the
  unwanted effects that the very presence of an
  experimenter may have on the behaviour of
  participants, since there is often no
  experimenter actually present.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• However, natural experiments, in common with
  field experiments, do have a major disadvantage
  in their loss of control over variables.
• Similarly, replication is not really possible
  since it is unlikely that a natural experiment
  would occur more often than once. Equally, as
  with field experiments such experiments are time
  consuming and expensive to run.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• SAMPLING
• In any psychological research sampling is
  crucial.
• In order to conduct research, psychology needs
  participants to study.
• It is usually impossible to study everyone of
  interest in your target population (group of
  interest), so psychologists sample from this
  target population instead.
•  
• Poor sampling however will give you poor results
  and poor conclusions.
•  
• Any sample used in any kind of research in
  psychology should reflect the target population
  onto which the researcher wants to generalise
  their results and conclusions.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• SAMPLING
• Good sampling allows for the generalisation of
  your results onto the target population from
  which your sample is drawn.
• You can infer certain things i.e. how the
  population of a country might vote. Because of
  the desire to generalise results and conclusions
  a sample must be as representative of the target
  population as possible.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Random sampling
• Random sampling is where every member of a target
  population has an equal chance of being chosen to
  take part in your research.  
• It could be done by drawing straws or pulling
  names from hat.
• An example of random sampling would be if you
  wanted to get information from a college
  community about their potential use of a new
  college sports centre.
• You could use random sampling by previously
  deciding that every 10th person to come through
  the main entrance during a certain time is asked
  to participate in the survey.
• The people who complete the survey are your
  random sample. It is random because every person
  coming through the main entrance had an equal
  chance (1 10 in this instance) of being chosen
  for the survey.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Stratified sampling
• Stratified sampling occurs when you look at your
  target population and decide to make up a sample
  for your research reflecting the make-up of the
  target population.
• At a simple level, if your target population were
  60 male, and 40 female, your stratified sample
  would reflect this gender balance.
•  
• In a stratified sample of 100, 60 would have to
  be male and 40 female. You stratify on the
  basis of the variables you think are important to
  your research.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Opportunity sampling
• Opportunity sampling comprises exactly what it
  says. Your sample is made up from whoever is
  available and around at the time. If you need 20
  participants an opportunity sample are the first
  20 people you find willing to assist.
•  
• Opportunity sampling is particularly popular in
  student research because opportunity sampling is
  convenient.
•  

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Quota sampling
• Quota sampling is popular in consumer research.
  Quota sampling is having a sample from a
  particular strata or subcategory in society, in
  equal proportion to their occurrence in the
  target population.
• Same points as stratified except
• once sub-groups have been identified, selection
  within the sub-group is at the discretion of the
  researcher, eg opportunity sampling is the most
  likely.
• This method is commonly used when investigating
  sex differences, where an equal proportion of
  each sex must be selected. 

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Self-selected Sampling
• Often known as a volunteer sample.
• Participants may become involved through
  replying to advertisements.
• A biased response is likely since a small
  minority of the target population will be likely
  to respond and those that do will be likely to
  have specific reasons for wanting to be involved.
  This is often based on the subject of the study.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• With all sampling methods
• The sample should be representative of the
  target population.
• If it is representative then generalisations
  can be made from the sample to the target
  population.
• It is necessary to avoid obtaining a biased
  sample. This is possible if a systematic
  approach is taken when deciding on the sampling
  method used and in carrying out the
  administration of it.
•  
• It is important to identify characteristics which
  are important to the study when carrying out the
  sampling, eg sex, age, etc.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• With all sampling methods
• The sample should be representative of the
  target population.
• If it is representative then generalisations
  can be made from the sample to the target
  population.
• It is necessary to avoid obtaining a biased
  sample. This is possible if a systematic
  approach is taken when deciding on the sampling
  method used and in carrying out the
  administration of it.
•  
• It is important to identify characteristics which
  are important to the study when carrying out the
  sampling, eg sex, age, etc.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• REVISION
• Research Process
• Key terms (e.g. aim, hypothesis, qualitative and
  quantitative research, variables-IV, DV,
  extraneous, confounding, control groups,
  samples/populations, reliability and validity)
• Experimental method
• Correlational method/technique
• Non-experimental methods (survey, observation,
  case studies)
• Data analysis (descriptive statistics-mean, mode
  and media, range, SD, graphical
  representations-scattergrams, bar, line and pie
  charts)

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Quantitative and Qualitative Research
• The methods used by psychologists can be
  quantitative or qualitative.
• Where the research aims to produce numerical
  results from data that can be measured or
  counted then the research is categorised as
  quantitative.
• Qualitative data is all other data, for example,
  detailed observations of behaviour or open-ended
  responses in questionnaires.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Reliability and Validity
• Reliability is the extent to which the same
  measure produces the same results each time it is
  used.
• A test, or measure is reliable if it is stable
  over time and distance, ie it produces the same
  results on the same people each time it is used
  in a day, week, month etc or in different parts
  of the country on a matched group of people.
• Validity establishes that a measure is measuring
  exactly what you expect it to measure, eg an IQ
  test should test intelligence and not memory.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Ecological validity is the extent to which
  findings in a study are true to life.
• Experiments can be carried out in laboratories or
  in more natural settings (in the field).
  Carrying out an experiment in the field does not
  automatically imply ecological validity.
• If the same behaviour is recorded in a variety of
  naturalistic settings then a study can be said to
  have ecological validity. If however, the study
  does not transfer to other settings then we can
  simply say that the study is high in realism but
  not high in ecological validity.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Non-experimental methods
• Survey
• Any research method that uses oral or written
  instructions/questions must first standardise
  them.
• This is to ensure that all participants/respondent
  s get the same instructions/questions, and that
  these instructions/questions are clear and
  unambiguous.
• Unless this happens questions of validity and
  reliability will arise.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

•  
• Validity concerns do the questions measure what
  they claim to measure?  
• A question of reliability would also arise if
  researchers didnt standardise instructions/questi
  ons beforehand. If left up to their own devices
  to give instructions and ask questions,
  researchers would be inconsistent in what they
  said to different individuals.
• Any information got from such a non-standardised
  situation, and any claims made as a result, is
  questionable. It is not reliable as data to lend
  support to hypotheses, or as objective fact about
  behaviours, attitudes, opinions, beliefs or
  values.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

•  
• Poorly designed instructions and questions see a
  survey suffer from the GIGO effect. Quite simply,
  Garbage in, garbage out!
•  
• A poorly designed questionnaire can result in
  acquiescence response, socially desirable
  answers, and response set.
•  
• Acquiescence response is a tendency people have
  to agree, or say Yes especially to things that
  they think dont affect them that much.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

•  
• Response set arises when a respondent think they
  see a pattern of desired answers to survey
  questions, and answers accordingly.
• To avoid response set, scaling, and the
  randomisation of questions is recommended.
•  
• Scaling and randomisation also help prevent
  acquiescence response, and a tendency by people
  to give socially desirable answers.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• The interview method of research is a
  conversation with a purpose.
• It is non-experimental in design.
• The interviewer will on a one-to-one basis
  collect detailed personal information from
  individuals using oral questions.
• The interview is used widely to supplement and
  extend our knowledge about individual(s).

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Interviews can give us both quantitative and
  qualitative data about participants thoughts,
  feelings and behaviours. This is due to the
  standardisation and/or free ranging nature of
  questions asked.
•  
• The more structured or standardised interview
  questions are, the more able you are to get
  quantitative data.
•  
• Quantitative data is reliable and easy to
  analyse.
•  
• The less structured and freer ranging the
  interview questions the more qualitative your
  data becomes.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• Qualitative data is difficult to analyse and is
  not as reliable.
• There are two categories of interview, the
  structured interview and unstructured interview.
•  
• The key feature of the structured interview is in
  the pre-planning of all the questions asked.
•  
• Structured interviews also allow for replication
  of the interview with others.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• You can then generalise what you find out to the
  population from which your interview sample came.
  
•  
• Structured interviews are conducted in various
  modes face-to-face, by telephone, videophone and
  the Internet.
•  
• There are three types of structured interview.
  The structured interview itself, the
  semi-structured interview and the clinical
  interview.

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INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• A major feature, and difference, is the degree to
  which each use standardised and unplanned
  questions. Standardisation helps the reliability
  of your results and conclusions.
• The more use of unplanned questions, the less
  structured the interview becomes.
• Spontaneous questioning is more responsive to the
  participant.
• However spontaneous questioning does not allow
  for generalisation. Spontaneous questions can
  also be accused of generating invalid results and
  conclusions.
• Thus standardisation v. the free ranging nature
  of questions is both the main advantage and
  disadvantage of the interview method of research,
  in general and in particular

58
INVESTIGATING BEHAVIOUR

• The observational method of research concerns the
  planned watching, recording, and analysis of
  observed behaviour as it occurs in a natural
  setting.
• The observational method is non-experimental in
  design.  
• The absence of an independent variable does not
  allow any cause-effect conclusions to be drawn
  from observational research.
• Sound evidence is however important to the
  observational method.
• Indeed, the observational methods key feature is
  a standardised, planned, and systematic approach
  to objectively observe and record behaviour.

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Investigating Behaviour

• Observations, which can be overt or covert, are
  of five main types.
• We have participant observation, non-participant
  observation, structured observation,
  un-structured observation and naturalistic
  observation.
• Each involves the planned gathering, analysis,
  and interpretation of mostly empirical data on
  observed behaviour.
• Each observation has its own features, advantages
  and disadvantages.

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Investigating Behaviour

• Participant observation, for example, sees the
  researcher take part in the observation of
  behaviour under investigation (Festinger et al
  1965).
• Non-participant observation sees no involvement
  on the part of the researcher, with recordings of
  observed behaviours being taken from afar.
•  In addition, there is controlled (e.g Bandura,
  Ainsworth) and naturalistic observation (Junard).
• The observational method has both advantages and
  disadvantages as a research design in psychology.

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Investigating Behaviour

• Covert observations can be problematic regards
  ethics and disclosure.
• Extraneous/Confounding variables also plague
  observations. These are infinite, and include
  observer bias and the observer effect.
• Inter-observer reliability and observation
  schedules can be used to limit these problems,

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Investigating Behaviour

• Case Studies
• The case study method of research is a detailed
  in-depth investigation of a single case
  concerning a person, a family, an organisation,
  or an event.
• Famous examples Genie, Clive Wearing, Phineas
  Gage, Little Hans/Anna O

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Investigating Behaviour

• The main advantage of the case study is that it
  can give excellent in-depth, mainly qualitative
  information about a single case happening
  concerning an individual, organisation or animal.
  
• It is a very useful research tool that is used to
  investigate one-off phenomenon in a rich and
  detailed way.
• It treats those whom it investigates with
  respect, and has the welfare of the individual at
  heart. This is one of the reasons why a case
  study is a more appropriate research method to
  use when investigating controversial topics such
  as child abuse etc.

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Investigating Behaviour

• Case studies usually give researchers information
  high in ecological validity. What this means is
  that the information a case study generates is
  real.
• It is an investigation into a happening that has
  an individual self-report on an actual experience
  as it has affected them.
• In recent years case studies of similar rare
  occurrences have begun to be pooled on a global
  basis. The pooling of information helps
  contribute to our overall knowledge of something
  of unique interest. The study of the paranormal
  is maybe an obvious example?

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Investigating Behaviour

• The main disadvantage of the case study method is
  that it is idiographic in orientation. This means
  that because the case study is geared towards the
  individual and the single case, its findings
  cannot consequently be applied to everyone.  
• As a case study is about a unique happening
  concerning an individual or organisation, any
  generalisation of results and conclusions to the
  population from which the individual or
  organisation comes is impossible.

66
Investigating Behaviour

• Further, because the case study is about a
  single-case happening they cannot be replicated.
  Replication helps confirm earlier results and
  conclusions.
• The ability to replicate a case study, to find
  support or otherwise for its earlier results and
  conclusions is impossible.
• The difficulty in the replication and
  confirmation of results is related to another
  disadvantage to the case study method, its
  subjectivity.

67
Investigating Behaviour

• A case study gathers in mainly qualitative,
  descriptive information about an individual. This
  information is got from case histories,
  interviews, diaries etc. and is subjective
  because it is based on an individuals personal
  feelings and opinions.
• Another flaw with subjective self-report data is
  that its worth depends on the individual being
  truthful. We should be circumspect about
  self-reported information for all sorts of
  reasons.

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Investigating Behaviour

• The main reason being that we are never entirely
  truthful! We forget things, we miss out things
  that we think are irrelevant, we lie, we are
  economical with the truth, we exaggerate, we
  disclose some things about ourselves and keep
  other things hidden etc. The reliability of
  information got by self-report is therefore
  suspect.
• The case study can also attract ethical concerns
  regards the privacy of individuals whose life
  histories may be publicized after their death.

69
Investigating Behaviour

• Confidentiality should also be observed, with
  aliases for participants being used wherever
  possible.  
• The different elements to the case study also
  attract disadvantages.
• The unstructured interview forms the main element
  to a number of case studies.
• Unstructured interviews are prone to interviewer
  bias.
• Interviewer bias occurs where the interviewer
  subtly communicates expected answers to the
  interviewee, which he or she then gives in
  response to the questions asked.

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Investigating Behaviour

• Leading questions can also be a problem in the
  more unstructured of interviews, particularly
  when the interviewer asks spontaneous questions.
   
• Could these questions be leading the interviewee
  to give an answer that fits the researchers
  theory or idea?
• The case study then lacks scientific validity. It
  is not an objective, controlled method of
  research and is prone to bias.
• One final disadvantage is that because it is a
  non-experimental method of research, no
  cause-effect conclusions can be drawn from any
  data generated in a case study.

71
Investigating Behaviour

• Multi Method
• Case studies are a good example of using more
  than one research method to investigate behaviour
  e.g. interview, experiment and observational
  methods all used in most case studies.
• Many other studies involve a combination of
  different methods to investigate a particular
  question e.g. Milgram, Ainsworth, Harlowcan you
  think of any others?

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Investigating Behaviour

• Other important research terms
• Cross-cultural studies- (e.g. strange situation
  studies)- used to see if cultural practices
  affect behaviour. Yet tests may not be valid in
  all cultures (imposed etic- e.g. I.Q. tests)
• Longitudinal and cross sectional designs-studies
  enable researchers to observe long term effects
  or compare different groups at the same period in
  time (age/gender/profession) e.g. Schaffer and
  Emerson/Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg
• Longitudinal studies use repeated measures design
  and cross-sectional studies use independent
  measures design.
• Role-play/Confederates- often used as part of a
  controlled observational study e.g.
  Zimbardo/Milgram

73
Investigating Behaviour

• The correlation is a statistical technique used
  to indicate the degree of relationship between
  two co-variates.
• The correlation is not a research method, but a
  research technique.
• It endeavours to find relationships between two
  co-variates, or independent behaviours,
  situations, or events.

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Investigating Behaviour

• A correlation can be positive or negative. A
  positive correlation means that there is a
  positive relationship between the two independent
  co-variates, and that as one increases, so does
  the other.
• A negative correlation means that there is a
  negative relationship between the two independent
  co-variates, where here an increase in one
  co-variate is related to a decrease in the other.

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Investigating Behaviour

• The degree of relationship can be illustrated
  using a descriptive statistic called a
  scattergram.
•  
• The scattergrams trend line illustrates the
  strength, direction, and degree of positive or
  negative correlation.

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Investigating Behaviour

• Figure 1 Relationship between hours of study and
  exam results

77
Investigating Behaviour

• The strength of correlation can be further tested
  using an inferential statistic called a
  correlation co-efficient.
•  
• Using the likes of Spearmans rho, the nearer rho
  is to 1, the more positive the relationship is
  said to be, while the nearer rho is to 1, the
  more negative the relationship between the
  co-variates is said to be.
•  
• A rho of near 0 indicates no relationship between
  the co-variates.

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Investigating Behaviour

• Figure 2. Correlation co-efficient

79
Investigating Behaviour

• The correlation technique is useful because of
  its ability to produce quantifiable data in the
  form of a co-efficient.
• However, even with a co-efficient be wary of
  correlations.
•  
• Correlations can only infer a positive or
  negative relationship between its covariates.
•  
• No cause-effect conclusions can be reached.
• Examples- violence and aggression- bad diet??

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Investigating Behaviour

• Yet it does allow us to explore hypotheses that
  cannot be examined directly in a much quicker
  fashion than using an experiment for example.
• Further research, preferably experimental would
  be needed to determine the nature of the
  relationship in most correlational studies.

81
Investigating Behaviour

• 1.Create a suitable directional hypothesis for a
  correlational study. (2marks) 
• Create a suitable non-directional hypotheis for a
  correlational study. (2marks) 
• Draw a scattergram with best line of fit to
  illustrate the following and indicate the
  correlation coefficient that would best express
  the relationship
• a)      positive correlation
• b)      negative correlation
• c)      no relationship (6 marks)
• Explain the main advantages and disadvantages of
  the correlational technique. (6 marks)
• Discuss why some studies are more suitable for
  this method of investigation than
  others. (4 marks)
• Total 20 marks

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Investigating Behaviour

• DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
• MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
• MEAN (AVERAGE) SUM OF SCORES/ NUMBER OF SCORES
• takes into account all scores therefore sensitive
• what about extreme scores?
• Can only be used with interval or ratio data
• Data types-NOIR- nominal (categories e.g.
  favourite football team), ordinal (ordered-list
  of football teams in order of preference),
  interval (data measured using units of equal
  intervals e.g. word recall) and ratio (true 0
  point e.g. in most measures of physical
  quantities temp, height age)

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Investigating Behaviour

• MEDIAN (MIDDLE SCORE)SORT SCORES IN ASCENDING
  ORDER AND FIND MIDDLE SCORE
• (IF EVEN NUMBERS THEN DIVIDE TWO MIDDLE SCORES
  BY 2.
• unaffected by extreme scores yet less sensitive
  and representative of sample, can be used with
  ordinal data.
• MODE MOST FREQUENTLY OCCURRING SCORE
• very easy to calculate yet unreliable as can
  change dramatically
• useful in situations where other measures of
  central tendency are meaningless e.g nominal
  data
• e.g. questionnaire response no of
  children

84
Investigating Behaviour

• MEASURES OF DISPERSION
• are scores similar to each other (cluster round
  the mean) or spread out?
• RANGE difference between highest and lowest
  score
• formula Highest-Lowest
• easy to calculate and useful way of describing
  data e.g. two data sets could have same mean but
  different range
• inadequate measure of general spread as only
  concerns two scores
• STANDARD DEVIATION
• used to assess the spread of data around the
  mean- it shows the amount og variation in a set
  of scores.
• More precise as it takes all values into account
  but can still be affected by extreme
  scores.
• Activity- complete tasks in worksheet

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Investigating Behaviour

• 3 ways of describing data- measures of central
  tendency, measures of disperson and visual
  displays (graphs and charts).