Observational Research

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Observational Research
Psyc 301 Week 2
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AGENDA

• Quick Review
• Homework Discussion
• Observational Research
• Class Activity
• Homework

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Phases of Research

• Idea generation
• Defining the Problem
• Design the Procedures
• Observe/Collect Data
• Data-Analysis
• Interpret the data
• Communicate the findings

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The Basics of Research Design

• Psychological research is about answering
  questions
• But where do the questions come from?
• Established Theories
• Past Research
• Scientific Hunches

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The Basics Continued

• Variable
• A characteristic that changes or has different
  values for different individuals
• What are some variables in this room?
• Student height
• Individual anxiety level
• Room temperature

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Two Types of Variables

• Independent Variable (IV)
• Variable that is changed or manipulated
• Dependent Variable (DV)
• Variable that is used to measure the change or
  affect of the IV
• Example
• Fertilizers and Corn Crops
• What is the IV?
• What would be the DV(s)?

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Hypothesis

• Makes a prediction about how the manipulation of
  the IV will affect the DV
• OR
• Makes a prediction about the relationship between
  two variables
• i.e, Correlational studies
• Fertilizer and corn hypotheses?

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Scientific Writing and Reporting

• APA Style
• What is it?
• APA style refers to rules and guidelines for
  publishing psychological research
• Types of articles
• Review articles (summarize and/or critique past
  research)
• Case studies (authors description of case
  material about a specific individual or
  organization)
• Empirical studies (reports of original research)

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APA Style

• Four Main Sections
• Introduction (Literature Review)
• Methodology
• Results
• Discussion (Conclusion)

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Pennebaker Article Discussion
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Pennebaker Article Discussion

• What were the different sections of this article?
• Which phase(s) of research were addressed by
  which section(s)?
• How does the author catch the readers interest in
  the introduction?
• What was the purpose of this study? Where do we
  find it?
• Which theory leads to the research question
  addressed in this study?
• What is the IV? The DV?

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An Overview of Research Designs

• Naturalistic Observation
• Observation only, no interaction
• Ex) Studying animal behavior
• Case-Study
• In-depth study of 1 easily available instance
  (e.g., Piagets records of his children)
• Correlational Research
• Explores the relationships between variables
• Causality?

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An Overview of Research Designs

• Differential Research
• Using Pre-existing variables (i.e., Gender) to
  define groups
• Experimental Research
• Assignment to conditions
• Manipulation of variables to establish causality
• Independent Variable with multiple levels
• Ex) Cell Phones and Driving Research

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OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH
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Observational Research

• Scientific observation is made under precisely
  defined conditions, in a systematic and objective
  manner, and with careful record keeping.

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Observation classification

• Without intervention naturalistic observation
• Observer passive recorder
• Natural setting A place where behavior would
  occur normally
• With Intervention tampering
• Participant observation
• Structured observation
• Field Study

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What are the pros and cons to each?

• Observation without intervention?
• Observation with intervention?

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What are some examples of observational research?

• Simons and Levin (1998) studying Change Blindness
• http//viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/12.html
  
• Messer and Gross (1995) studying family
  interactions of children diagnosed with
  depression
• Messer, S.C., and A.M. Gross (1995) Childhood
  depression and family interaction a naturalistic
  observation study. Journal of Clinical Child
  Psychology, 24,

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What are other ideas for observational research?
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How do we measure and record observed behavior?

• Operational definitions
• WHAT concept are you studying, HOW are you going
  to measure it.
• Ex. If intelligence is the concept we want to
  measure, we may use any number of things to
  measure it.
• Ways to record behavior
• Qualitative
• Written descriptions, audio tapes, video tapes
• Quantitative
• Frequency of the behavior, measuring the duration
  of the behavior

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Observer Reliability

• Inter-observer reliability the degree to which 2
  independent observers agree
• How do we ensure inter-observer reliability?
• Clear definitions (behaviors/events)
• Training observers
• Feedback about discrepancies
• Reliability
• Number of times 2 observers agree
• Number of opportunities to agree

X 100
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OBSERVER 1 OBSERVER 2
Trial Sex Returned Disk Trial Sex Returned Disk
1 M x 1 M x
2 M 2 M x
3 F 3 F
4 F x 4 F
5 M 5 M
6 F 6 F
7 M x 7 M x
8 F x 8 F x
9 F 9 F
10 M 10 M
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Descriptive Statistics

• Statistics that describe the data
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Frequencies
• Tables/Charts/Graphs

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Measures of central tendency

• MODE the number that occurs the most
• e.g., 1, 6, 8, 7, 6, 2, 9, 1, 6
• Mode 6
• MEDIAN The number that represents the 50th
  percentile (the middle number or an average of
  the 2 middle numbers)
• e.g., 1, 3, 7, 8, 14, 35, 99,
• Median 8
• e.g., 1, 3, 6, 8, 55, 75
• Median ?
• MEAN what we think of as average
• ?(X)/N
• e.g., 1, 5, 7, 3 ..thus (1573)/4
• mean 4
• e.g., 2, 7, 5, 66
• mean ?

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Example Observation w/ interventionHelping
Behavior

• A group of researchers decide to measure helping
  behavior on college campuses.
• They have either a male or a female confederate
  walk out of the Johnson Center in front of one or
  more students. The confederate then
  accidentally drops a brightly colored computer
  disk onto the brick walk.
• Three observers record how many times another
  student exhibits helping behavior toward the
  confederate.
• Operational definition of helping behavior
• Point out to the confederate that (s)he has
  dropped the disk (Informatively Helpful)
• Pick up the disk and return it to the confederate
  (Actively Helpful)

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Example Observation Recording Sheet
Trial Sex Returned Disk Pointed out Disk Did Nothing Did Not See Inter-rater Reliability
1 M x 66.67
2 M x 100
3 F x 100
4 F x 100
5 M x 66.67
6 F x 66.67
7 M x 100
8 F x 100
9 F x 100
10 M x 100
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Frequencies Table Example
Table 1 Observed helping behaviors as a function
of Gender
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Central Tendency Example
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Creating a Table APA Style

• Refer to Dunn, 2004 pg 152 Table 8.1 for
  formatting
• Items to remember
• Title for your table (brief but understandable)
• Label your columns and rows meaningfully
• Those silly lines within the table that APA uses
• Double check your table values for accuracy

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Now, Its YOUR Turn!

• In-class assignment get into groups of 3-4 and
  complete proposed study design worksheet (Note I
  must approve your study!)
• HOMEWORK
• Groups of 3 or 4
• Conduct observational study with 20-30
  observations
• Can be with or without intervention
• Must observe in 2 or more settings (I.e., David
  King and SUB 2) OR 2 or more times (I.e., morning
  vs. night)
• Write summary of data, including
• List of variables
• Operational definitions
• Means and frequencies
• Try creating a table for your data
• Either frequencies, means or both!!
• Bring your data (printed out spreadsheet, email
  yourself, or on disk) to class next time

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Turn In Next Time

• In-class worksheet stapled to your written data
  summary
• Data Summary Must Include
• 1. What concept you measured
• 2. The definition of what you measured, how you
  operationally defined it and how you recorded it
• 3. The population or sample that you observed
• 4. The different times and settings of your
  observational study
• 5. Describe your data/Interpreting the statistics
• i.e., 20 of the people left the bench when the
  experimenter sat close to them..etc.
• Descriptive Statistics (Mean, Median, and Mode)
  of your data on a separate sheet or in a table
• Try displaying them in a table
• Use excel if you have a big data set

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Questions?

• Refer to Chapter 4 of Shaughnessy et al.
• Loooooooooooots of detail!
• Email me
• Office hours?