Field Research (outside of lab)

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Chapter 6 Field Research (outside of lab)
Low High

• ? Naturalistic observation in natural setting
  
• ?Archival research preexisting records
• ?Case study single group or person
• ?Surveys asking direct questions
• Program evaluation conducting evaluations of
• applied procedures
• ? Field experiments causal inferences

constraint
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Field Research
Generalizability extent to which results from
a study based on a sample apply to the
population as a whole - real world (External
Validity)

Nonrepresentative sample not accurately
reflecting the characteristics of the
population from which the sample was drawn
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observations
naturalistic
case study
Unobtrusive no contact with subject
Participant observer Contact with the subject
Archival data
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Archival Research

• - Historical accounts
• census data
• court records
• Police crime reports
• medical records

Have to have research question Purely descriptive
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Field Research More Examples
? Naturalistic observation
Theory of Evolution Natural
Selection ?Archival research preexisting
records Ex Schizophrenia Meds
sleep ?Case study single group or person
Freud Anna O.
Charles DarwinBritish Naturalist 1809 -1882
   I have called this principle, by whicheach
slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by
the term Natural Selection.     Charles Darwin
from "The Origin of Species"
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If not unobtrusive ?Measurement Reactivity

• Hawthorne Effect
• (Mayo, 1927-1932 Roethlisberger
  Dickson, 1939)
• A bias in subjects behavior usually an
  improvement
• in performance - that results from special
  treatment and
• interest shown by the experimenter
• Hawthorne Electric ATT
• Measure productivity
• Illumination of room
• Hours worked
• of rest periods

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Observational Research
Study the subject in their natural environment
Nonhuman
Ethogram

• inventory of the behaviors of a species
• behaviors thoroughly described and organized
  into categories
• enables animal behaviorists to accurately
  measure behavior
• "behavior scan" method "scan" at regular, brief
  intervals
• results frequency of behavior (graph) or time
  budgets

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Other Types of Field Research Very important to
Psych
?Program evaluation conducting evaluations of
applied procedures ?Surveys asking direct
questions ? Field experiments causal inferences
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Reasons for doing Field Research Field
Experiments

• Basic vs Applied test external validity of
  experiment done in lab
• to determine the effects of events in the field
• to improve GENERALIZATION across setting

participants in study to larger population
results of the study over time
setting to setting
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Survey Research in the field
Survey one or several questions that ask people
about their attitudes, beliefs, health, work,
income life satisfaction, political views
etc.any issue can be surveyed
Mostly used in the social sciences (social
psych) .sounds easy..just whip up some
questions..
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Survey Research in the field

• Identify content area
• Construct your survey instrument
• Define population
• Draw representative sample
• Administer the survey

Administration of survey
mail
Interview
questionnaire
In person or telly
Group or single
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Survey Research in the field

• 2 parts to survey
• Demographics (factual items)
• Content Questions

Construction of questions
1. Open ended 2. Multiple choice 3. Likert
scale (continuum)
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Likert Scale
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Likert Scale for Children
Do you think time-out is a good thing?
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Survey Research in the field

• Sampling procedures
• Non probability
• probability

• Convenience Sampling Getting the first subjects
  available Ex. Exiting polls
• Quota Convenience sample to represents subgroups
  proportionate to the real population
• Snowball locate each subject from previous
  contact with previous subject

1. Simple randomly select subjects from list of
population 2. Systematic select every nth name
form the list of population 3. Stratified
randomly select from subgroup (strata),
proportionate to each groups representation in
the population
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Survey Research in the field
Research Designs
Cross-sectional design (one shot deal) compares
responses of people of different ages at one
time survey is only administered one time to
each participant comparisons are made across
age groups to investigate age related changes in
behavior/attitudes etc.
Longitudinal design (long-term) participants are
studied over time on the same DV follow up
tests within subjects design - How does the
subject change over time
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Surveys
Status Used to describe a current characteristic
of a population How long will you live???? Take
Life Expectancy Survey