Women and Psychology
Psychological Research Methods & Applications in
Psychology
Research Methods
Last week, we looked briefly at different types of data that
psychologists might be interested in - behaviour, inner experiences, material
data and symbolic data. This week, we will look in more detail at the research
process and commonly used psychological research methods. We will continue to
explore research methods throughout the unit, as we look at different examples
of research in the area of gender development.
Experiment - if you were asked to think
about research methods in psychology, the chances are that you would think of
'experiments' first. An experiment aims to measure cause and effect,
by measuring the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
Look at the simple example given below and discuss the
questions in pairs or small groups:
|
A psychologist wishes to test the effect that drinking
alcohol has on students' co-ordination skills. She provides one group of
students with 10 vodka shots and a second group of students with 10 'placebo'
vodka shots (i.e. water). The students then play a video game based on
co-ordination skills, and their scores are recorded and compared. |
Observation Studies
One frequent criticism of experimental studies is that they
are lacking in ecological validity - they may 'prove' something in the
lab, but it doesn't count for much in the real world.
Using the example above, of the effects of alcohol, some
psychologists would argue that we would get much more realistic data if we were
to study the participants in real life - in a real pub, for example.
Observation studies involve more than just sitting back and
watching the world go by, however. Information must be carefully recorded,
often by more than one researcher. There are a number of ethical concerns -
such as consent - and the researcher must also decide whether to declare their
presence, i.e. whether to conduct an overt or covert observation.
In some cases, the researcher may decide to join in with a group's activities,
in a participant observation (although this may not be the best idea in
the pub), or may simply watch, in a non-participant observation.
Interviews, surveys and questionnaires
These are research methods which are probably already
familiar to you - you will undoubtedly have had job, college or medical
interviews at one time or another, and you will probably also have completed
market research surveys and questionnaires.
Psychological interviews are carried out with a rather
different purpose to most job interviews - they aim to gain an insight into an
individual's inner experiences.
Interviews may be highly structured (all of the questions
are determined in advance, and may have restricted or closed responses, such as
questionnaires); semi-structured, with topic areas defined in advance, but some
flexibility for follow-up questions, or unstructured, and led by the interviewee.
Look at the sample questionnaire provided. Can you find any
potential problems with it?
Case Studies
We looked at a famous case study, of Freud's and Breuer's
patient Anna O, last week. A case study can be a useful research method when
psychologists wish to examine one individual's situation in more detail, for
example, when presented with a client such as Anna O who displays particularly
unusual symptoms. Case studies may also involve small groups, such as families,
or one-off events. A case study may combine different types of data to explore
an individual's situation in depth.
Working in groups, consider each of the methods discussed
and complete the table below:
|
Method |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
|
Experiment |
|
|
|
Observation |
|
|
|
Interviews, surveys and questionnaires |
|
|
|
Case studies |
|
|
These cover most of the major psychological methods, however
there are others used primarily by qualitative psychologists, which
includes many feminist researchers.