Research Methods

Overview
I. Scientific Process
2. Research Designs
3. Methods of Gathering Data

Why start with methods?

Everybody has an opinion

Why Start with Methods?

Science vs. Advice
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
Never hug and kiss them, never let them sit on your lap. If you
must, kiss them once on the forehead when they say good
night. Shake hands with them in the morning. Give them a pat
on the head if they have made an extraordinarily good job of a
difficult task. Try it out. In a week's time you will find how easy
it is to be perfectly objective with your child and at the same
time kindly. You will be utterly ashamed of the mawkish,
sentimental way you have been handling it.

Science vs. Folk Wisdom

Scientific Information

Empirical
Rational
Testable
________
Tentative Explanations
___________

Cycle of Scientific Reasoning

Theory
Any organized belief about
behavior and development

Theory

Hypothesis
_______________

Test
Some systematic way of
evaluating hypotheses

Test

Hypothesis

Violent Media program affects

Childrens antisocial
behaviors

Group 1: violent TV
Group 2: neutral TV

Violent TV increases
aggressive behavior

Cycle of Scientific Reasoning

Rival Hypothesis

Theory

alternative
explanations

Test

Hypothesis

Overview
I. Scientific Process
2. Research Designs
3. Methods of Gathering Data

Correlational Designs
Measure relationship between two variables, but
dont control them (use already existing groups)
Correlation Coefficient (+1.0 to 1.0; 0=no
relationship)

Positive Correlation

Negative Correlation

Correlational Designs
r = .40

Weakness: __________________
XY
YX

Y
Z

Experimental Designs
Goal: draw causal conclusions
Manipulation
Independent Variable (IV): cause & the one you
manipulate
Dependent Variable (DV): effect & the one you
measure

__________________
Children put into two groups by chance

Experimental Designs
Does drinking coffee affects performance

Weakness
Random assignment is not always possible

Special Consideration
How Do We Study Development?
Cross-Sectional Design
Longitudinal Design

Cross-Sectional Design
Studies children of different ages at
one point in time
Strengths
_______
_______

Weaknesses
No info on how
individuals change over
time
Cohort effect

Longitudinal Design
Study a group of children
repeatedly at different ages
Strength
Shows how individuals
change over time

Weaknesses
Time-consuming
Selective attrition

Overview
I. Scientific Process
2. Research Designs
3. Methods of Gathering Data

Observations
1) Naturalistic Observations
Pros:
Directly observe behavior of interest
___________

Cons:
Low base rate
of behavior
Reactivity
Lack of controlled
comparisons

Observations
2) Structured Observations
Pros:

All children observed in the same context

Provide controlled comparisons
Efficient for infrequent events
Directly observe behavior of interest

Cons:
Lab setting is less
natural for children
Less ecological validity
Reactivity

Questionnaire/Surveys
Likert scales, checklist, etc.
Pros:
Quick way to gather lots of info
Standardized format allows for easy comparison
across participants

Cons:
Relatively little depth
Presentation Bias
Developmental Change

Interviews
Clinical or semi-structured
Pros

Participants allowed to express thoughts in own words

Comfortable setting
Flexible
Depth of information

Cons:
May not be generalizable
Interviewer effects

Special Consideration
HOW DO WE STUDY INFANTS?
Problems
Lack of language
They cant tell us what they
think
We cant tell them what we
want to know

Limited ability to respond

in general

But infants do respond

How can we tell?

Infants Do Respond Somewhat

Meltzoff & Moore (1977) study
Showed newborns (<2 days old)
staged facial expressions
Videotaped just infants
Observers had to guess what
expression infants had seen
They could!

Meltzoff & Moore (1977) examples

Special Consideration
HOW DO WE STUDY INFANTS?
Problems

But infants do respond

Use indirect methods!

How do we know
what babies know?
Commonly used:
Head-turning
interest/attention
___________ preference
Eye-gaze/Looking
time - surprise

The dishabituation part of the story

Record infants looking times
Suddenly something
happens
Attention recovers
(dishabituate) IF the
infant perceives the
change
Novelty preference
A way of deciding what
infants notice