Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
1. Case studies
2. Correlational research
3. Experimental research
Weaknesses
Problem of generalization: idiosyncratic subject
Problem of generalization: experimenter biases and
subjective impressions
Entangled relationships among variables
Correlational Design
= a study that assesses the extent to which two
variables are related
Defines the relationship in quantitative terms
Correlational (“co-related”)
3.5
2.5
GPA
2 Series1
1.5
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
self-esteem
Direction of Correlation
Scatterplot showed a positive correlation
As one variable increased, the second variable also increased
As self-esteem goes up, academic achievement also goes up
Think of some examples of positively correlated variables
Does (A) lead to (B)? Or is the other way around? Or, are
there other factors that lead to both (A) and (B)?
Defining characteristics:
1. Manipulation of variables
Independent variable
Dependent variable
2. Experimental control of other variables
3. Random assignment to groups
Example
Learned helplessness
All subjects first hear a very loud noise
3 groups:
Can end the noise by pushing a button
Cannot stop the noise
Control group – doesn’t hear noise
Put in 2nd situation where they could end a loud noise by
moving their hand. D.V. was response latency (how soon
did they move hand?)
1st and 3rd groups learned quickly to move hand; 2nd group
sat passively and did nothing
Experimental Design
Strengths
Can tease out cause and effect
Allows for strict control of variables
Weaknesses
Many questions may not be able to be answered using this
method – i.v. cannot be varied (e.g. sex, age, birth order,
effects of child abuse)
May be artificial and limited
Causal effects may not hold when the complexity of actual
human behavior is considered
Involves brief exposures and may miss important processes
that occur over time
Example from the news/class activity
EXAMPLE 1:
"MARRIAGE SLOWS CANCER DEATHS"
Evidence that married people have a better
chance of surviving cancer than do singles
means that the unmarried might be good
targets for cancer-prevention programs.
Married people with cancer had a 23% higher
overall survival rate than the unmarried.
Another example
Example 2:
Children who are aggressive tend to watch a
higher proportion of violent television than
children who are not highly violent or
aggressive
What type of design?
What can we conclude?
Categorize
I give students a questionnaire that measures
how much they like sensation seeking
activities. I then ask them about current drug
use. I find that students who are high in
sensation seeking engage in more drug use
than students low in sensation seeking.
What type of study?
What type of relationship?
Categorize
I randomly assign children with behavior problems to
two types of play groups: one group is structured and
organized and the other group has no rules. I measure
the number of aggressive behaviors in each group.
What type of research is this?
What are the independent and dependent variables?
Does the type of research change if I look at children
with behavior problems and compare them to
children without behavior problems?
Categorize
Over the course of several years, I interview
three adolescents who live in poverty. I am
interested in the impact that poverty has on
their lives.
What type of study?