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Logics of inquiry
How to carry out scientific research given our understanding of the nature of knowledge. Philosophy of Science clarifies why experimental, scientific psychology adopts the practices that it does, but also that there are other models which can be adopted.
Experimental Social psychology informed by positivism Critical social psychology informed by social constructionism
seeks to answer research questions (framed in a variety of ways) is empirical (collects data based on observations of what people do/say) is analytic (data gathered are analysed and interpreted to answer these questions) is directed (methods chosen as appropriate)
Ontology
(the study of what actually exists) (the study of what knowledge is, what we can know & what the limits of knowledge are) (the study of the ways in which the world can be studied).
Epistemology
Methodology
Ontological question:
Is the social world external to, and separate from, human action? What kind of knowledge can we gain about the universal laws of human social behaviour?
Epistemological question:
Methodological question:
Addressing the question of is psychology a science? We need a flexible idea of what science might entail.
Statements had to be verifiable to be meaningful. Commitment to empiricism, checking ideas against the world. Assumption of realism Using these criteria - Psychology borderline.
verifiability encouraged confirmation of theories rather than genuine discovery. consistent evidence is merely corroboration. a good theory make predictions that could in principle be found to be false: falsifiability the hallmark of good science.
Problems:
theories and observations are neither independent nor neutral science is a practical business - find best answer rather than the application of logic
Thomas Kuhn (1922-96) - scientific progress not a purely rational process. peaceful interludes - normal science where scientists share a paradigm punctuated by violent intellectual revolutions.
Relationship between evidence & theory framed by paradigm in which research is carried out.
A form of social constructionism emphasizing that the world is not singular but plural. Scientific inquiry constructs the objects it inquires into, scientific objects are created by the very practice of investigation itself.
Implications of Feyerabends ideas for how we think about psychological research? demystifies logical positivism. If no single correct method for doing science for all problems at all time in all places, then every research project has to find its own method.
Questions about the nature of research How we justify using methods How they are warranted Research, not a technical exercise as an aid to argument, but central to argument itself
Research report starts with problem/question, ends with solution/answer via relevant evidence Research methods make evidence plausible Report = nested series of arguments Overall argument = conclusion correct, given evidence
The academic discipline of social psychology is first and foremost a way of looking at the world. All evidence gathered from theoretical position Theorising and research are not separate activities
Descriptive research Specially constructed situations/experiments Participant or naturalistic observation Set-up conversations Interviews Tests Questionnaires Surveys Text analysis (content discourse)
Settings: lab, field, survey face-to-face, phone, email
Observational
Recording actions directly relevant to the research question Subjects responses to questions Recording actions that imply an underlying effect
Length of direct eye gaze between people when they are interacting Questionnaire responses, responses in interviews
Response times to classifying items (e.g., not/belonging to category attractive)
Self-report
Implicit
Research strategies
Lab expt. Field expt. Surveys Control High Medium Low
Realism
Low
High
Irrelevant
Representativeness
Varies
Low
High
Validity
Internal: confounding Construct: social desirability effects, demand characteristics, experimenter effects External: volunteer/non-volunteer effects
Assumes nature of social world no more problematic than nature of natural world. In principle open to discovery by clear measurement and logical design.
No certainty Not separate from what we research Research not neutral Experiment = social situation therefore shapes behaviour
Participant Observation Negative virtues avoid demand, volunteer & experimenter effects Open/in-depth interviewing Meaning within relationships as personally and interpersonally constructed
Discourse analysis:
How people use discursive resources in order to achieve interpersonal objectives in social interaction. specific instances of language in use, naturally occurring talk
Language is the main symbolic system through which people construct their social realities People deploy language purposefully and strategically to achieve particular goals
Individual level e.g., when people have arguments Level of social groups e.g., when they develop their own slang Level of culture & society e.g., a particular worldview is so embedded into the language that taken for granted
Tension: Capturing the complex nature of reality on the one hand while on the other producing a theoretical account which allows one to comprehend it.
Reading
[Hogg & Vaughan Ch 1, pp.6-16.] [also 3 page handout from Theory & Social Psychology, Sapsford et al.].
Manstead, A.S.R. & Semin, G.R. (2001) (3rd ed.). Methodology in social psychology: Tools to test theories. In Hewstone & Stroebe. London: Blackwell. Stainton Rogers, W. (2003) Social Psychology: Experimental & Critical Approaches. OUP. Chapter 2. (Lecky 301.15p34 multiple copies). Tuffin, K. (2005) Understanding Critical Social Psychology. London: Sage. Chapters 1, 2,3. Wilson, T.D. (2005) The message is the method: Celebrating & exporting the experimental approach. Psychological Inquiry, 4, 185-193.