IB Psychology Qualitative Research

On a piece of paper answer this question:
What would be more effective for understanding what it

would be like to live with PTSD. Would get a better insight by using a CAPS score (Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale) or sitting down and talking openly with someone with PTSD? Explain why.

In your groups.....

Decide who is going to be letter A, B, C, D, and E.

You are going to read the scenario you are assigned and decide what is the best observational method to use.

In your groups.....

Choose which observation method you would use each of the studies below and be able to give at least one reason why you would use that method (or why a different method would be unsuitable).

​The aim of each study is to see how…

(a) …immigrant children from Syria interact with other children at school.

(b) …professional athletes get ready for big games.

(c) …artists from different fields (e.g. music, film, painting, writing,) create their work.

(d) …recovering drug addicts behave when they are in environments with available drugs.

(e) …new inmates are treated in a prison by other prisoners.  

In your groups.....

Now with the observational method you chose - What is one limitation of using each of these methods in the below contexts.

​The aim of each study is to see how…

(a) …immigrant children from Syria interact with other children at school.

(b) …professional athletes get ready for big games.

(c) …artists from different fields (e.g. music, film, painting, writing,) create their work.

(d) …recovering drug addicts behave when they are in environments with available drugs.

(e) …new inmates are treated in a prison by other prisoners.  

​Questions:
1. What is researcher bias?
2. How would you control for it in the previous research studies?

Discuss with your group: How does becoming a participant change the type of data a researcher gathers compared to staying as a non-participant?

Discuss with your group: What are the strengths and weaknesses of using overt versus covert observations in psychological research?

Why might a naturalistic observation be used in a qualitative study?

Researchers want to observe the participants in their real-life environments so they can gather data on how they “truly” behave. Qualitative research is about understanding the subjective experiences of participants, so if they observe this in real-life they can get a better understanding than if they were in a controlled, artificial environment.
**The aim of qualitative research is to understand participants’ subjective experiences

Dropdown

A study where random allocation to conditions is possible and the IV is manipulated. ​

Select answer

A study that measures the strength of a relationship between two or more variables.​

Select answer

When participants don’t know that they’re being observed.​

Select answer

When the researchers join a group that they’re observing.​

Select answer

When there is an IV and a DV but random allocation is not possible​

Select answer

Open Ended

In a study on street gangs, a researcher uses conversations with gang members, victims, and police officers. The questions are open-ended, and topics shift depending on the participant’s background and responses.

Inquiry Question:
Why might this study benefit from unstructured interviews rather than a structured questionnaire? What is one potential limitation?

Open Ended

After observing a cultural festival, a researcher conducts informal conversations with attendees, letting the discussion naturally follow their interests and experiences.

Inquiry Question:
How does this example show triangulation in qualitative research? Why is this approach valuable?

Open Ended

A psychology student interviews members of an online support group for people with rare illnesses. She doesn’t have set questions but encourages them to share their stories.

Inquiry Question:
What is one ethical consideration for using unstructured interviews in this context, and how might it be addressed?

Open Ended

In a study of artists’ creative processes, a researcher uses conversational interviews without a fixed question list to let artists describe their inspirations and challenges.

Inquiry Question:
Why might unstructured interviews lead to “thematic” interviews in this case? Give an example of how this might happen.

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Open Ended

A psychologist is studying how people cope after losing a loved one. She has a list of guiding questions but allows participants to elaborate on unexpected themes, such as changes in their friendships.

Inquiry Question:
Identify two key characteristics of semi-structured interviews demonstrated in this example.

Open Ended

A team studying workplace stress in healthcare interviews nurses using a guide with both open-ended questions (“Can you describe a stressful shift?”) and closed questions (“How many hours do you typically work per week?”).

Inquiry Question:
Why might combining open and closed questions be valuable in this study?

Open Ended

Researchers studying parenting styles in different cultures have a pre-prepared guide but also allow participants to raise issues not on the schedule, such as cultural celebrations and their influence on parenting.

Inquiry Question:
What is one advantage and one limitation of this method in cross-cultural research?

Open Ended

A researcher wants to explore the personal experiences of refugees integrating into a new country. She has a list of broad topics but allows conversations to develop naturally based on participants’ responses.

Inquiry Question:
What research method is being used here, and why is it suitable for the study’s aim? Identify two key characteristics of this method.

Open Ended

A researcher wants to understand how teachers adapt their classroom management strategies for students with learning difficulties. She uses an interview schedule with a set of main questions but asks follow-up prompts when teachers mention unique challenges.

Inquiry Question:
What method is being used here, and why might it be preferred over an unstructured interview in this case?

Open Ended

An observation when the participants don’t know they’re being observed is known as what type of observation?

Open Ended

An interview that has a topic to be covered but freedom for researchers to talk openly depending on the participants’ responses is known as?

Open Ended

An observation that takes place in a natural environment is known as?

Open Ended

An approach to research that involves gathering descriptive data is known as?

Open Ended

An observation when the researcher remains removed from the group they’re observing is known as?

Open Ended

A group interview is known as?

Open Ended

An interview that has some structure in the form of an interview guide (or interview schedule) but there is freedom to deviate is known as?

Open Ended

What is the fundamental goal of qualitative research?

Fill in the Blank

You have been hired by your local government as a health psychologist with the goal of increasing exercise in the local community.  You decide to carry out interviews at the local fitness center to learn more about people’s motivation to engage in exercise.

Open Ended

You have been hired by your local government as a health psychologist with the goal of increasing exercise in the local community.  You decide to carry out interviews at the local fitness center to learn more about people’s motivation to engage in exercise.

Your study may be criticized for having a sampling bias.  Which group of people may be over-represented?  Which group may be underrepresented?

You have been hired by your local government as a health psychologist with the goal of increasing exercise in the local community.  You decide to carry out interviews at the local fitness center to learn more about people’s motivation to engage in exercise.

Your study may be criticized for having a sampling bias.  Which group of people may be over-represented?  Which group may be underrepresented?

It depends on how you do the study.  If you go only at a specific time of day, then you may get a certain demographic that does not represent all members of the gym.  The fact that you chose "the local fitness center" means that you are interviewing people who are most likely highly motivated to exercise.  This bias may mean that it does not reflect general attitudes about exercise in the local community - that is, by people who are not members of the local gym.

Open Ended

You have been hired by your local government as a health psychologist with the goal of increasing exercise in the local community.  You decide to carry out interviews at the local fitness center to learn more about people’s motivation to engage in exercise.

How do you think that you could get a more representative sample for your study?

You have been hired by your local government as a health psychologist with the goal of increasing exercise in the local community.  You decide to carry out interviews at the local fitness center to learn more about people’s motivation to engage in exercise.

How do you think that you could get a more representative sample for your study?

The best way may be to carry out several different sets of interviews.  Although the gym may be a good place to get some information, a self-selected sample may also be helpful - that is, putting an ad in the newspaper asking people to discuss their exercise habits. However, this may be biased.  A purposive sample would a good way to get a different type of person - people in the 30s and 40s who are healthy but do not exercise regularly. Then you could find the obstacles to exercise that they experience.

Multiple Choice

A psychologist puts an advertisement into the paper because he is looking for both married and single people to talk about their sex lives.  What type of sample is this?

• Snowball

• Purposive

• Self-Selected

• Opportunity

• Random

A psychologist puts an advertisement into the paper because he is looking for both married and single people to talk about their sex lives.  What type of sample is this? - Self Selected
What is one strength of the sampling technique for this study?

Since the topic is known before they sign up, they are willing to talk about it.  If the volunteers were unaware of the topic, it is possible that they would withdraw from the study or not be willing to talk a lot about the topic because of its personal nature.

A psychologist puts an advertisement into the paper because he is looking for both married and single people to talk about their sex lives.  What type of sample is this? - Self Selected
What is one limitation of the sampling technique for this study?

The sample may not represent the average male. It may be only those that are comfortable with talking about their sex lives; the sample may also be limited in diversity - meaning, the age and culture of the men who respond to the advertisement.

Multiple Choice

A sports psychologist is looking for professional male gymnasts who had hip injuries and have returned to the sport.  Which sampling technique would be most likely used by this researcher? Why?

• Snowball

• Purposive

• Self-Selected

• Opportunity

• Stratified

A sports psychologist is looking for professional male gymnasts who had hip injuries and have returned to the sport.  Which sampling technique would be most likely used by this researcher? Why?

This is a purposive sample in that the participants have to have a similar characteristic - in this case, recovering from a hip injury - in order to be in the sample. However, since this may be difficult to obtain, a snowball sample may be used, where athletes who have recovered from this type of injury may recommend others that they know that have also recovered.  They may know them because of working together on a team, or they may have a common physiotherapist.

Multiple Choice

Your school wants to do a study of the attitudes of the parent community toward the IB program.  The school is looking for parents who have had older children study in the IB program in a different school, in order to see if they feel that the program is better, equal, or worse than the program at the other school. What type of sample is this?

• Random

• Purposive

• Self-Selected

• Opportunity

• Stratified

Your school wants to do a study of the attitudes of the parent community toward the IB program.  The school is looking for parents who have had older children study in the IB program in a different school, in order to see if they feel that the program is better, equal, or worse than the program at the other school. What type of sample is this?

Purposive - in order to be in the sample, you need to have a certain characteristic. In this case, you have to have an older child who attended an IB program at a different school.

Multiple Choice

An industrial psychologist is looking at job satisfaction and burnout in teachers.  In order to do this and represent a large range of teachers, what would be the most effective sampling technique?

• Snowball

• Purposive

• Self-Selected

• Opportunity

• Random

An industrial psychologist is looking at job satisfaction and burnout in teachers.  In order to do this and represent a large range of teachers, what would be the most effective sampling technique?

The psychologist would use a sample of opportunity - that is, a sample that already exists within a school. From each school - especially if the school is large and it is impractical to have everyone fill in the survey - she may use a random sample, choosing people through a random number generator or through pulling names out of a hat.  If she studies a large number of schools - perhaps from a school district - then she has a sample made up of several samples of opportunity that have similar characteristics.  This is known as a cluster sample.

Multiple Choice

Your school is doing a study of attitudes toward the school lunch.  In choosing a sample, what would be the most appropriate if you want to get a good sense of how all members of your community feel about the lunches?

• Random

• Purposive

• Self-Selected

• Stratified

• Self Selected

Your school is doing a study of attitudes toward the school lunch.  In choosing a sample, what would be the most appropriate if you want to get a good sense of how all members of your community feel about the lunches?

Many schools use self-selected sampling, but then this opens the results up to distortion. If the school wants to get a sense of how teachers and students feel about the service, then a stratified sample may be appropriate - that is, if teachers make up 20% of the school, then they should represent 20% of the sample. They should then be randomly selected from all of the teachers in the school.

Open Ended

What might some STRENGTHS of qualitative research methods be?

Qualitative Research Methods

​STRENGTHS:

• Provide rich data - that is, in-depth descriptions of individual experiences based on concepts, meanings, and explanations emerging from the data.

• Particularly useful for investigating complex and sensitive issues, such as coping with illness, human sexuality, homelessness, or living in a violent relationship.

• Explain phenomena - that is, go beyond mere observation of phenomena to understand what lies behind them. (e.g. Why do people become homeless?)

• Identify and evaluate factors that contribute to solving a problem. (e.g. What initiatives are needed to successfully resettle people who are homeless?)

• Generate new ideas and theories to explain and overcome problems.

• People are studied in their own environment, which increases validity.

Open Ended

What might some LIMITATIONS of qualitative research methods be?

Qualitative Research Methods

​LIMITATIONS:

• It can be very time-consuming and generate a huge amount of data.

• Data analysis can be difficult because of the amount of data and no clear strategy for analysis.

• Interpretation of data may be subjective.

Qualitative Research Methods

​Generalizing findings from a study means that the results are relevant outside the context of the study itself. Some qualitative researchers do not find it relevant, but others argue that it is important that findings can be generalized

• Representational generalization, which means that findings from qualitative research studies can be applied to the population from which the sample was drawn.

Qualitative Research Methods

• Inferential generalization, which means that the findings of the study can be applied to settings outside the setting of the study. This is also called “transferability."  When trying to determine the transferability of findings, the research context is important to consider.

  *the goal of transferability. After a study is reported, other psychologists may read the study and decide to apply one or more findings from the study to a new situation or group of people.

There are several rather dodgy experiments in psychology. A good example of this is a study carried out by Middlemist, Knowles & Matter (1976) in which they covertly observed men urinating in a public toilet. They wanted to test to see "how the speed and flow of men's urination in a public bathroom were affected by invasions of personal space." One could argue that this experiment is a bit problematic as consent was clearly not obtained. The personal nature of what they were "observing" also makes many of us uneasy.

Key Ethical Considerations

A quick reminder of the key ethical considerations:

• Informed consent must be obtained from all participants.

• Deception must be justified and must not harm the participants.

• Participants have the right to withdraw from the study at any time.

• No undue stress or harm to the participants.

• The participants' data should remain anonymous

• Debriefing must be carried out to explain the experiment and

  reveal any deception.

Protection from harm

The researchers should take preventive action in all research, to avoid harming the participants. This is particularly true in sensitive research topics, such as sexual abuse, domestic violence, or alcoholism in the family. The researcher should not apply undue pressure on an individual to disclose something that they do not wish to share.  In addition, due to the nature of qualitative methods, participants may disclose very private information that they have never shared with anyone before. This can happen because the interview situation seems like a friendly encounter, where the participant may feel comfortable and safe. After the interview, the participant may have second thoughts and wish to withdraw that information.  This must be respected by the researcher.

Informed consent

The rule is that informed consent should always be obtained.

The participants should know that participation is voluntary. This is particularly important if the research is conducted by people who have some kind of relationship with members of the sample since participation could then be motivated by feelings of obligation. The researcher must provide the participants with sufficient information about the study, such as who funded the study, who will conduct the study, how the data will be used, and what the research requires of the participants - for example, in terms of time and the topics the study will address. It should also be made clear that consent can always be withdrawn. In cases where children aged under 16 years are involved, consent must be obtained from parents or legal guardians.

Anonymity and confidentiality

Confidentiality means that research data will not be known to anyone outside the study. The researcher may have to change minor details in the report to avoid the possibility of participants being recognized. Anonymity relates to the way data are stored after the research. If interviews or observations have been videotaped and archived, it can be difficult to guarantee total anonymity, so these should be destroyed when transcripts have been made. If the researcher finds it necessary to archive non-anonymized data, the participant should give written
informed consent.

** in cases where sampling has involved a third party (e.g. managers, friends, teachers), this cannot be done, and in this case, the participants should be informed.  Focus groups are problematic in that it is difficult to guarantee confidentiality as the members of the focus group may - either intentionally or unintentionally - reveal information that was shared in confidentiality in the study.

Anonymity and confidentiality

Confidentiality means that research data will not be known to anyone outside the study. The researcher may have to change minor details in the report to avoid the possibility of participants being recognized. Anonymity relates to the way data are stored after the research. If interviews or observations have been videotaped and archived, it can be difficult to guarantee total anonymity, so these should be destroyed when transcripts have been made. If the researcher finds it necessary to archive non-anonymized data, the participant should give written
informed consent.

** in cases where sampling has involved a third party (e.g. managers, friends, teachers), this cannot be done, and in this case, the participants should be informed.  Focus groups are problematic in that it is difficult to guarantee confidentiality as the members of the focus group may - either intentionally or unintentionally - reveal information that was shared in confidentiality in the study.

Which of the following three studies do you think has the most ethical concerns?

• A case study of a child who was severely abused by her parents with the goal of understanding how adolescents recover from traumatic experiences.

• Interviews with prostitutes to get an understanding of why they chose their profession.

• A focus group of heroin users with the goal of understanding links between drug use and domestic violence.