5. Other Research Methods

•Goals of psychology- description is utmost important

•_______________ – contributes to descriptive information

•Provides in-depth accounts of individuals or groups as they behave naturally in some specific setting

•  

  Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

A type of descriptive method in which already-existing records are examined to test some research hypothesis.

•  Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

A type of descriptive method in which an in-depth analysis is made of either a single individual, a single rare event, or an event that exemplifies some phenomenon.

Case history- clinical work

• Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

EVALUATION:

•External validity- low

•Findings needed to be replicated to increase validity

•Biases of the researcher

•Memory

•Provide insight into behavior

•Highlights individual differences

•Sources of empirical questions

•Serve the purpose of falsification

• Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

EVALUATION:

Advantages

­Large amount of information available

­Converge with the results of laboratory research, thereby increasing external validity

­Archival Information is nonreactive

­Analysis of decades

• Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

EVALUATION:

Problems

­Some information vital to a researcher might be missing or

­The available data might not be a representative  sample

­Experimenter bias

• Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

Can be used as a component of a large research effort

­Program evaluation research

­Interrupted time series design

Content analysis

­Clearly define categories of content

­More than one person doing the analysis

­In order to avoid biases scorers should be blind to the hypothesis

• Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

•Varieties of _____________

•Classified along two dimensions

1. Degree of involvement

•Naturalistic Observation

•Participant Observation

2. Degrees of structure 

•  

  Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

­Absence of control

­Observer bias

­Subject reactivity

­Ethical dilemmas

•  

  Observational Research

• Case Studies

• Archival Research

•Descriptive research method in which the behavior of people or animals is studied as it occurs in its everyday natural environment.

•Human of all ages

•Semi-artificial environment

•Observer is hidden

•Presence all time- videorecorder

•Hiding of the observer- habituation

• Naturalistic Observation

• Participant Observation