research methods
- 1. Non-experimental methods Qualitative research • Interested in how people explain everyday experiences. • In natural setting. • Aim- get insight into psychological processes. • Usually guided by one or more research questions. • Difference between hypothesis and a research question. • Goal is not to identify cause-and- effect relationships. Inductive Reasoning
- 2. Quantitative versus qualitative research • Both participants and researcher interpretation-taken into account. • Qualitative researcher actively engaged- subjectivity. • Experimental method-objectivity. • Description and analysis-quantitative in experimental research. • Qualitative- interpret meaning- no definite answers. Deductive reasoning Theory Hypothesis Tested against empirical evidence Accepted or rejected
- 3. Interviews • Most common way of gathering qualitative data. • Usually face to face, but not always • Interviews are not time specific. • Importance of interview schedule. • Tight interview schedule- structured questions. • Informal conversational. • Interviewers require interpersonal, positivity, non-verbal and verbal skills. • Guard against interviewer effects/ participant bias/ social desirability bias.
- 4. Types of Interviews Structured- state exact questions highly controlled procedure interviewer may provide guidance data is easy to analyze and compare may appear somewhat artificial Unstructured- only specifies the topic and available time. is open to interest and motivation of respondent. may reveal more of themselves. data more difficult to analyze. Semi-structured- most preferred in modern psychology appears more conversational consists of closed and open-ended questions
- 5. Student task You have been commissioned to carry out research using interviews on one of the following issues. 1. Positive and negative experiences in CAS projects. 2. Teenagers in drug use and abuse. 3. Prejudice in the classroom. 4. What it is like to live in a foreign country. Choose from the list and consider the following questions. How would you carry out the research? How would you obtain your sample? What potential difficulties do you anticipate in carrying out the interview?
- 6. Strengths and limitations of Structured interviews Strengths 1. Structured interviews are easy to replicate as a fixed set of closed questions are used, which are easy to quantify – this means it easy to test for reliability. 2. Structured interviews are fairly quick to conduct which means that many interviews can take place within a short amount of time. This means a large sample can be obtained resulting in the findings being representative and having the ability to be generalized to a large population. Limitations 1. Structured interviews are not flexible. This means new questions cannot be asked impromptu (i.e. during the interview) as an interview schedule must be followed. 2. The answers from structured interviews lack detail as only closed questions are asked which generates quantitative data. This means a research will won't know why a person behave in a certain way.
- 7. Strengths and limitations of unstructured interviews Strengths 1. Unstructured interviews are more flexible as questions can be adapted and changed depending on the respondents’ answers. The interview does can deviate from the interview schedule. 2. Unstructured interviews generate qualitative data through the use of open questions. This allows the respondent to talk in some depth, choosing their own words. This helps the researcher develop a real sense of a person’s understanding of a situation. 3. They also have increased validity because it gives the interviewer the opportunity to probe for a deeper understanding, ask for clarification & allow the interviewee to steer the direction of the interview etc. Limitations 1. Can be time consuming to conduct the unstructured interview and analyze the qualitative data. 2. Employing and training interviewers is expensive, and not as cheap as questionnaires. For example, certain skills may be needed by the interviewer. These include the ability to establish rapport & knowing when to probe.