Make sure to write your name on scantron test Professor will not grade if you don t write your name on both Tip Study lecture notes 1st if you need further information reference textbook PSY 388 03 KINDS OF RESEARCH Basic Research Sake of knowledge Applied Research Shows how the findings can be applied Summarized into some type of teaching methodology or intervention OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH To achieve new insights e g exploratory formulative research studies To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual situation or a group e g descriptive research studies Example 40 of our sample is females you re describing To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else e g correlational research studies To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables e g experimental research studies RESEARCH APPROACH Quantitative Approach generating data or information about a phenomenon in numerical form Surveys Can be subjected to rigorous analysis Used to infer characteristics or relationships of population Qualitative Approach generating information about a phenomenon in non numerical form Can only be subjected to rigorous analysis if transferred to numerical form Used to learn assess and understand characteristics of an individual and or Interviews observations population o Example If your research topic is depression and if you don t know much about it you would start off by asking people about depression Their thoughts feelings How can qualitative information become quantitative data Look for themes in qualitative information PSY 388 03 Develop a coding system and code relevant information RESEARCH METHODS QUALITATIVE Case Histories in depth interviews Narrative Approach 1 in depth interviews 2 give the individual the opportunity to react to the researcher s interpretations Ethnography researchers immerse themselves in a group to gather information Take on certain behaviors you become part of the group You do this to understand the topic meanings to these terms Focus is on context o Example If you are studying a family you would interact with them directly You become part of the family Direct interaction with participants often over a lengthy period of time Discourse Analysis analyze the language in texts interview responses discussions and essays Focus Group bring together a group of people usually 6 8 to participate in an intensive discussion of a topic Researcher asks participants questions in a group session Closer to naturally occurring situations than are interviews If it were conducted one on one it would be considered a case study Natural Observation observe individuals in their natural settings This depends on your research question RESEARCH METHODS Quantitative Survey Methods using standardized questionnaires to collect data from a large population Large sample n size Cheaper Faster more efficient Disadvantage if participant doesn t understand scale or if they feel like answers don t apply to them then you will not be measuring the correct thing TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS Correlational Study Observe relation between two variables often at a single point in time Value of a correlation can range from 1 to 1 strong correlation 0 no relationship Positive Correlation levels of both variables increase or decrease at the same time PSY 388 03 Happiness up Self Esteem up Negative Correlation inverse relationship level of one variable increases as the level of the other decreases RQ What is the relationship between traditional gender role attitudes of women and men and housework Operationalize o Traditional gender role attitudes Scale items include rated on 1 5 points 1 House cleaning is a job for women not for men 2 Men should work outside the house 3 Women are naturally good at caretaking Housework house cleaning Low Low Traditional gender role attitudes Traditional gender role attitudes Men Women High High k r o w e s u o H Correlational Study Strive for random selection of participants Use caution when generalizing findings Unidirectional bidirectional multidirectional Correlation is not sufficient to infer causality Just because events or phenomena are related one doesn t necessarily cause the other e g the age and strength TYPES OF RESEARH DESIGN Experimental Study Method in which the investigator manipulates one variable and observes its effect on another variable Independent Variable IV is the manipulated variable cause Dependent Variable DV is the variable expected to be influenced by the manipulated variable effect PSY 388 03 RQ Are there any effects of exercise during pregnancy on physical problems Operationalize o IV type of exercise power walking Zumba XP5 o DV physical problems blood pressure o If we manipulate the type of exercise would this affect the blood pressure Random Assignment of participants is key feature Randomly assign pregnant women to the following groups o Group 1 Power walkers o Group 2 Zumba participants o Group 3 XP5 participants o Group 4 Control Group No exercise After exercise we measure blood pressure and compare the results with the control group RESEARCH DESIGNS HEAVY DUTY Longitudinal examining the relationship and or effects of variables from the same respondents over an extended period of time Observe changes over time RQ Do women and men differ in their responses to Facebook use over time Operationalize o Facebook use Number of logins wall posts photos o Length of study 1 year LONGITUDINAL Time 1 collected data Facebook use from 50 women and 50 men on January 2014 Time 2 collect data on Facebook use from the same respondents on January 2015 RESEARCH DESIGNS HEAVY DUTY Meta analysis statistical tool to summarize the results of many studies of the same behavior Meta analyses have been conducted on sex comparisons in a wide variety of domains Considers both statistical significance and size of the difference RQ Do women perform better than men in math Operationalize o Gender differences on math performance Math performance test scores on geometry PSY 388 03 o Gather many studies that found gender differences in scores on geometry tests CAN WE MANIPULATE SEX OF THE PARTICIPANT Sex cannot be manipulated or randomly assigned so not a true IV Age cannot be manipulated cannot use as an IV Usually a subject variable i e a characteristic of a person Most research that compares men and women is correlational and not experimental GENDER BIAS IN RESEARCH SOURCES OF BIAS