Research Methods

Activity Booklet

Topics include:

 Methods and Techniques

 Investigation Design
 Data Analysis and Presentation

Name:
 The Specification
The aim of this booklet is to provide you with practical activities to enhance your understanding of
research methods in psychology. Once completed it will provide a valuable revision tool…so take care
of it!!

Methods and Candidates will be expected to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the
techniques following research methods, their advantages and weaknesses:

 Experimental method, including laboratory, field and natural experiments.

 Studies using correlational analysis.
 Observational techniques.
 Self report techniques including questionnaire and interview.
 Case studies.
Investigation Candidates should be familiar with the following features of investigation design:
design
 Aims.
 Hypothesis, including directional and non-directional.
 Experimental design (independent groups, repeated measures and matched
pairs).
 Design of naturalistic observations, including the development and use of
behavioural categories.
 Design of questionnaires and interviews.
 Operationalisation of variables, including independent and dependent
variables.
 Pilot studies.
 Control of extraneous variables.
 Reliability and validity.
 Awareness of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Code of Ethics.
 Selection of participants and sampling techniques, including random,
opportunity and volunteer sampling.
 Demand characteristics and investigator effects.
Data Candidates should be familiar with the following features of data analysis,
analysis and presentation and interpretation:
presentation
 Presentation and interpretation of quantitative data including graphs,
scattergrams and tables.
 Analysis and interpretation of quantitative data. Measures of central
tendency including median, mean, mode. Measures of dispersion including
ranges and standard deviation.
 Analysis and interpretation of correlational data. Positive and negative
correlations and the interpretation of correlation coefficients.
 Presentation of qualitative data.
 Processes involved in content analysis.
Methods and Techniques
used in Psychological
Research
 Methods and Techniques

Experimental Methods:
The term experimental method refers to the method used to carry out the
experiment. There are three main types of experiment – lab, field and natural.

Fill in the table below:

Research Definition: Advantage(s) Disadvantage(s)

Method

Laboratory
experiment

Field
experiment

Natural
experiment
For each of the following examples identify which experimental method is
being used.

1. A researcher wanted to find out the effects of caffeine on memory. The

researcher had two groups of participants. One group drank strong coffee
and where then given a list of words to recall. The second group were given
a warm caffeine free drink and were given a list of words to recall.

Answer: _____________________________________

2. Researchers were interested in aggression in primary aged children. They

produced a sheet of behavioural categories including typical aggressive
behaviours and studied children in a primary school playground. The
children did not know they were being observed.

Answer: _____________________________________

3. Researchers were interested in attachment styles and created a scenario

within a room. The children were brought into the room with their parents
and then the parent left them alone with a stranger. The researchers
watched this behaviour from a two-way mirror.

Answer: _____________________________________

4. A researcher wanted to see if people would help someone on the tube.

They set up a situation where a confederate would collapse during a tube
journey. The confederate appeared drunk in one condition and sick in the
other condition. The researchers observed the behaviours of the
passengers witnessing the event.

Answer: _____________________________________
What might be the ethical considerations associated with each method?

Lab:

Field:

Natural:
 Self-Report Techniques

Interviews and Questionnaires:

One of the best ways to elicit information from people is to ask them!
Psychological research likes to make use of questionnaires and interviews as an
efficient and easy way of gathering data.

Complete the diagrams to show the factors which need to be taken into
consideration when designing a questionnaire and interview (hint: there should be
5 each).

Designing a
Questionnaire

Designing an
Interview
Design Issues:

Sometimes questionnaire design can go drastically wrong. Look at the

questionnaire below and identify the main errors Fraud and Fakedata have made.

Main Flaws: Problems they cause: How to control them:

 Case Studies

When a researcher conducts a case study, he or she is looking to gather in-depth

information on an individual or small group of people. The people being studied
are normally pretty unique and are studied with the aim of uncovering answers
the scientific world needs.

 Name one person studied through the use of a case study

 What were the main findings of the study?

 What are the strengths of using this method?

 What are the limitations?

 Are there any ethical issues which should be considered before/during the
case study?
 End of section assessment questions:

1) Name one advantage of conducting a lab experiment.

2) Define the term “natural experiment.”

3) List three ethical issues which might arise during a field experiment.

4) Explain how you would control for these issues.

5) What is the difference between a questionnaire and interview?

6) What are the strengths of conducting a case study?

Investigation
Design
 Investigation Design

Creating Aims and Hypotheses:

What is an aim?

What about a hypothesis?

Aims are normally very straight forward. For example, what might the aim
be for the following research questions?

1. Does background noise affect memory?

2. Do students who revise perform better in AS exams?

3. Are blondes really dumb?

An aim of a study should include both the thing being manipulated (independent
variable) and the thing being measured (dependent variable).

What might the IV and DV be for the above aims?

Aim 1 IV ___________________ Aim 1 DV __________________

Aim 2 IV ___________________ Aim 2 DV __________________

Aim 3 IV ___________________ Aim 3 DV __________________

 Operationalising Variables:

It is very important to operationalise the variables to be studied, otherwise the

researcher will not know what they are looking for and this can reduce the validity
and reliability of their data.

How might the following variables be operationalised?

 Speed

 Memory

 Aggression
 Extraneous Variables:

What is an extraneous variable and why is it important to control for them?

Identify the extraneous variable in each of the examples below:

1. The researchers were interested in the effects of time of day on

memory recall. They put all the young people in the morning condition
and all the older people in the evening condition.

2. The researchers were interested in the effects of age on memory

recall. They tested all the young people in the morning and all the old
people in the evening.

3. Researchers were looking at the effects of noise on concentration.

There were two conditions and participants were either in the noisy or
quiet condition. When the researchers were conducting the quiet
condition the thermostat broke on the radiator and the room was very
stuffy and airless.

NB: Extraneous variables can also include things such as demand characteristics
and investigator effects (more on these later).
 Hypotheses:

There are two different types of hypothesis:

 One tailed (directional)

 Two tailed (non-directional)

A directional hypothesis states which direction the results will go in

and usually contains the words “there will be…” A non-directional
hypothesis is less clear of the direction the results will go in and tends
to use the words “there will be a difference…”

Write one directional and one non-directional hypothesis below:

Directional:

Non-Directional:
 Experimental Design:

Once the researcher has chosen the experimental method which best suits the
nature of the study, they then have to choose what type of design it will have.
The choices are repeated measures, independent groups and matched pairs.

Task: Cut out paper men to identify repeated measures, independent groups
and matched pairs design!

Now fill in the table below:

Experimental Design: Strengths Weaknesses

Repeated measures:
The same PPs are used in
both conditions.

Independent Groups:
PPs are randomly
allocated to different
groups which represent
the different conditions.

Matched Pairs:
Pairs of PPs are closely
matched and are then
randomly allocated to
one of the experimental
conditions.
Which design is being used here?

1) Researchers wanted to find out whether a new teaching method could

improve verbal reasoning ability in 5 year olds. In one condition the
children were taught the new method and in the other they were taught a
traditional method. Each participant in the new method group was matched
with a participant from the other condition.

2) Researchers were looking at whether people remembered more in the

morning or evening. They gave one set of participants free recall tests in
both the morning and evening and compared their results to the control
group who only took the test in the morning.

3) A researcher enrolled 20 participants into their experiment. All

participants completed a musical task and then a written task. Their
abilities to perform under pressure were compared.

Sampling Techniques

So you’ve worked out your experimental design…but how are you going to get your
participants? These three ways seem to be the most successful…

Opportunity Sampling:

Volunteer Sampling:

Random Sampling:
 Observational Methods:

A researcher might decide to conduct an observation instead of an experiment. There

are two types of observational method to chose from – a naturalistic observation or a
controlled observation. Both of these methods tend to look for a evidence of a
relationship between two variables (a correlation). Be careful not to confuse a
naturalistic observation with a natural experiment - the two are different!

Fill in the table below:

Definition: Strength: Weakness Example:

Naturalistic
Observation:

Controlled
Observation:
 Observations can further be divided into sub-categories:

 P____________ based
 N____- P______________ based

Which form of observation is being described below?

This form of observation requires the

researcher to take part in the situation This form of observation occurs when the
being studied. researcher observes behaviour from
outside of the situation.
Answer: _____________________
Answer: _____________________

Participants are usually aware that they

are being studied. This is also known as The participants usually do not know that
an overt observation. they are being studied. This is also known

Answer: _____________________ as a covert observation.

Answer: _____________________

Behavioural Categories:

A behavioural category is a specific type of behaviour which is defined before

the study takes place. It allows researchers to focus their investigation on a
specific behaviour in order to gather the most valid and reliable data. Carrying
out an observation without the use of these would not be a clever idea!

Which behavioural categories would you expect to be looking out for when
conducting a naturalistic observation on the tube?

Category:
 Reliability and Validity:

Once a research method has been chosen the researcher needs to consider how
useful the data is going to be. The main considerations are whether it will be
reliable and valid.

The term reliability refers to how consistent the results are. In other words, if
the experiment is repeated, will the same or highly similar results occur again?
If they answer is yes, the study can be said to possess high reliability.

Validity on the other hand, is a slightly more complex concept. Fill in the box
below to identify the different types of validity.

Validity

Internal External

Population Ecological

There are a number of different factors which can reduce the internal
validity of a study. These include:

 Demand Characteristics

 Investigator Effects
 Demand Characteristics and Investigator Effects:

Investigator Effects:
Demand Characteristics:

Example:
Example:

Social Desirability effects

Both of these potential threats can be controlled using either a single or double
blind technique. In a single bind technique, the researcher knows the aim of the
study but the participants do not. In a double blind technique, neither the
researcher nor the participant knows. The latter technique involves a research
assistant carrying out the data collection on behalf of the experimenter.

Improving Validity - Pilot Studies:

Designing a pilot study is often one of the best ways to check that everything in
your actual experiment will run smoothly (as much as possible!).

A pilot study is a ___________ scale study conducted on a small sample. It helps

the researcher to identify any ___________ problems with the ___________
method, design, _____________ given to participants and so on. Pilot studies
can also check items on a ______________ to make sure that they are easy to
answer and unambiguous.

Imagine you have been asked to carry out an experiment into the effects of
music on the ability to recall words from a list.

Why is it important to carry out a pilot study before conducting the actual
experiment?

What elements of the experiment would you test in the pilot study (e.g.
duration/volume of music playing)?
 Ethical Issues:

The main
ethical
issues…

In a very controversial experiment, Phillip Zimbardo broke the majority of ethical

guidelines set out by the BPS to protect both researcher and participants. Watch
a clip of his research to see what happened and answer the questions on the
following page.

Questioning Ethics:
1) What is the purpose of ethical guidelines?

2) Why are they important to follow?

3) When can research be excused for not following some of these

guidelines?

4) How would you, as a researcher, control for the following ethical issues:
 Deception

 Informed Consent

 Protection from Harm

 Right to Withdraw

 Confidentiality

End of section assessment questions:

1) What is a directional hypothesis?

2) Is the independent variable in an experiment measured or manipulated?

3) How might the variable of time be operationalised?

4) Why is it important to control for extraneous variables?

5) How does an independent groups design differ from a repeated measures

design?

6) What is a random sample?

7) What is the difference between a controlled and naturalistic

observation?

8) How do internal and external validity differ?

9) What are investigator effects?

Data Analysis and
Presentation
 Summarising Quantitative Data (in graphical form)

Graphs are a useful way of summarising data which enable psychologists to easily
see trends or patterns in data.

Three graphs which are commonly used to display quantitative data are:

Histograms

Notes:

This graph is likely to be used

when:

Bar Charts

Notes:

This graph is likely to be used

when:
Scattergrams

Notes:

This graph is likely to be used

when:

Task: Fill in the gaps below!

1) The bars on a ____________ are joined together and are all of an

identical ______________.

2) A histogram is commonly used to show __________ (e.g. IQ or test)

3) Bar charts are a useful way of showing ___________ statistics (e.g.

percentages or ratios)

4) Bars on a bar chart are not ___________ together because the scale is
not _______________.

5) Scattergrams are used to show the ____________ and _____________

of correlations.

6) Correlations can either be ______________, negative or have no

correlation.
 Analysis and interpretation of quantitative data:

Measures of central tendency tell the researcher where the average is in a set
of data. The three measures of central tendency you need to know well are the
mean, median and mode.

Complete the sentences below:

1. The _________ is known as the ___________ average. It is calculated

by adding up all the scores in a set of data and then ___________ them
by the total ___________ of scores.

2. The _____________ is the middle value of a data set. It is calculated

by putting the data in _______ and finding the __________ score. If
there is an ________ number of scores, you should add the two middle
scores together and __________ by ____.

3. The ___________ is the most ___________ occurring score. It is the

easiest to calculate – simply put your data in ________ and work out
which one occurs the __________!

Calculate the mean, median and mode for the following:

1a) Data from a psychology quiz:

1,2,3,7,10,20,30,43,47,48,50.

Mean = Median= Mode=

1b) The number of faces recalled out of 12 in a free recall task:

1,1,5,2,3,7,6,5,2,1,8,7,9,5,4,3,2,5.

Mean= Median= Mode=

1c) Scores on a questionnaire (out of 25).

20,30,25,16,13,14,25,26,28.

Mean= Median= Mode=

In addition to wanting to know the statistical average of the data, researchers
occasionally want to work out how much variability there is in a data set. This is known
as a measure of dispersion.

One way of calculation the measure of dispersion within a data set is to calculate the
range. This incredibly easy method involves subtracting the lowest score from the
highest score. That is it!

What is the range for the following data sets?

a) 5, 4 ,1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 7, 2.

b) 9, 11, 16, 4, 6, 17, 22, 35, 2, 12, 13.

c) 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 14, 12, 16, 1, 9, 15, 17.

Standard Deviation

Standard deviation is the measure of the spread of scores around the mean (in other
words, it tells us how far the scores are scattered around the mean). It is the most
powerful measure of dispersion as it takes all scores into account. As a result, it is often
used my researchers who want to know more about the dispersion of their data. Below
is an example of how a standard deviation might look.
Good News! You will not be asked to calculate a standard deviation in the exam.
However, you may be asked what the standard deviation tells you about a set of
data and why it is used.

 If the standard deviation is ___________ it tells us that many of the

data points are far away from the mean.

 If the standard deviation is small, it tells us that the data was

__________ clustered around the mean.

No standard deviation tells us that all data values were the same – and there was
no variation at all! This happens when all the data points are equal.

Exam Question – June 2011 (modified)

1) Two different drug therapies were tested on a group of patients. The

table below shows the improvement made between the start and end of the
treatment. Explain what these findings suggest about the different
therapies.

Average Range Standard Deviation

Therapy A 6.5 2 - 19 5.9
Therapy B 6 4-9 7.8

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 Correlational Analysis:

Correlations are designed to investigate the strength and direction of a

relationship between two variables. The strength of this correlation is expressed
by the correlation coefficient. The correlation coefficient is always between +1
and -1 where +1 represents a perfect positive correlation and -1 represents a
perfect negative correlation. A correlation coefficient of 0 means that there is
no correlation between the two variables.
A researcher wanted to find out the relationship between the number of hours a
child spent in day care and their level of aggression. Plot the following data at
the bottom of the page. Does the scattergram show a negative or positive
correlation? What does this mean?

Participant Number of hours Score on

in day care per aggression scale
week (out of 50)
1 30 45
2 35 48
3 10 12
4 35 40
5 30 28
6 6 6
7 8 10
8 15 20
9 40 48
10 20 25
 Presenting and Analysing Qualitative Data:

Due to its richness and non-numerical nature, qualitative data cannot be analysed
or displayed by the methods we have examined so far. Instead, this data has to
be analysed using a process called content analysis.

Traditional forms of content analysis are conducted through six stages.

Summarise these in the chart below.

The main problem with any form of content analysis is that it can be interpreted
differently by different researchers. Taking the original data out of context
may lead to it being misinterpreted or a different slant being taken. The only
way to control for this is through the use of an external party who analyse,
interpret and justify every decision they make during the process. Alternatively,
several researchers can work together at each step.
 End of section assessment questions:

1) What is the difference between a histogram and a bar chart?

2) Which type of data can be displayed in both graphs and tables?

3) When would you be likely to use the mode as a measure of central

tendency?

4) What does a large standard deviation suggest about the data?

5) Circle the correlation co-efficient which can be described as a strong

positive correlation.
+0.06 +0.66 +0.99

6) Correlational studies show a link between two variables but they do not
show…?

7) List the six stages involved in a traditional content analysis.

8) What is one problem that might occur when conducting a content analysis
and how can it be controlled?
 Key Terms:

Key Term: Definition: Example:

Aim

Null Hypothesis

Directional
Hypothesis

Non-directional
Hypothesis

Independent
groups design

Matched Pairs
design

Repeated
measured design

Random sampling
Opportunity
sampling

Volunteer
sampling

Behaviour
categories

Qualitative data

Quantitative data

Open questions

Closed questions

Likert scale

Operationalisation
Independent
Variable

Dependent
Variable

Extraneous
Variable

Pilot Study

Reliability

Internal Validity

External Validity

Ecological
Validity

Demand
Characteristics
Investigator
Effects

Positive
Correlation

Negative
Correlation

Correlation

Co-efficient
 Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods

Method Definition Example:

Lab Experiment

Field Experiment

Natural
Experiment

Correlation

Naturalistic
Observation

Controlled
Observation

Questionnaire
Interview

Surveys

Case Study
 Ethical Issues

Ethical Issue Definition How it is controlled

Informed Consent

Deception

Protection from
Harm

Briefing and
Debriefing

Anonymity and
Confidentiality

Right to Withdraw
 Data Analysis

Analysis Definition When it is used

Mean

Median

Mode

Range

Standard Deviation

Bar Chart
Histogram

Scattergram

Table

Content Analysis