1. Describing Research Activities
Phenomenology
Case Studies
Field Studies
Archival Study
Qualitative Research

2. What are nonexperimental approaches?
Nonexperimental approaches do not create levels of an independent variable nor randomly assign subjects to these levels.
They are used where experiments are not ethical or possible, or where we want to test hypotheses in realistic conditions, such as children playing, or life in a gang.
Describing Research Activities

3. What is internal validity?
Primary purpose of an experiment is to establish a causal relationship between a specified set of antecedent conditions (treatments) and the subsequently observed behavior. Experiments can have good internal validity.
Internal validity is the degree to which a researcher can establish a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
Describing Research Activities

4. What is internal validity?
An experiment has high internal validity when we can demonstrate that only the antecedent conditions are responsible for group differences in behavior.
An internally valid experiment allows us to draw cause-and-effect conclusions.
However experiments are often criticized for being artificial and unrealistic.
Describing Research Activities

5. Describing Research Activities
Why do experiments often achieve higher internal validity than nonexperimental studies?
Laboratory experiments are often higher in internal validity because of their control of extraneous variables. Extraneous variables are other things that could have caused the behavior change rather than the antecedent condition or IV.
Describing Research Activities

6. What is external validity?
External validity is the degree to which research findings can be generalized or applied to other settings and individuals.
True experiments often lack external validity. Nonexperimental designs are often preferred because they have greater external validity. However, there is a trade-off between internal validity and external validity.
Describing Research Activities

7. Describing Research Activities
Why might nonexperimental studies achieve higher external validity than laboratory experiments?
Nonexperimental studies are more frequently conducted in real-world settings with a more diverse sample of participants than experiments.
This assists with their higher levels of external validity.
Describing Research Activities

8. What is the degree of manipulation of antecedent conditions?
All research can be described along 2 dimensions, 1. the degree of manipulation of antecedent conditions, 2. the degree of imposition of units.
The degree of manipulation of antecedent conditions varies from low to high; from letting things happen as they will, to carefully controlled environments.
Experiments are usually high in degree of manipulation; nonexperiments are usually low.
Describing Research Activities

9. What is the degree of imposition of units?
The degree of imposition of units is how much you limit a subject’s responses on the DV. For instance, do you allow the individual to say how they feel about a topic and speak freely (low imposition of units), or do you simply ask them if they like it (yes) or not (no) (high imposition of units).
Most true experiments have high imposition of units; nonexperimental designs can have low or high.
Describing Research Activities

10. Five common nonexperimental approaches
1. phenomenology
2. case studies
3. field studies
4. archival studies
5. qualitative studies

11. Explain phenomenology.
Phenomenology involves a subject's description of personal subjective experience.
For example, a phenomenological description of eating ice cream would not include a list of ingredients, information about fat and calories, or the likely impact on one’s waistline. Instead, your description includes details about the flavor, temperature, texture, color, and so on. In other words, you don’t concern yourself with what appears, but rather, with a thing’s way of appearing.
Phenomenology is low in manipulation of antecedent conditions and low in imposition of units (low-low). It is rarely used in psychology today.
Phenomenology

12. Case Studies What are case studies?
In case studies, a researcher compiles a descriptive study of a subject's experiences, observable behaviors, and archival records kept by an outside observer. Case studies range from low-low to low-high.
Case Studies

13. What are the strengths of the case study approach?
Case studies have several advantages:
They are sources of inferences, hypotheses, and theories, such as the many case studies which found that early loss of a parent is associated with depression in later life.
They are sources of therapy techniques, such as trying therapy with a person with a certain condition to see if it works.
They allow study of rare phenomena, case of Genie.
Case Studies

14. What are the strengths of the case study approach?
They provide exceptions to accepted ideas, theories, and practices
They are persuasive and provide motivational value (advertising)
Case Studies

15. What are the limitations of the case study approach?
Case studies have several limitations:
representativeness of sample
completeness of data (if we cannot observe the person constantly, we are not sure that we are aware of al relevant aspects of that person’s life)
reliance on retrospective data, which is data collected presently based on memories of something that happened in the past. Memory can be reconstructed and memory can be affected by many factors, including mood.
Case Studies

16. What are retrospective data?
Retrospective data are recollections of past events that are collected in the present. While your childhood memories constitute retrospective data, your diary from high school does not constitute retrospective data because it was collected in the past.
Case Studies

17. What are the risks of using retrospective data?
This information may be compromised by faulty memory, current mood, and the retrieval cues that are present when you are asked to recall an event.
Case Studies

18. How do deviant case analyses extend evaluative case studies?
In a deviant case analysis, researchers examine differences between deviant and normal individuals to identify etiological factors.
For example we may look at two males who are similar in many ways, except that one has a memory problem. Using the comparison between the two, we can try to figure out why one has the memory problem.
Case Studies

19. Field Studies What are field studies?
Field studies are nonexperimental studies conducted in the field (real-life settings). The experimenter does not manipulate antecedent conditions. Field studies range from low-low to low-high.
Field studies include naturalistic observations and participant observer studies.
Field Studies

20. What is naturalistic observation?
Naturalistic observation examines subjects’ spontaneous behavior in their actual environments and may obtain more representative behavior than experiments.
They have low manipulation of antecedents and usually low imposition of units.
This method can achieve high levels of external validity.
When used to study animals, is called ethology.
Field Studies

21. Explain the problem of reactivity.
When conducting naturalistic observations, researchers attempt to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
In reactivity, subjects alter their behavior when they know that they are being observed.
For example, your baby sister stops saying “Gramma” when you place the phone near her mouth.
Field Studies

22. Systematic observation
In some cases of naturalistic observation, a researcher may use a process called systematic observation to record responses occurring in the field. With systematic observation, only certain types of behaviors are recorded, using predetermined rules and guidelines.
Example - Recording how often a teacher offers positive reinforcement to her class. Only data where the teacher actively compliments the student are counted, smiles and nods are not. Here the researcher does not manipulate the antecedents as the class and teacher behave any way they wish, but they do limit the type of responses that will be recorded. Therefore this shows low manipulation of antecedents but high imposition of units.

23. Naturalistic observations
Sometimes naturalistic observations are carried out in a laboratory, rather than in the natural environment. An example of this is the Strange Situation by Mary Ainsworth.

24. Naturalistic observations
Unobtrusive measures are behavior indicators that can be observed without a subject’s knowledge. It can include looking through someone’s garbage, or seeing which aisle of supermarket floor shows the most wear.

25. What is a participant-observer study?
A participant-observer study involves field observation in which the researcher is part of the studied group. The researcher pretends to belong to the group, such as joining a gang to learn about gang behavior.
This approach contrasts with naturalistic observation, where the researcher does not interact with research subjects to avoid reactivity
Ethical issues exist; IRB may not approve.
Field Studies

26. Which ethical problems complicate participant-observer studies?
The main problems are invasion of privacy, not telling people that you are studying their behavior, and pretending to be a group member. Pretending to be a group member (e.g., a researcher pretending to be a weight lifter) is a serious problem that requires careful planning.
Generally, if it is a place that is public(gym), it is more acceptable than if it is a place where one would expect privacy (dorm room).
Field Studies

27. How do field experiments differ from field studies?
Field experiments are experiments conducted in real-life settings. This is not the same as a field study. A field experiment is a true experiment.
Field studies are nonexperimental designs used in real-life settings and include naturalistic observation, unobtrusive measures, participant-observer studies, and surveys.
Field Studies

28. What is an archival study?
An archival study is a descriptive method where researchers reexamine data that were collected for other purposes. For example, universities collect a wealth of data through surveys like the Graduating Senior Questionnaire (GSQ) and interviews.
Archival Study

29. What defines qualitative research?
Qualitative research obtains data consisting of words instead of numbers. This information is obtained through self-reports, personal narratives, and expression of ideas, memories, feelings, and thoughts.
Qualitative Research

30. Why is the rise of qualitative research important?
The increased use of qualitative research may represent a paradigm shift—a change in attitudes, values, beliefs, methods, and procedures accepted during a specific time period. Psychologists have been showing a trend of moving away from experimentation, quantitative data collection and hypothesis testing and having been moving more towards qualitative data collection.
Qualitative Research

31. How is qualitative research helpful?
Qualitative research is invaluable in studying contextual phenomena, behavior that can only be understood within its context. For example, we might examine the meaning of religious faith for patients facing impending surgery.
Qualitative Research

32. Which information sources does empirical phenomenology use?
Use of phenomenology has been increasing in psychology lately. Contemporary phenomenology is called empirical phenomenology.
Empirical phenomenology might rely on an experimenter’s private experiences or other experiential data:
1. the researcher’s self-reflection on relevant experiences
Qualitative Research

33. Which information sources does empirical phenomenology use?
participants’ oral or written descriptions of their experiences of the phenomenon
Buchbinder & Eisikovits (2002) asked women who were living in homes with domestic violence to give oral interviews which were taped.
3. accounts from literature, poetry, visual art, television, theatre, and previous phenomenological (and other) research
Qualitative Research