1. Self-Reports (non-experimental)
Psychological Investigations

2. Research that uses the non-experimental method…

3. Content Page 1. Describe & Evaluate the Method
SLIDES
1. Describe & Evaluate the Method
2. Hypothesis & Variables
n/a
3. Design
4. Sampling Method
5. Operationalisation & Measurement
6. Reliability & Validity of measurement
7. Ethical Issues
8. Data (Graphical & Conclusions)
9. How would improve…?
10. Writing a Procedure

4. 1. Description & Evaluation
Self Reports

5. The 2 uses of a Self-Report
* Data Collection * Research Method

6. Questionnaires
Nature & Use
Advantages
Disadvantages

7. Interviews
Nature & Use
Advantages
Disadvantages

8. Structured Interview
Nature & Use
Advantages
Disadvantages

9. Unstructured Interview
Nature & Use
Advantages
Disadvantages

10. Semi-Structured Interview
Nature & Use
Advantages
Disadvantages

11. CONFOUNDING/ EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE
Variables
CONFOUNDING/ EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE
Variables other than the participants’ beliefs that may bear any effect on the behaviour/ responses to the questions that are asked of them. Three main types
1. Subject variables: age, gender, health status, mood, background, etc.
2. Demand Characteristics: The participants answering the questions the way that they think the researcher would want them answered.
3. Social Desirability: The participants answering the questions to make them look in a good light.
4. Situational variables: Air temperature, level of activity, lighting, and the time of day.

12. CONFOUNDING/ EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE
Variables
CONFOUNDING/ EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE
Variables other than the participants’ beliefs that may bear any effect on the behaviour/ responses to the questions that are asked of them. Three main types
5. Researcher Bias: This can be in the questions themselves, the researcher being present or in how the researcher analyses the qualitative results.
6. Leading questions: questions that lead the participants to answer a certain way

13. 3. Design
EXPERIMENTS

14. Types of Questions
Open
Closed:
Fixed Choice
Rating Scale
Likert Scale

15. Open Questions
Definition
Advantages
Disadvantages

16. Closed Questions
Definition
Advantages
Disadvantages

17. How to construct a questionnaire
When designing a questionnaire there are further issues beyond writing good questions.
It is a good idea to conduct a pilot study to test out the clarity of the questions and any other difficulties that might be encountered.
A pilot study is done in order to find out if certain things don’t work.
For example, participants may not understand the instructions or may guess what the experiment is about.
They may get very bored because there are too many tasks or questions and not give truthful answers.

18. How to construct a questionnaire
There are three issues to consider when writing questions:
Clarity:

19. How to construct a questionnaire
2. Bias:

20. How to construct a questionnaire
3. Analysis:

22. How to construct a questionnaire
Types of closed questions
Which of the following factors at work makes you feel stressed?
Noise at work Lack of control Too much to do
Workmates Bored No job satisfaction
2. I drive to work 5 days a week.
Yes No
3. Work is stressful.
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree
4. On a scale of 1-5 (1 being horrible and 5 being perfect rate your ability to park a car.

23. 4. Sampling Method
EXPERIMENTS

25. Sample Population Definition Evaluation Definition Evaluation
Selected to be representative of the population
Evaluation
May be biased ,therefore can’t generalise
Population
Definition
The group of people whom the sample is drawn
Evaluation
May be biased

27. Random sampling Definition Advantage Disadvantage
Every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
Advantage
Potentially unbiased
Disadvantage
Needs to be drawn from a large population to be unbiased

28. Participants for
Psychological
Research

29. Volunteer Sample Definition Advantage Disadvantage
Participants become part of a study by volunteering
Advantage
Access to a variety of participants
Disadvantage
Volunteer biased

30. Are you available?

31. Opportunity Sample Definition Advantage Disadvantage
Selecting people who are more easily available
Advantage
Easy
Disadvantage
Very biased

32. 6. Reliability & Validity of Measurement

33. Reliability: Consistency
How could we test/assess the strength of the reliability?
Internal Reliability
Split-half method
External Reliability
Test-Retest

34. Validity: The legitimacy of a study
Internal Validity
Demand Characteristics/Social Desirability/Researcher Bias: Features of a self-report the elicit a particular response form participants.
Participant understanding
Leading Questions
External Validity
Ecological validity: generalise from one setting to another
Population validity: generalise from one group of people to everyone

35. 5. How could we test/assess the strength of the validity?
Concurrent
Criterion

36. 6. Ethical Issues Difficulty debriefing Privacy Confidentiality
Deception
Informed consent
Psychological harm
Difficulty debriefing
Privacy
Confidentiality

37. 7. Data (central tendency)
Descriptive statistics

38. 2,4,4,5,6,6,7,7
8,8,8,8,8
9,10,11,11,12

39. Measures of central tendency
Mean: Add values, divide by number of values
Makes use of all the data
Can be misrepresentative if there are extreme values.
Median: Middle value in an ordered list
Not affected by extreme scores
Not as ‘sensitive’ as the mean
Mode: The most common value(s)
The mist common value(s)
Not useful when there are several modes

40. 7. Data

41. Quantitative Data Qualitative Data Analysis of data Easy to analysis
Produces neat conclusions
 Oversimplifies reality
Qualitative Data
Represents the complexity of human behaviour
Provides rich data
More difficult to detect patterns and reach conclusions
Subjective, affected by personal expectations and beliefs

43. Measures of dispersion
Range
Highest to lowest
Easy to calculate
Affected by extreme values
Standard Deviation
Mathematical calculation
Precise, all values taken into account
Harder to calculate

45. Graphs & Charts Bar Charts
Graph showing frequency data; data need not be continuous

46. 7. Drawing Conclusions

47. 8. How would you improve
Validity:
Reliability :
Ethics:

48. 9. Writing a procedure
June 2011 A study investigating factors influencing Inter-personal attraction was conducted by psychologists using the self-report method. This involved asking people questions about how important age, appearance, personality, occupation and money were when forming romantic relationships. People were approached in a local shopping centre one weekday morning and asked if they would take a questionnaire home to complete and return using a pre-paid envelope. Evaluate the reliability and validity of this research (10)

49. Glossary of extraneous variables: Participant Reactivity

50. Participant reactivity: The fact that participants react to cues in an experimental situation
Hawthorne Effect
Increased attention becomes a confounding variable
Demand Characteristics
Features of an experiment that a participant unconsciously, responds to when searching for clues about how to behave. A confounding variable.
Social Desirability bias
The desire to appear favourably

51. Investigator Effect

52. Interviewer bias Experimenter bias
Investigator effect: Anything the investigator does which has an effect on a participant’s performance in a study other then what was intended.
Interviewer bias
The same in an interview sutation, through, for example, leading wuestions and the Greenspoon effect
Experimenter bias
The effect of an experimenter’s expectations, communicated unconsciously, on a participant’s behaviour