1. Lecture 8 Psyc 300A

2. Observational Studies
Naturalistic vs. Laboratory
Naturalistic has high ecological validity
Often need to code data
Advantages
Study behavior as it naturally unfolds
Disadvantages:
Many influences on behavior
Subjective interpretation

3. Case Study Study a single person or group in great depth Advantage:
Can study complexity of individuals and rare phenomena
Disadvantages:
Don’t generalize well to other groups
Case may be atypical
Subjective interpretation

4. Survey Ask for self-reports from respondents Advantages:
Can get lots of info and compare with results from other studies
Methodological considerations:
Truthful responding
Wording effects
Response options
Sampling

5. Surveys: Wording Effects
“Do you think sexual harassment in the workplace is wrong?”
“Should a person be fired for telling an off-color joke at work?”
Closed vs. open-ended questions
Loaded questions
Leading questions

6. Surveys: Response Options
“I believe the sentences for car theft (first offense) should be: a. probation only b. three months in jail c. six months in jail d. one year in prison e. two years in prison,

7. Surveys: Response Options
“I believe the sentences for car theft (first offense) should be: a. six months in jail b. one year in prison c. two years in prison d. five years in prison e. ten years in prison

8. Likert Scales A particular type of rating scale.
Psyc 300A requires too much homework.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree

9. Who Will Be in Your Study?
What is a population?
What is a sample?
What is a representative sample?
Probability vs nonprobability sampling

10. Probability (Random) Sampling
Simple random sampling
Stratified random sampling
Cluster sampling

11. Nonprobability Sampling
Convenience sampling
Quota sampling
Snowball sampling

12. Group Activity: Sampling
You want to conduct a survey of psychology students to find out about their occupational preferences. How would you do it using each kind of sampling?
Simple random sampling
Stratified random sampling
Cluster sampling
Convenience sampling
Quota sampling
Snowball sampling