Topic Summaries

Types of research

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Research methods > Types of research
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Addiction

  • Experimental methods:
    • Laboratory experiment: an experiment that take places in a highly controlled, artificial environment, with an emphasis on removing all extraneous variables by using standardisation. The independent variable is manipulated by the researcher, and the dependent variable will be measured.
      • High internal validity: takes place in a highly controlled environment so there is less likely to be extraneous variables which would reduce the validity of the experiment
      • Low mundane realism: the tasks are artificial and so how little resemblance to the real world where people may respond differently.
    • Field experiment: an experiment that takes place in a naturalistic setting (e.g.a school, park, street) in contrast to the artificial environment of a lab study. The independent variable is still manipulated by the researcher.
      • High ecological validity: takes place in a real-world setting, so behaviour is more likely to be natural.
      • Low internal validity: the researcher has little control over extraneous variables like the weather that may affect the study.
    • Quasi-experiment: where the independent variable already exist in the individuals, so the participants can’t be randomised between conditions. The aim of this method is to establish cause and effect.
      • Lack of internal validity: difficult to isolate variables.
      • Confounding variables: individual differences may affect the research and become confounding variables
    • Natural experiment: an experiment where the variable changes naturally without intervention from the researcher. The researcher uses this opportunity to study their topic.
      • Low risk of demand characteristics: the researchers uses natural situations where people are acting as they would usually. This removes the risk of demand characteristics.
  • Self-report techniques:
    • Questionnaires: a standardised set of questions that all participants involved will answer. It can an either use open or closed questions. Open questions don’t have a fixed set of responses and allows the participants to answer in their own way. Closed questions have a fixed set of responses such as yes/no questions or multiple-choice questions.
    • Interviews: where a participant is asked questions in person. They are either structured of unstructured. Structured interviews have a set, standardised list of questions that they will ask every participant in the same order. Unstructured interviews are not ordered and allow the participant to explore the topic at hand in their own way.
  • Observational techniques:
    • Naturalistic: where the observer watches a real-life setting (e.g.watching a road and marking down how many people ride a bike vs.a car).
    • Controlled: observation is created in an artificial setting (e.g.Ainsworth’s Strange Situation).
    • Covert: the participants aren’t aware that they’re being observed (e.g.researchers watching via hidden cameras or two-way mirrors).
    • Overt: the participants are aware that they’re being observed (e.g.researchers sitting in the back of a classroom observing students).
    • Participant: the researcher is actively involved in the situation that they are observing (e.g.Zimbardo’s prison experiment where he played the role of the police sergeant).
    • Non-participant: the researcher isn’t actively involved in the situation that they are observing (e.g.Milgram’s experiment where other people played the role of the experimenter and learner).
  • Content analysis: used to analyse qualitative data and transform it into quantitative data. The form of data they used can be obtained through interview transcripts, diaries, audio recordings etc. To analyse it, they come up with coding units. This may be the number of times someone says a specific word.
    • Reliable: researchers will apply the same coding units through time which makes this method replicable.
    • Cause and effect: it’s hard to identify the cause and effect of information that is being analysed so it may lack depth
  • Case studies: in-depth forms of research that focus on studies of select individuals.These individuals usually have rare conditions or have been through unusual situations which lead researchers to want to analyse them.
    • Reliable: in-depth, meaningful data is produced based on a lot of research on one person.
    • Lack generalisability: psychologists are usually unable to make broad assumptions based on a single person’s situation.

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