Types of Research

Types of Research

Descriptive
Describe what we see
Any research that observes and records.
Types of decriptive research
*the case study
*The survey
*Naturalistic Observation
Case study
*A detailed picture of one or a few subjects.
The Survey
*Where one person (situation) is observed in depth.
Survery Method
*Most common type of study in psychology
*Measures correlation
*Use interview, mail, phone, internet
*Cheap and fast
*Low respond rate
Random Sampling
*Identify the population you want to study
*The sample must be representative of the population you want to study
Why do we sample?
*one reason is the _False_Consensus_Effect_. The tendency to over estimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors.
Survey Method: The Bad
* Low Response Rate
* People Lie or Just Misinterpret
* Wording effects
Naturalistic Oberservation
* Watch subjects in their natural environment
* Do not manipulate the environment
* The good is that there is the Hawthorne Effect
Hawthorne Effect
* Just the fact that you know you are in an experiment can cause change.
Correlational Method
* Correlation expresses a relationship between two variables.
* Does not show causation
- as more ice cream is eaten more people are murdered
Measured using a Correlation Coefficient
* a number that measures the strength of a relationship.
* the relationship gets weaker the closer you get to zero.
Types of Correlation
Positive Correlation
* the variables go in the Same direction
Negative Correlation
* the variables go in opposite directions