Upgrade to remove ads
Only $35.99/year

research methods

Terms in this set (12)

What is meant by a case study?
A case study is an in-depth study of one person or a group of people over time. It is usually carried out in the real world. They are idiographic and very individualistic.
Outline weakness of using a case study as a method of investigation.
• Findings cannot be generalised very easily to other individuals.
• The information gathered is often based on retrospective data, which might not be accurate.
• Because it is very difficult to replicate a case study they lack reliability.
• As case studies are unique situations it is difficult to generalise (to other situations).
How could a psychologist maintain confidentiality when reporting a case study?
Confidentiality could be maintained by making sure individuals are not identifiable when reporting the case study. This could be done by using a different name or initials, avoid publishing details of address, schools etc.
Outline one technique which the psychologist could use in this case study

Psychologists sometimes use case studies to study children. One example was of a boy who was discovered at the age of six. He had been kept in a darkened room and had had almost no social contact with people.
Psychologists may use psychological tests eg IQ testing. They could observe his behaviour in different situations. They might interview people, such as family members, to find out the circumstances of his early life.
part from ethical issues, explain one or more limitations of using case studies
The main limitation is that each individual, and their experience, is unique and the results cannot therefore be generalised to others. Evidence from an individual's past may be difficult to verify. Researchers may get to know the individual well, which may lead to loss of objectivity.
Referring to this investigation, explain the difference between primary and secondary data

A psychologist is investigating causes of offending. She interviews offenders who are in prison for violent crime. She asks them to describe their family and early childhood, recording everything that they say. She also looks at information in the offenders' court and prison reports
• primary data is gathered directly/first-hand from the participants, and is specific to the aim of the study whereas secondary data has previously been collected by a third party (another researcher or an official body), not specifically for the aim of the study, and then used by the researcher
• in this study, the interview recordings are primary data -gathered specifically for the purpose of investigating causes of aggressive behaviour whereas the school records are secondary data - pre-existing and not gathered for the purpose of investigating causes of aggressive behaviour.
Explain how the psychologist could continue her investigation by carrying out thematic analysis of the interview recordings.

A psychologist is investigating causes of offending. She interviews offenders who are in prison for violent crime. She asks them to describe their family and early childhood, recording everything that they say. She also looks at information in the offenders' court and prison reports
• use the recordings to make a transcription of the interview
• use coding to initially analyse the transcripts
• review the transcriptions/codes looking for emergent themes/ideas that might be linked to later aggressive behaviour, eg family violence, parental argument, alcohol misuse
Explain how the researcher could have used content analysis to analyse what the mothers had written in their diaries.

A researcher used content analysis to investigate how the behaviour of young children changed when they started day care. He identified a group of nine-month-old children who were about to start day care. He asked the mother of each child to keep a diary recording her child's behaviour every day for two weeks before and for two weeks after the child started day care.
Content analysis is a way of analysing data such as text using coding units such as themes. In this case mothers were asked to write down how their child behaved, so
Create a checklist / categories
Relevant example(s) of behaviours eg aggression, crying
Read through the diaries / mothers' writing / reports
Counting behaviours or tallying Compare before and after day care
Explain one or more possible limitations of this investigation

A researcher used content analysis to investigate how the behaviour of young children changed when they started day care. He identified a group of nine-month-old children who were about to start day care. He asked the mother of each child to keep a diary recording her child's behaviour every day for two weeks before and for two weeks after the child started day care.
mothers not having time to write much
problems in the analysis such as difficulties deciding on appropriate categories.
demand characteristics
mothers dropping out of the study
bias in recording
lack of control of time spent in day care
nine-month-olds not representative of all young children
ethical issues such as maintaining confidentiality could be made relevant.
What is meant by the term content analysis?
a technique for analysing data according to themes or categories
Explain how the psychologist might have carried out content analysis to analyse these drawings.

A psychologist was interested in looking at the effects of a restricted diet on psychological functioning. A group of 20 healthy, young adult volunteers agreed to spend four weeks in a research unit. They were kept warm and comfortable but given only water and small amounts of plain food. They were able to socialise with one another and watch television, but they had to keep to strict, set mealtimes and were not allowed to eat anything between meals. The psychologist carried out various tests of emotional and cognitive functioning during this four-week period. One area of interest for the psychologist was the effect of the dietary restriction on the perception of food. He tested this by asking the volunteers to draw pictures of food at the end of each week. When all the drawings had been completed, the psychologist used content analysis to analyse them.
• The psychologist would have identified a number of categories or themes by which to sort the drawings. Such categories/themes might include: the type of food depicted eg carbohydrate, protein; the state of the food eg cooked, raw etc; the portion size; the brightness of the colours used.
• He would have counted examples from each category to provide quantitative data.
• He could then compare the drawings according to these categories to see if there were changes over the four week period.
The psychologist needed to be sure that his participants understood the nature of the study so that they were able to give informed consent. Write a consent form which would be suitable for this study. Make sure there is sufficient information about the study for the participants to make an informed decision.
• The purpose of the study.
• The length of time required of the participants.
• The fact that participants would have to be isolated in a research institute for the duration of the study.
• Details about the diet.
• Right to withdraw.
• Reassurance about protection from harm e.g. the availability of medical supervision.
• The requirement to undertake a series of psychological tests.
• Reassurance about confidentiality of the data.
Other sets by this creator