Research Methods & Design in Psychology

1. Research Methods & Design in Psychology Lecture 1 Introduction to Survey Research Lecturer: James Neill

2. Overview • Purpose • Goals • Types • Topics • Advantages • Disadvantages

3. Purpose of Research Two broad purposes of research: • information gathering • theory testing and building

4. Survey Research Goals • Exploratory • “What psychological issues are being faced by Asian Tsunami survivors?” • Descriptive • “Working conditions (hours, pay, etc.) of psychologists” • Explanatory • “Are extraverts happier?” • Predictive • “Does a couple’s length of time together prior to having children predict relationship satisfaction after having children?”

5. Types of Research • Experimental • Control over extraneous variables • random assignment • Quasi-experimental • Control over some extraneous variables • Non-random assignment • Non-experimental • Minimal control over extraneous variables

6. Survey Research Characteristics • Surveys are widely used in non-experimental social science research • Often use interviews or questionnaires • Involve real-world samples • Often quantitative, but can be qualitative

7. Common topics in survey research • Demographics • Attitudes and opinions • Behaviours • Motivation and personality • Emotion, satisfaction, stress, etc.

8. Advantages of survey-based research • Ecological validity • Access to wide range of participants • Potentially large amounts of data • May be more ethical (than experiments)

9. Disadvantages of survey-based research • Lack of control - less internal validity • Self-report data only • Potentially low compliance rates