Methods of Enquiry in Psychology PDF

Methods of Enquiry Psyychology in Ps Chapter 2...

Methods of Enquiry Psyychology in Ps Chapter 2 d After reading this chapter, you would be able to e explain the goals and nature of psychological enquiry, understand different types of data used by psychologists, h describe some important methods of psychological enquiry, T s understand the methods of analysing data, and i learn about the limitations of psychological enquiry and ethical R l considerations. E u b C N re p Contents Introduction Goals of Psychological Enquiry © e Steps in Conducting Scientific Research Alternative Paradigms of Research Nature of Psychological Data b Some Important Methods in Psychology Observational Method Example of an Experiment (Box 2.1) o Experimental Method t Correlational Research Survey Research t Example of Survey Method (Box 2.2) Psychological Testing o Case Study Analysis of Data n Quantitative Method Qualitative Method Limitations of Psychological Enquiry Ethical Issues An idea that is developed and put into Key Terms action is more important than an idea Summary that exists only as an idea. Review Questions Project Ideas – Gautam Buddha 22 Psychology  Introduction You have read in the first chapter that psychology is the study of experiences, behaviours, and mental processes. You may now be curious to know how psychologists study these phenomena. In other words, what methods are used to study behaviour and mental processes? Like all scientists, psychologists seek to describe, predict, explain and control what they study. For this, psychologists rely on formal, systematic observations to address their questions. It is the methodology that makes psychology a scientific endeavour. Psychologists use a variety of research d methods because questions about human behaviour are numerous and all of them cannot be studied by a single method. Methods such as observation, experimental, e correlational research, survey, psychological testing and case study are more h frequently used to study the problems of psychology. This chapter will familiarise you with the goals of psychological enquiry, the nature of information or data that T s we collect in psychological studies, the diverse range of methodological devices i available for the study of psychology, and some important issues related to R l psychological studies. E u b C Prediction : The second goal of scientific p GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ENQUIRY enquiry is prediction of behaviour. If you are N re Like any scientific research, psychological able to understand and describe the behaviour enquiry has the following goals: description, accurately, you come to know the relationship prediction, explanation, and control of of a particular behaviour with other types of © e behaviour, and application of knowledge so behaviours, events, or phenomena. You can generated, in an objective manner. Let us try then forecast that under certain conditions to understand the meaning of these terms. this particular behaviour may occur within a b certain margin of error. For example, on the Description : In a psychological study, we basis of study, a researcher is able to establish attempt to describe a behaviour or a o a positive relationship between the amount of phenomenon as accurately as possible. This t study time and achievement in different helps in distinguishing a particular behaviour subjects. Later, if you come to know that a from other behaviours. For example, the particular child devotes more time for study, t researcher may be interested in observing you can predict that the child is likely to get study habits among students. Study habits o good marks in the examination. Prediction may consist of diverse range of behaviours, becomes more accurate with the increase in such as attending all your classes regularly, n the number of persons observed. submitting assignments on time, planning your study schedule, studying according to Explanation : The third goal of psychological the set schedule, revising your work on a daily enquiry is to know the causal factors or basis etc. Within a particular category there determinants of behaviour. Psychologists are may be further minute descriptions. The primarily interested in knowing the factors researcher needs to describe her/his meaning that make behaviour occur. Also, what are the of study habits. The description requires conditions under which a particular behaviour recording of a particular behaviour which does not occur. For example, what makes helps in its proper understanding. some children more attentive in the class? Why 23 Chapter 2 Methods of Enquiry in Psychology some children devote less time for study as increase efficiency. Scientific enquiry is also compared to others? Thus, this goal is conducted to develop new theories or concerned with identifying the determinants constructs, which leads to further research. or antecedent conditions (i.e. conditions that led to the particular behaviour) of the Steps in Conducting Scientific Research behaviour being studied so that cause-effect Science is not so defined by what it relationship between two variables (objects) or investigates as by how it investigates. The events could be established. scientific method attempts to study a Control : If you are able to explain why a particular event or phenomenon in an particular behaviour occurs, you can control objective, systematic, and testable manner. that behaviour by making changes in its The objectivity refers to the fact that if two d antecedent conditions. Control refers to three or more persons independently study a e things: making a particular behaviour happen, particular event, both of them, to a great reducing it, or enhancing it. For example, you extent, should arrive at the same conclusion. h can allow the number of hours devoted to For instance, if you and your friend measure study to be the same, or you can reduce them the length of a table using the same measuring T s or there may be an increase in the study hours. device, it is likely that both of you would arrive l i The change brought about in behaviour by at the same conclusion about its length. R psychological treatment in terms of therapy The second characteristic of scientific b in persons, is a good example of control. research is that it follows systematic E procedure or steps of investigation. It includes Application : The final goal of the scientific u the following steps: conceptualisation of a enquiry is to bring out positive changes in the C problem, collection of data, drawing lives of people. Psychological research is p conclusions, and revising research conclusions conducted to solve problems in various N re and theory (see Fig.2.1). Let us discuss these settings. Because of these efforts the quality steps in some detail. of life of people is a major concern of psychologists. For example, applications of (1) Conceptualising a Problem : The process © e yoga and meditation help to reduce stress and of scientific research begins when a researcher b 1 2 o Conceptualising a Problem Collecting Data t Selecting a topic for study Participants, methods, tools and procedure o t n 4 3 Revising Research Conclusions Drawing Conclusions Restating existing hypothesis/ Using statistical methods formulating revised or a new theory Fig.2.1 : Steps in Conducting Scientific Enquiry 24 Psychology selects a theme or topic for study. Then s/he on television, higher is the degree of aggression narrows down the focus and develops specific displayed by them’. In your research, you shall research questions or problems for the study. now try to prove whether the statement is true This is done on the basis of review of past or false. research, observations, and personal experiences. For example, earlier you read that (2) Collecting Data : The second step in a researcher was interested in observing the scientific research is to collect data. Data study habits of students. For this purpose, collection requires developing a research s/he may identify different facets of study design or a blueprint of the entire study. It habits first, and then decide whether s/he is requires taking decisions about the following interested in study habits shown in the class four aspects: (a) participants in the study, (b) methods of data collection, (c) tools to be d or at home. In psychology we study a diverse range of used in research, and (d) procedure for data e problems related to behaviour and collection. Depending upon the nature of the experiences. These problems may be related study, the researcher has to decide who would h to (a) understanding our own behaviour (for be the participants (or informants) in the study. The participants could be children, T s example, how do I feel and behave when I am i in a state of joy or grief? How do we reflect on adolescents, college students, teachers, l managers, clinical patients, industrial R our own experiences and behaviour? Why do workers, or any group of individuals in whom/ we forget?); (b) understanding other b where the phenomenon under investigation E individual’s behaviour (for example, Is Abhinav is prevalent. The second decision is related to more intelligent than Ankur? Why is someone u the use of methods of data collection, such as always not able to complete her or his work on C observation method, experimental method, p time? Can the habit of smoking be controlled? correlational method, case study, etc. The Why do some people suffering from chronic N re researcher needs to decide about appropriate illness not take medicines?); (c) group tools (for example, interview schedule, influences on individual behaviour (for observation schedule, questionnaire, etc.) for example, why does Rahim spend more time © e data collection. The researcher also decides meeting with people than doing his work?, about how the tools need to be administered Why does a cyclist perform better when cycling to collect data (i.e. individual or group). This before a group of persons than when cycling b is followed by actual collection of data. alone?); (d) group behaviour (for example, why does risk-taking behaviour increase when (3) Drawing Conclusions : The next step is to o people are in a group?), and (e) organisational analyse data so collected through the use of t level (for example, why are some organisations statistical procedures to understand what the more successful than others? How can an data mean. This can be achieved through t employer increase the motivation of graphical representations (such as preparation employees?). The list is long and you will learn of pie-chart, bar -diagram, cumulative o about these various facets in subsequent frequencies, etc.) and by the use of different chapters. If you are inquisitive, you can write statistical methods. The purpose of analysis n down a number of problems which you may is to verify a hypothesis and draw conclusions like to probe. accordingly. After identification of the problem, the researcher proceeds by developing a tentative (4) Revising Research Conclusions : The answer of the problem, which is called researcher may have begun the study with a hypothesis. For example, based on the earlier hypothesis that there exists a relationship evidence or your observation, you might between viewing violence on television and develop a hypothesis ‘greater is the amount aggression among children. S/he has to see of time spent by children in viewing violence whether the conclusions support this 25 Chapter 2 Methods of Enquiry in Psychology hypothesis. If they do, the existing hypothesis/ attempting to disturb its natural flow. For theory is confirmed. If not, s/he will revise or example, an explorer does not know what s/ state an alternative hypothesis/theory and he is looking for, how to look for it, and what again test it based on new data and draw to expect. Rather, s/he tries to map an conclusions which may be verified by future uncharted wilderness, with little or no prior researchers. Thus, research is a continuous knowledge of the area, and her/his main task process. is to record detailed descriptions of what is found in a particular context. Alternative Paradigms of Research Both scientific and interpretive traditions are concerned with studying behaviour and Psychologists suggest that human behaviour experiences of others. What about our own can and should be studied following the d personal experiences and behaviour? As a methods adopted by sciences like physics, student of psychology, you may ask yourself e chemistry, and biology. The key assumption the question: why am I feeling sad? Many times of this view is that human behaviour is you take a pledge that you will control your h predictable, caused by internal and external diet or devote more time to studies. But when forces, and can be observed, measured, and T s it actually comes to eating or studying you i controlled. In order to achieve these goals, the forget this. You might be wondering why one l discipline of psychology, for larger part of the R does not have control over one’s behaviour. twentieth century, restricted itself to the study Should psychology not help you in analysing b of overt behaviour, i.e. the behaviour that E your own experiences, thought processes, and could be observed and measured. It did not behaviour? It certainly should. The u focus on personal feelings, experiences, C psychological enquiry does aim at meanings, etc. p understanding the self by reflecting on one’s In recent years, a different method known own experiences and insights. N re as interpretive has emerged. It emphasises understanding over explanation and prediction. It takes the stand that, in view of NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DATA © e complex and variable nature of human You may want to consider how psychological behaviour and experience, its method of data are different as compared to other investigation should be different from the b sciences. Psychologists collect a variety of method of investigation of the physical world. information from different sources employing This viewpoint emphasises the importance of diverse methods. The information, also called o how human beings give meaning to events and data (singular = datum), relate to the t actions and interpret them as they occur in a individuals’ covert or overt behaviour, their particular context. Let us take the experiences subjective experiences, and mental processes. t that may occur in some unique contexts, such Data form an important input in psychological as persons experiencing suffering due to enquiry. They in fact approximate the reality o external factors (for example, people affected to some extent and provide an opportunity to by tsunami, earthquake, cyclone) or internal verify or falsify our ideas, hunches, notions, n factors (for instance, prolonged illness, etc.). etc. It should be understood that data are not In such types of situations, objective independent entities. They are located in a measurement is neither possible nor desirable. context, and are tied to the method and theory Everyone interprets reality in her/his own way that govern the process of data collection. In based on past experiences and contexts. other words, data are not independent of the Therefore, we need to understand the physical or social context, the persons subjective interpretation of the reality. The goal involved, and the time when the behaviour here is to explore the different aspects of occurs. We behave differently when alone than human experiences and behaviour without in a group, or at home and in office. You may 26 Psychology hesitate to talk in front of your parents and areas as intelligence, personality, interest, teachers but not when you are with friends. values, creativity, emotions, motivation, You may have also noticed that not all people psychological disorders, illusions, behave in exactly the same manner in the same delusions, hallucinations, perceptual situation. The method of data collection (survey, judgment, thought processes, interview, experiment, etc.) used and the consciousness, subjective experiences, etc. characteristics of respondents (such as, individual or group, young or old, male or The above information could be from the female, rural or urban, etc.) also influence the point of view of measurement somewhat crude. nature and quality of data. It is possible that Like, in the form of categories (such as high/ when you interview a student, s/he may report low, yes/no), ranks which provide ordinal data, viz. first, second, third, fourth, etc., or scores d behaving in a particular manner in a given situation. But when you go for actual (10, 12, 15, 18, 20, etc.) on scales. We also e observation you may find just the opposite of obtain verbal reports, observation records, what s/he had reported. Another important personal diaries, field notes, archival data, etc. h feature of data is that it does not in itself speak Such types of infor mation is analysed separately using qualitative methods. You will T s about reality. Inferences have to be made from get some idea about this later in this chapter. i data. A researcher attaches meaning to the data l by placing it in its proper context. R In psychology, different types of data or SOME IMPORTANT METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY b information are collected. Some of these types E are : In the previous section you read about wide u i) Demographic Information : This information variety of data that we collect in psychological C generally includes personal information like studies. All these varieties of data cannot be p name, age, gender, birth order, number of collected through a single method of enquiry. N re siblings, education, occupation, marital Psychologists use a variety of methods like status, number of children, locality of Observation, Experimental, Correlational, residence, caste, religion, parental Survey, Psychological Testing, and Case Study © e education, occupation, and family income, to collect data. The aim of this section is to etc. guide you to select the methods which may be ii) Physical Infor mation : This category appropriate for different research purposes. For b includes information about ecological example: conditions (hilly/desert/forest), mode of You can observe the behaviour of spectators economy, housing conditions, size of rooms, o watching a football match. facilities available at home, in the t You can conduct an experiment to see if neighbourhood, in the school, mode of children taking an examination do better transportation, etc. t in the classroom in which they had studied iii) Physiological Data : In some studies the subject or in the examination hall o physical, physiological and psychological (cause-effect relationship). data are collected about height, weight, You can correlate intelligence with, say, self- n heart rate, level of fatigue, Galvanic Skin esteem (for prediction purposes). Resistance (GSR), electrical activity of the brain measured by Electro-encephalograph You can survey students’ attitude towards (EEG), blood oxygen levels, reaction time, privatisation of education. duration of sleep, blood pressure, pattern You can use psychological tests to find out of dream, amount of salivation, running and individual differences. jumping rates (in case of animal studies), You can conduct a case study on the etc., are collected. development of language in a child. iv) Psychological Information : Psychological The main characteristics of these methods information collected, may relate to such are described in the following sections. 27 Chapter 2 Methods of Enquiry in Psychology Observational Method needs to be made, in what for m the observation will be recorded, and what Observation is a very powerful tool of methods will be used to analyse the observed psychological enquiry. It is an effective method behaviour. of describing behaviour. In our daily life, we remain busy with observing numerous things Types of Observation throughout the day. Many times, we do not take notice of what we are seeing or what we Observation can be of the following types : have seen. We see but we do not observe. We (a) Naturalistic vs Controlled Observation : remain aware of only a few things that we see When observations are done in a natural or daily. Have you experienced such a thing? You real-life settings (in the above example, it was d may also have experienced that if you carefully a school in which observation was made), it is observe a person or event for some time, you e called naturalistic observation. In this case come to know many interesting things about the observer makes no effort to control or the person or the event. A scientific h manipulate the situation for making an observation dif fers from day-to-day observation. This type of observation is T s observation in many respects. These are : conducted in hospitals, homes, schools, day i care centers, etc. However, many a times you l (a) Selection : Psychologists do not observe all R the behaviour that they encounter. Rather, might need to control certain factors that b they select a particular behaviour for determine behaviour as they are not the focus E observation. For example, you may be of your study. For this reason, many of the u interested to know how children studying in studies in psychology are conducted in the C laboratory. For example, if you read Box 2.1, Class XI spend their time in school. Two things p you will come to know that smoke could only are possible at this stage. As a researcher, you N re be introduced in a controlled laboratory might think that you have a fairly good idea situation. This type of observation, called about what happens in school. You might Controlled Laboratory Observation, actually, prepare a list of activities and go to the school © e is obtained in laboratory experiments. with a view to finding out their occurrences. Alternatively, you might think that you do not (b) Non-Participant vs Participant Observation : b know what happens in the school and, by your Observation can be done in two ways. One, observation you would like to discover it. you may decide to observe the person or event from a distance. Two, the observer may o (b) Recording : While observing, a researcher become part of the group being observed. In t records the selected behaviour using different the first case, the person being observed may means, such as marking tallies for the already not be aware that s/he is being observed. For t identified behaviour whenever they occur, example, you want to observe the pattern of taking notes describing each activity in greater o interaction between teachers and students in detail using short hand or symbols, a particular class. There are many ways of photographs, video recording, etc. n achieving this goal. You can install a video (c) Analysis of Data : After the observations camera to record the classroom activities, have been made, psychologists analyse which you can see later and analyse. whatever they have recorded with a view to Alternatively, you may decide to sit in a corner derive some meaning out of it. of the class without interfering or participating It is important to know that making good in their everyday activities. This type of observations is a skill. A good observer knows observation is called non-participant what s/he is looking for, whom s/he wants to observation. The danger in this type of set- observe, when and where the observation up is that the very fact that someone 28 Psychology  Box 2.1 Example of an Experiment Two American psychologists, Bibb Latane and ignored; within four minutes the room contained John Darley, conducted a study in 1970. In order enough smoke to interfere with vision and breathing. to participate in this study, the students of Latane and Darley were primarily interested in Columbia University arrived individually at a knowing how frequently students simply got up and laboratory. They were given the impression that left the room to report the emergency. Most (75 per they would be interviewed on a certain topic. cent) of the students who were waiting alone reported Each student was sent to a waiting room to the smoke, but those reporting in groups were far d complete a preliminary questionnaire. Some of less. Groups consisting of three naïve students them found two other people already seated in reported it only 38 per cent of the time. When the e the room, while others sat down alone. Soon after students waited with two other confederates, who the students had started working on the were instructed before hand by the researchers to h questionnaire, smoke began filling the room do nothing, only 10 per cent students reported through a wall vent. The smoke could hardly be smoke. RT l i (an outsider) is sitting and observing may bring Activity 2.1 s b a change in the behaviour of students and the E teacher. u In participant observation, the observer A few students can observe one period when the C psychology teacher is teaching in the class. Note becomes a part of the school or the group of p down, in detail, what the teacher does, what the people being observed. In participant N re students do, and the entire pattern of interaction observation, the observer takes some time to between the teacher and the students. Discuss establish a rapport with the group so that they the observations made with other students and start accepting her/him as one of the group teacher. Note the similarities and differences in © e members. However, the degree of involvement observation. of the observer with the group being observed would vary depending upon the focus of the b study. Experimental Method The advantage of the observation method Experiments are generally conducted to o is that it enables the researcher to study establish cause-effect relationship between t people and their behaviour in a naturalistic two sets of events or variables in a controlled situation, as it occurs. However, the setting. It is a carefully regulated procedure t observation method is labour intensive, time in which changes are made in one factor and consuming, and is susceptible to the o its effect is studied on another factor, while observer’s bias. Our observation is influenced keeping other related factors constant. In the by our values and beliefs about the person or n experiment, cause is the event being changed the event. You are familiar with the popular or manipulated. Effect is the behaviour that saying: "We see things as we are and not as changes because of the manipulation. things are". Because of our biases we may interpret things in a different way than what The Concept of Variable the participants may actually mean. Therefore, the observer should record the You read earlier that in the experimental behaviour as it happens and should not method, a researcher attempts to establish interpret the behaviour at the time of causal relationship between two variables. observation itself. What is a variable? Any stimulus or event 29 Chapter 2 Methods of Enquiry in Psychology which varies, that is, it takes on different other. Also, independent variable chosen by values (or changes) and can be measured is a the researcher is not the only variable that variable. An object by itself is not a variable. influences the dependent variable. Any But its attributes are. For example, the pen behavioural event contains many variables. It that you use for writing is NOT a variable. But also takes place within a context. Independent there are varieties of pens available in different and dependent variables are chosen because shapes, sizes, and colour. All of these are of the researcher’s theoretical interest. variables. The room in which you are sitting However, there are many other relevant or is NOT a variable but its size is as there are extraneous variables that influence the rooms of different sizes. The height of the dependent variable, but the researcher may individuals (5' to 6') is another variable. not be interested in examining their effects. d Similarly, people of different races have These extraneous variables need to be different colours. Young people have started controlled in an experiment so that a e dyeing their hair in different colours. Thus, researcher is able to pin-point the cause and colour of hair becomes a variable. Intelligence effect relationship between independent and h is a variable (there are people with varying dependent variables. T s levels of intelligence — high, moderate, low). i The presence or absence of persons in the Experimental and Control Groups R l room is a variable as shown in the experiment Experiments generally involve one or more in Box 2.1. Thus, the variation can be in the b experimental groups and one or more control E quality or quantity of objects/events. groups. An experimental group is a group in Variables are of many types. We will u however focus on independent and dependent which members of the group are exposed to C independent variable manipulation. The p variables. Independent variable is that variable which is manipulated or altered or control group is a comparison group that is N re its strength varied by the researcher in the treated in every way like the experimental experiment. It is the effect of this change in group except that the manipulated variable is the variable which the researcher wants to absent in it. For example, in the study by © e observe or note in the study. In the experiment Latane and Darley, there wer e two conducted by Latane and Darley (Box 2.1), the experimental groups and one control group. researchers wanted to examine the effect of As you may have noted, the participants in b the presence of other persons on reporting of the study were sent to three types of rooms. the smoke. The independent variable was In one room no one was present (control o presence or absence of other persons in the group). In the other two rooms, two persons were already seated (experimental groups). Of t room. The variables on which the effect of independent variable is observed is called the two experimental groups, one group was instructed not to do anything when smoke t dependent variable. Dependent variable represents the phenomenon the researcher filled in the room. The other group was not o desires to explain. It is expected that change given any instructions. After the experimental in the dependent variable will ensue from manipulation had occured the performance n changes in the independent variable. The of the control group measured in terms of frequency of reporting of smoke in the above reporting of smoke was compared with that case was the dependent variable. Thus, the of the experimental group. It was found that independent variable is the cause, and the control group participants reported in dependent variable the ef fect in any maximum numbers about the emergency, experimental situation. followed by the first experimental group One must remember that independent and members where the participants were not dependent variables are interdependent. given any instructions, and the second Neither of them can be defined without the experimental group (consisting of 30 Psychology confederates) reported the emergency Elimination is not always possible. In such situation, the least. cases, effort should be made to hold them It should be noted that in an experiment, constant so that their effect remains the except for the experimental manipulation, same throughout the experiment. other conditions are kept constant for both For controlling organismic (e.g., fear, experimental and control groups. One motivation) and background variables attempts to control all those relevant variables (such as rural/urban, caste, socio- which can influence the dependent variable. economic status) matching is also used. For example, the speed with which smoke In this procedure the relevant variables in started entering the rooms, the total amount the two groups are equated or are held of smoke in the rooms, physical and other constant by taking matched pairs across d conditions of the rooms were similar in case conditions of the experiment. of all the three groups. The distribution of e Counter-balancing technique is used to participants to experimental and control minimise the sequence effect. Suppose groups was done randomly, a method that h there are two tasks to be given in an ensures that each person has an equal chance experiment. Rather than giving the two T s of being included in any of the groups. If in tasks in the same sequence the i one group the experimenter had included only l experimenter may interchange the order R males and in the other group females, the of the tasks. Thus, half of the group may results obtained in the study, could be due to b receive the tasks in the order of A and B E the differences in gender rather than due to experimental manipulation. All relevant while the other half in order of B and A or u variables in experimental studies that might the same individual may be given the task C in A, B, B, A order. p influence the dependent variable need to be controlled. These are of three major types: Random assignment of participants to N re organismic variables (such as anxiety, different groups eliminates any potential intelligence, personality, etc.), situational or systematic differences between groups. environmental variables operating at the time © e The strength of a well-designed experiment of conducting the experiment (such as noise, is that it can provide, relatively speaking, a temperature, humidity), and sequential convincing evidence of a cause-ef fect variables. The sequence related variables b relationship between two or more variables. assume significance when the participants in However, experiments are often conducted in experiments are required to be tested in a highly controlled laboratory situation. In this o several conditions. Exposure to many sense, they only simulate situations that exist t conditions may result in experimental fatigue, in the outside world. They are frequently or practice effects, which may influence the criticised for this reason. The experiments may t results of the study and make the interpretation of the findings difficult. produce results that do not generalise well, o In order to control relevant variables, or apply to real situations. In other words, they experimenters use several control techniques. have low external validity. Another limitation n Some illustrations are given below. of the laboratory experiment is that it is not Since the goal of an experiment is to always feasible to study a particular problem minimise extraneous variables, the best experimentally. For example, an experiment way to handle this problem is to eliminate to study the effect of nutritional deficiency on them from the experimental setting. For intelligence level of children cannot be example, the experiment may be conducted as it would be ethically wrong to conducted in a sound-proof and air- starve anyone. The third problem is that it is conditioned room to eliminate the effect of difficult to know and control all the relevant noise and temperature. variables. 31 Chapter 2 Methods of Enquiry in Psychology Field Experiments and Quasi Experiments the control group children who experienced the earthquake but did not lose their parents. If a researcher wants to have high Thus, a quasi experiment attempts to generalisability or to conduct studies which manipulate an independent variable in a are not possible in laboratory settings, s/he may go to the field or the natural setting where natural setting using naturally occurring the particular phenomenon actually exists. In groups to form experimental and control other words, s/he may conduct a field groups. experiment. For example, a researcher may want to know which method would lead to Correlational Research better learning among students—lecture or In psychological research, we often wish to demonstration method. For this, a researcher determine the relationship between two d may prefer to conduct an experiment in the variables for prediction purposes. For e school. The researcher may select two groups example, you may be interested in knowing of participants; teach one group by whether “the amount of study time” is related h demonstration method and another group by to the “student’s academic achievement”. This the normal teaching method for sometime. S/ question is different from the one which T s he may compare their performance at the end i experimental method seeks to answer in the of the learning session. In such types of l sense that here you do not manipulate the R experiments, the control over relevant amount of study time and examine its impact b variables is less than what we find in on achievement. Rather, you simply find out E laboratory experiments. Also, it is more time- the relationship between the two variables to u consuming and expensive. determine whether they are associated, or C Many variables cannot be manipulated in covary or not. The strength and direction of p the laboratory settings. For example, if you the relationship between the two variables is N re want to study the effect of an earthquake on represented by a number, known as children who lost their parents, you cannot correlation coefficient. Its value can range from create this condition artificially in the +1.0 through 0.0 to –1.0. laboratory. In such situations, the researcher © e As you can see, the coef ficient of adopts the method of quasi (the Latin word correlation is of three types: positive, negative, meaning “as if ”) experimentation. In such and zero. A positive correlation indicates that b types of experiments, the independent variable as the value of one variable (X) increases, the is selected rather than varied or manipulated value of the other variable (Y) will also increase. by the experimenter. For example, in the o Similarly when variable X decreases, a experimental group we can have children who decrease in Y too takes place. Suppose, it is t lost their parents in the earthquake and in found that more time the students spend on studying, the higher was their achievement t Activity 2.2 score. Also the less they studied, the lower o was their achievement score. This type of Identify the independent and dependent variables association will be indicated by a positive n from the given hypotheses. 1. Teachers’ classroom behaviour affects number, and the stronger the association students’ performance. between studying and achievement, the closer 2. Healthy parent-child relationship facilitates the number would be to +1.0. You may find a emotional adjustment of children. correlation of +.85, indicating a strong positive 3. Increase in the level of peer pressure increases association between study time and the level of anxiety. achievement. On the other hand, a negative 4. Enriching the environment of young children with special books and puzzles enhances their correlation tells us that as the value of one performance. variable (X) increases, the value of the other (Y) decreases. For example, you may 32 Psychology hypothesise that as the hours of study time panchayati raj institutions for running increase, the number of hours spent in other programmes related to health, education, activities will decrease. Here, you are expecting sanitation, etc. However, they have now a negative correlation, ranging between 0 and evolved into a sophisticated technique which –1.0. It is also possible that sometimes no helps in inferring various kinds of causal correlation may exist between the two relationships. Box 2.2 provides an example of variables. This is called zero correlation. a study using the survey method. Generally, it is difficult to find zero correlation The survey research uses different but the correlations found may be close to techniques for collecting information. Included zero, e.g., -.02 or +.03. This indicates that no among these techniques are: personal significant relationship exists between two interviews, questionnaires, telephonic surveys, d variables or the two variables are unrelated. and controlled observations. These techniques are discussed here in some detail. e Survey Research Personal Interviews h You may have read in the newspapers or seen on the television that during elections surveys The interview method is one of the most T s are conducted to find out if people would vote frequently used methods for obtaining i for a particular political party, or favour a information from people. It is used in diverse R l particular candidate. Survey research came kinds of situations. It is used by a doctor to b into existence to study opinions, attitudes and obtain information from the patient, an E social facts. Their main concern initially was employer when meeting a pr ospective u to find out the existing reality or baseline. So employee, a sales person interviewing a C they were used to find out facts such as the housewife to know why she uses a certain p literacy rate at a particular time, religious brand of soap. On television, we often see N re affiliations, income level of a particular group media persons interviewing people on issues of people, etc.They were also used to find out of national and international importance. the attitude of people towards family planning, What happens in an interview? We see that the attitude towards giving powers to the two or more persons sit face-to-face with each © e b Box 2.2 Example of Survey Method o In December 2004, a survey was conducted by nor unhappy, and 7 per cent each fell in the last t “Outlook Saptahik” magazine (10 January 2005) two categories, more or less unhappy, and extremely to know what makes the people of India happy. unhappy. The second question (Can you buy t The survey was conducted in eight big cities, happiness with money?) had three alternatives (Yes, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, No, Don’t know). About 80 per cent people expressed o Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Ranchi. that money can’t buy happiness. Another question 817 persons in the age group of 25-55 years tried to know “what gives them maximum n participated in the study. The questionnaire happiness?” More than 50 per cent respondents used in the survey contained different types of reported that peace of mind (52 per cent) and health questions. The first question (Are you happy?) (50 per cent) gave them maximum happiness. This required respondents to give their views on a was followed by responses such as success in work 5-point scale (5=extremely happy, 4=more or less (43 per cent), and family (40 per cent). Another happy, 3=neither happy nor unhappy, 2=more question asked was to know ‘what do they do when or less unhappy, 1=extremely unhappy). About they feel unhappy or sad?” It was reported that 36 47 per cent people reported that they were per cent people opted for listening to music, 23 per extremely happy, 28 per cent were more or less cent found respite in the company of friends, and happy, 11 per cent said they were neither happy 15 per cent went for a movie. 33 Chapter 2 Methods of Enquiry in Psychology other, in which one person (generally called (c) Group to Individuals : It is a situation where interviewer) asks the questions and the other one group of interviewers interview one person (called interviewee or respondent) person. You may experience this type of answers the questions related to a problem. situation when you appear for a job An interview is a purposeful activity conducted interview. to derive factual information, opinions and (d) Group to Group : It is a situation where attitudes, and reasons for particular one group of interviewers interview another behaviour, etc. from the respondents. It is group of interviewees. generally conducted face-to-face but sometimes Interviewing is a skill which requires proper it can also take place over the phone. training. A good interviewer knows how to make There can be two broad types of interviews: the respondent at ease and get the optimal d structured or standardised, and answer. S/he remains sensitive to the way a unstructured or non-standardised. This e person responds and, if needed, probes for distinction is based upon the type of more information. If the respondent gives vague preparation we make before conducting the h answers, the interviewer may try to get specific interview. As we have to ask questions during and concrete answers. T s the interview, it is required that we prepare a The interview method helps in obtaining i list of questions before-hand. The list is called in-depth information. It is flexible and R l an interview schedule. A structured interview adaptable to individual situations, and can is one where the questions in the schedule b often be used when no other method is are written clearly in a particular sequence. E The interviewer has little or no liberty to make possible or adequate. It can be used even with u changes in the wordings of the questions or children, and non-literate persons. An C the order in which they are to be asked. The interviewer can know whether the respondent p responses to these questions are also, in some understands the questions, and can repeat or N re cases, specified in advance. These are called paraphrase questions. However, interviews close-ended questions. In contrast, in an require time. Often getting information from unstructured interview the interviewer has the one person may take an hour or more which © e flexibility to take decisions about the questions may not be cost-effective. to be asked, the wording of the questions, and the sequence in which questions are to be Questionnaire Survey b asked. Since responses are not specified in The questionnaire is the most common, such type of interviews, the respondent can simple, versatile, and low-cost self-report answer the questions in the way s/he chooses o method of collecting information. It consists to. Such questions are called open-ended t of a predetermined set of questions. The questions. For example, if the researcher respondent has to read the questions and wants to know about the happiness level of a t mark the answers on paper rather than person, s/he may ask: How happy are you? respond verbally to the interviewer. They are o The respondent may reply to this question the way s/he chooses to answer. in some ways like highly structured interviews. Questionnaires can be distributed to a group n An interview may have the following combinations of participants in an interview of persons at a time who write down their situation: answers to the questions and return to the (a) Individual to Individual : It is a situation researcher or can be sent through mail. where one interviewer interviews another Generally, two types of questions are used in person. the questionnaire: open-ended and closed- (b) Individual to Group : In this situation, one ended. With open-ended questions, the interviewer interviews a group of persons. respondent is free to write whatever answer One variant of it is called a Focus Group s/he considers appropriate. In the closed- Discussion (FGD). ended type, the questions and their probable 34 Psychology answers are given and the respondent is for conducting surveys. Each method has its required to select the correct answer. own advantages and limitations. The Examples of closed-ended questions require researcher needs to exercise caution in responses like: Yes/No, True/False, Multiple selecting a particular method. choice, or using a rating scale. In case of rating The survey method has several scale, a statement is given and the respondent advantages. First, information can be gathered is asked to give her/his views on a 3-point quickly and efficiently from thousands of (Agree, Undecided, Disagree), or 5-point persons. Second, since surveys can be (Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree, conducted quickly, public opinions on new Strongly Disagree) or 7-point, 9-point, 11- issues can be obtained almost as soon as the point or 13-point scale. In some cases, the issues arise. There are some limitations of a d participants are asked to rank a number of survey too. First, people may give inaccurate things in a preferential order. The information because of memory lapses or they e questionnaire is used for collecting may not want to let the researcher know what background and demographic information, h they really believe about a particular issue. information about past behaviour, attitudes Second, people sometimes offer responses they T s and opinions, knowledge about a particular think the researcher wants to hear. i topic, and expectations and aspirations of the R l persons. Sometimes a survey is conducted by Psychological Testing sending the questionnaire by mail. The main b Assessment of individual differences has E problem of a mailed questionnaire is poor response from the respondents. remained one of the important concerns of u psychology fr om the very beginning. C Activity 2.3 Psychologists have constructed different types p of tests for assessment of various human N re An investigator wants to study people’s attitude characteristics, such as intelligence, aptitude, towards welfare programmes by circulating a personality, interest, attitudes, values, questionnaire via the Internet. Is this study likely educational achievement, etc. These tests are © e to reflect the views of the general population used for various purposes, such as personnel accurately? Why or why not? selection, placement, training, guidance, diagnosis, etc., in multiple contexts including b Telephone Survey educational institutions, guidance clinics, industries, defence establishments, and so o Surveys are also conducted through forth. Have you ever taken a psychological t telephone, and now-a-days you must have test? If you have, you might have seen that a seen programmes asking you to send your test contains a number of questions, called t views through mobile phones’ SMS. The items, with their probable responses, which telephone survey helps in reducing time. ar e related to a particular human o However, since the respondents do not know characteristic or attribute. It is important here the interviewer, the technique is fraught with that the characteristic for which a test has n uncooperativeness, reluctance, and superficial been developed, should be defined clearly and answers by the respondents. There is also a unambiguously, and all items (questions) possibility that those responding may differ should be related to that characteristic only. from those not responding, e.g., on age, You might also notice that often a test is meant gender, income levels, education levels, etc., for a particular age group. It may or may not besides their psychological characteristics. have a fixed time limit for answering the This will lead to very biased kinds of results. questions. The method of observation have been Technically speaking, a psychological test discussed earlier. This method is also used is a standardised and objective instrument 35 Chapter 2 Methods of Enquiry in Psychology which is used to assess an individual’s is divided into two equal halves employing odd- standing in relation to others on some mental even method (items 1,3,5,— in one group and or behavioural characteristics. Two things are items 2,4,6,— in another group) and worth noting in this definition: objectivity and correlation is computed between the scores standardisation. Objectivity refers to the fact of odd and even items. that if two or more researchers administer a For a test to be usable, it should also be psychological test on the same group of people, valid. Validity refers to the question : “Does both of them would come up with more or the test measure what it claims to measure”? less the same values for each person in the For example, if you have constructed a test of group. In order for a psychological test to mathematics achievement, whether the test become an objective measure, it is essential is measuring mathematical achievement or d that items should be worded in such a manner for example, language proficiency. that they communicate the same meaning to Finally, a test becomes a standardised test e different readers. Also, the instructions to the when norms are developed for the test. As test takers about how to answer the test items mentioned earlier, norm is the normal or h should be specified in advance. The procedure average performance of the group. The test is T s of administering the test such as administered on a large number of students. i environmental conditions, time limit, mode of Their average performance standards are set R l administration (individual or group) should be based on their age, sex, place of residence, spelt, and the procedure for scoring of the etc. This helps us in comparing the E b participants’ responses need to be described. performance of an individual student with The construction of a test is a systematic u others of the same group. It also helps in process and involves certain steps. It involves C interpreting individuals’ score obtained on a p detailed analysis of items, and estimating test. reliability, validity, and norms of the whole N re test. Types of Tests Reliability of the test refers to the consistency of scores obtained by an individual Psychological tests are classified on the basis © e on the same test on two different occasions. of their language, mode of administration, and For example, you administer the test to a difficulty level. Depending upon the language, group of students today and re-administer it we have verbal, non-verbal, and performance b on the same set of students after some time, tests. Literacy is required for taking verbal let us say 20 days. If the test is reliable, there tests as the items have to be written in some o should not be any variation in the scores language. In non-verbal tests, items are made t obtained by the students on the two occasions. of symbols or pictures. Performance tests For this, we can compute test-retest require movement of objects from their t reliability, which indicates the temporal respective places in a particular order. stability (or stability of the test scores over Depending upon the mode of o time). It is computed by finding out co-efficient administration, psychological tests are divided of correlation between the two sets of scores into individual or group tests. An individual n on the same set of persons. Another kind of test is administered by the researcher to one test reliability is called split-half reliability. It person at a time, while group tests can be gives an indication about the degree of internal administered to large number of persons at consistency of the test. This is based on the the same time. In individual tests, the assumption that items of a test if they are from researcher administers the test face to face the same domain should correlate with each and remains seated before the test taker and other. If they are from different domains, e.g., notes down the responses. In the group test, are apples and oranges, then they would not. the instructions about answering the items, For finding out internal consistency, the test etc., are written on the test, which the test 36 Psychology taker reads and answers the questions with infor mation about a person’s accordingly. The test administrator explains background, interests, and past performance. the instructions to the entire group. Individual tests are time consuming, but are important Case Study ways of getting responses from children, and In this method, the emphasis is given on in- from those who do not know the language. depth study of a particular case. Researchers Group tests are easy to administer and are focus on cases which can provide critical also less time consuming. However, the responses are fraught with certain limitations. infor mation or new lear ning on less The respondent may not be motivated enough understood phenomena. The case can be an to answer the questions and may give fake individual with distinguishing characteristics (for example, a patient showing psychological d responses. Psychological tests are also classified into disorders) or a small group of individuals e speed and power tests. In a speed test, there having some commonality among them (for is a time limit within which the test taker is example, creative writers like Rabindra Nath h required to answer all the items. Such a test Tagore, and Mahadevi Verma), institutions (for example, poorly or successfully functioning T s evaluates the individual on the basis of time i taken to answer the items accurately. In a school or a corporate office), and specific l events (for example, children exposed to R speed test, all the items are of the same degree of difficulty. On the other hand, power test devastation by tsunami, war or vehicular b assesses the underlying ability (or power) of pollution, etc.). The cases that we select for E the individuals by allowing them sufficient study are unique and, therefore, are rich in u time, i.e. these tests do not have any time limit. information. A case study employs multiple C In a power test, the items are generally methods for collecting information, such as p arranged in an increasing order of difficulty. interview, observation, and psychological tests N re If a person, for example, is unable to solve the from a variety of respondents who in some 6th item, s/he will have difficulty in answering way or the other might be associated with the the subsequent items. It is, however, difficult case and can provide useful information. With © e to construct a pure speed or power test. the help of case studies, psychologists have Majority of the tests are a combination of both done research to understand feelings, speed and power. fantasies, hopes, fears, traumatic experiences, b While tests are often used in research and parental upbringing and so on, that helps to for making decisions about people, tests must understand a person’s mind and behaviour. o be selected and used with great care. The test Case studies provide a narrative or detailed t user or the decision maker should not rely on descriptions of the events that take place in a any single test. Test data should be combined person’s life. t A case study is a valuable research tool in Activity 2.4 the field of clinical psychology and human o development. Freud’s insights that led to the Take a test with its manual and read it carefully, development of psychoanalytic theory emerged n and identify the following : from his observations and showed that Number and type of items Information about reliability, validity, and meticulous records must be maintained on norms individual cases. Similarly, Piaget developed Type of test: verbal or otherwise, individual his theory of cognitive development on the or groups basis of observations of his three children. Type of test: Speed, power, or mixed Case studies have been conducted to Any other characteristics understand the pattern of socialisation of Discuss these with other students and the teacher. children. For example, Minturn and Hitchcock conducted a case study of socialisation of 37 Chapter 2 Methods of Enquiry in Psychology children among Rajputs of Khalapur. data. We generally use two methodological S. Anandalakshmy studied aspects of approaches for the analysis of data. These are: childhood in a weavers’ community in Varanasi. quantitative and qualitative methods. In this Case studies provide detailed in-depth section, we will briefly discuss these depictions of people’s lives. However, while approaches. generalising on the basis of individual cases one needs to be very cautious. The problem of Quantitative Method validity in a single case study is quite challenging. It is recommended that the As you may have gathered by now, information should be collected using multiple psychological tests, questionnaires, structured strategies from different sources of information interviews, etc. contain a series of close-ended d by a number of investigators. Careful planning questions. That is, the questions and their of data collection is also very necessary. probable responses are given in these e Throughout the process of data collection the measures. Generally, these responses are researcher is required to maintain a chain of given in scaled forms. That is, they indicate h evidence for linking various data sources the strength and magnitude of the response. T s having bearing on the research questions. For example, they may vary from 1 (low) to 5, i As you have read, each method has its own 7 or 11 (high). The participants’ task is to select R l limitations and advantages. Therefore, it is the most appropriate response. Sometimes desirable that the researcher should not there are right and wrong responses. A E b depend upon only one method. A combination researcher assigns a number to each answer of two or more methods should be used to get (normally “1” for right answers, and “0” for u the real picture. If the methods converge, i.e. wrong answers). At the end, the researcher C calculates the total of all these numbers and p they give the same results, one can certainly be more confident. arrives at an aggregate score, which tells about N re the participants’ level on that particular Activity 2.5 attribute (for example, intelligence, academic intelligence, etc.). In doing so, the researcher © e Identify the most appropriate method of enquiry converts the psychological attributes into a for the following research problems. quantity (usually numbers). Does noise influence the problem solving For the purpose of drawing conclusions, b ability of the people? a researcher may compare individual’s score Should there be a dress code for college with that of the group, or compare the scores students? o Studying the attitude of students, teachers, of two groups. This requires use of certain t and parents towards homework. statistical methods about which you will study Studying the behaviour of a student in a later. You have already read in mathematics t playgroup and in a classroom. in Class X about the methods of central Tracing the major life events of your favourite tendency (mean, median, and mode), methods o leader. of variability (range, quartile deviation, Assessing the anxiety level of Class XI standard deviation), co-efficients of n students of your school. correlation, and so forth. These and some other advanced statistical methods enable a researcher to make inferences and to give ANALYSIS OF DATA meaning to the data. In the earlier section, we discussed different Qualitative Method methods for collecting information. After data are collected, the next job of the researcher is Human experiences are very complex. This to draw conclusions. This requires analysis of complexity is lost when one elicits information 38 Psychology from a respondent on the basis of a question. decide a point as zero point and proceed If you want to know how a mother feels about further. As a result, whatever scores we the loss of her child, you will need to hear her get in psychological studies, are not story to understand how her experience is absolute in nature; rather, they have organised and what meaning she has given to relative value. her suffering. Any attempt at its quantification In some of the studies ranks are used will not enable you to get at the principles of as scores. For example, on the basis of organising such experiences. Psychologists marks obtained in some test, the teacher have developed various qualitative methods arranges the students in an order — 1, 2, to analyse such data. One of them is Narrative 3, 4, … , and so on. The problem in such Analysis. Also data are not always available type of assessment is that the difference d in the form of scores. When the researcher between first and second rank holders may uses the method of participant observation or not be the same as is the difference e unstructured interview, the data are generally between the second and third rank holders. Out of 50, the first rank holder h in a descriptive form—in participants’ own words, field notes taken by the researchers, might score 48, the second 47, and the T s photographs, interview responses noted by the third 40. As you can see, the difference i researcher or taped/video-recorded, informal between the first and the second rank R l talks, etc. These type of data cannot be holders is not the same as is the case between second and third rank holders. b converted into scores or subjected to statistical E analysis. Rather, the researcher uses the This also illustrates the relative nature of the psychological measurement. u technique of content analysis to find out C thematic categories and build those categories 2. Relative Nature of Psychological Tools : p taking examples from the data. It is more Psychological tests are developed keeping N re descriptive in nature. in view the salient features of a particular It must be understood that quantitative context. For example, a test developed for and qualitative methods are not contradictory; urban students may contain items that © e rather, they are complementary to each other. demand familiarity with the stimuli In order to understand a phenomenon in its available in the urban setting— totality, a suitable combination of both multistoried buildings, airplanes, metro b methods is warranted. railway, etc. Such a test is not suitable for use with children living in tribal areas who would be more at ease with items that o LIMITATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ENQUIRY describe their flora and fauna. Similarly, t The advantages and limitations of each