Narrative Analysis PDF

# 9. Narrative... ## Narrative Analysis - Our lives are lived through stories. - We are born into a storied world and we live our lives through the creation and exchange of stories. - We actively construct the world through narratives and we live our lives through the narratives told by ourselves...

# 9. Narrative... ## Narrative Analysis - Our lives are lived through stories. - We are born into a storied world and we live our lives through the creation and exchange of stories. - We actively construct the world through narratives and we live our lives through the narratives told by ourselves and by others. - Our narratives show our everyday thinking. - The challenge is to understand this everyday form of thinking. - Narratives bring order. - We need to create narratives to bring order and meaning to the constantly changing flux of life. - It is particularly pronounced in our attempts to restore order in our lives during disruptions. - Narrative provides structure to our sense of self, our identity. - We create a narrative identity in the stories we tell about ourselves. - Narrative is central to our self-definition as we arrange the episodes of our lives into stories, creating coherence in our experiences. ## What is a narrative? - **A narrative can be defined as an organized interpretation of a sequence of events.** This involves attributing agency to the characters in the narrative and inferring causal links between the events. In the classic formulation, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. ### Its elements include - Narrative Structure - Narrative Tone - Narrative Themes - Images - Metaphors - Beliefs - Values - Other elements ## What is a narrative? - **Its structure could be a Progressive Movement**, which is towards a goal (optimistic tone); **Regressive**, in which the reverse occurs (pessimistic tone); **or Stable**, where there is little change (objective tone). - **Its tone could be Optimistic**, which views that good things happen and if bad things happen, one remains hopeful that things will improve. - **Pessimistic tone** views that bad things happen, and sometimes good things are perceived in a negative light. - **Its tone could also be in the form of romance, comedy, tragedy, or satire.** - **A narrative theme, on the other hand, is the recurrent pattern of human intention** - It asks, what has been a key motivation for the person? What has been of particular importance? What is the focus of the story? - For McAdams (1993), the central theme in life stories are agency (autonomy of self) and communion (relationship with others). # Collecting Narratives - **Life Story Interview** - Asking the participant to tell their life story or to provide an extended account of their lives. - **Episodic Interview** - Asking the participant to tell stories about particular experiences of change or disruptive episodes in their lives. - **McAdams Interview Protocol**: Life Chapters, Key Events (Specific Experiences or Important Memories), Significant People, Future Chapters, Tensions & Conflicts Personal Ideology, Life Theme # Narrative Analysis Process ## Phase 1 - Thorough reading of the narrative. - Familiarize oneself with the structure and content of the narrative account. ## Phase 2 - Make a summary of the narrative. - Identify the key features of the narrative, such as the beginning, the middle, and the end. - Highlight key issues in the text. - Make connections across parts of the text. ## Phase 3: Interpret the narrative. - **Structure & Tone** - Analyze the structure by identifying the major parts of the narrative and how they are connected. - Analyze the tone by identifying the overall emotion conveyed by the narrative. - **Issues or Focal Themes** - While several major themes may be found, identify the core narrative; a theme that is vivid, permeating the entire text and is meaningful. This could be the focal theme or the "foci" of the entire story - **Other Elements** - Other narrative elements may be analyzed such as the images and metaphors used, the underlying beliefs and values, and the personal and social contexts of the narrative. # 8. Ethnogra... ## Ethnography - The term ethnography literally means a description of peoples or cultures. - It has its origins as a research strategy in the works of the early social anthropologists, whose aim was to provide a detailed permanent account of the cultures and lives of small, isolated tribes. - Such tribes were seen, with some justification, as 'endangered species', and the social anthropologists saw the need to map out those cultures before they became contaminated by contact with the industrial world or withered away to extinction. - As a topic, ethnography refers to the study of cultures and groups - their lifestyle, understandings, and beliefs. - In doing so, ethnography tends to emphasize the importance of understanding things from the point of view of those involved. ## CHARACTERISTICS OF ETHNOGRAPHY - It requires the researcher to spend considerable time in the field among the people whose lives and culture are being studied. - Routine and normal aspects of everyday life are regarded as worthy of consideration as research data. - An ethnographer is generally concerned to find out how the members of the group/ culture being studied understand things, the meanings they attach to happenings, the way they perceive their reality. - Ethnography generally prefers a holistic approach which stresses processes, relationships, connections, and interdependency among the component parts. - An ethnographer's final account of the culture or group being studied is more than just a description - it is a construction. ## Characteristics of Ethnography - A life history approach involves the in-depth study of individuals, social groups or communities. - Mainly, it has come to be associated with the study of individuals. - The aim of the approach is to portray the lives of specific people, to map how their experiences change over time, and to link these experiences with the cultural, social or historical context in which they occur. - Life histories can be phenomenological in their approach, treating the core of the research as an attempt to provide an insider's view of life in relation to a particular culture or a particular time in history. - Contrasting slightly with this, some life histories are used descriptively, their main aim being to use the personal biography as a means to reveal new things about the cultural, historical and social circumstances within which the person lives or lived. ## Characteristics of Ethnography - Other researchers approach life histories in a more analytic fashion. - They are more inclined to treat the life history as something that should be interpreted in terms of the wider social structure within which it occurs. - Despite these differences in emphasis, what life histories share is an approach that uses the in-depth study of an individual’s life in order to get a grasp on their experiences and thinking in a way that links these to the cultural, social and historical circumstances in which they occur. - Life histories generally make use of in-depth interviews to collect the data. - They can also make use of secondary source data such as public archive material, private archive material, diaries, letters, and other forms of documentary data to build the life history. - As with most ethnographic research, a distinctive feature of the data collection is that it takes place over a relatively long period and a life history is not something that can be completed quickly. ## Characteristics of ethnography - A challenge to the idiographic stance within ethnography comes from those who question the value of producing numerous stand-alone descriptions if there is no attempt to derive something from them which goes beyond the specifics of the situation and which can, in some way or other, link to broader issues. - If each ethnographic study produces a one-off, isolated piece of information, these pieces cannot contribute to the building up of any generalised knowledge about human societies, it is alleged. - They take the position that ethnographic research should be nomothetic undertaken quite deliberately to develop more generalised and 'theoretical' conclusions which will apply outside the confines of the individual ethnographic study. - Some researchers would go still further. They would argue that the purpose of ethnographic research should be to shed some light on an area of life whose significance depends on a theory; to elaborate on a theory or even check on whether the theory really does hold true and explain things as they happen in ‘real life’ ## Characteristics of Ethnography - At one end of the spectrum there are those who regard the main purpose of ethnography as providing rich and detailed descriptions of real-life situations as they really are. (Idiographic, realist) - At the other end of the spectrum there are those who see the role of ethnographic fieldwork as a test-bed for theories a means of developing theories by checking them out in small-scale scenarios. (Nomothetic, relativist) - Somewhere towards the middle of the spectrum lies the pragmatic view that "idiographic" and "nomothetic" approaches are not mutually exclusive, and that we can have both rich and intensive description and generalizability (Woods 1979: 268). - Advocates of the middle position are keen to hold on to the idiographic aspect of ethnographic research in as much as it provides a valuable and distinct kind of data the detailed descriptions of specifics based on first-hand observation in naturally occurring situations. - But they also recognise the need for conclusions to be drawn from the research which have implications beyond the bounds of the particular events, customs, or people studied. ## Steps in Ethnography - Identify Research Question- The problem or question may be about nearly any topic that addresses people in a designated environment. You may be wishing to better understand things like culture, relationships, interactions, processes, or anything else that affect how people think and/or behave. - Determine Locations(s) for Research- Select a location that will provide the best opportunity to observe, participate, take field notes, and understand how the people in that environment act, communicate, and think. - Formulate Presentation Method- Consider the most effect way(s) to obtain objective information. Recognize that if others know you are a researcher, they may act and respond differently. If they don't know, on the other hand, consider the most ethical way to observe and collect data. - Acquire Permissions and Access- Because ethnographic research can be a bit intrusive, it's usually necessary to obtain permission for access into the location you plan to research. Always obtain permission in writing. Let decision-makers know what your observational methods will be, how you plan to participate, how the information you collect will be used, and so forth. - Observe and Participate- Ethnography requires more than just observation. To research effectively, you will want to participate in the organization you are researching in some capacity. Determine the types of things you are looking for in regards to your question and problem and determine the most effective ways to collect notes. - Interview- You may do these interviews immediately after witnessing something. Know who to interview. - Collect Archival Data- Review things like papers, emails, physical artifacts, phone conversations, marketing collateral, websites, and other information-rich sources to enhance your understanding of the environment. - Code and Analyze Data - Code your data in a way that makes the most sense for your observations. Consider the following methods for analyzing and summarizing data: code and label things you saw and heard; sort for patterns; identify outliers; compare with theories; take note of reflective remarks. ## Advantages of Ethnography - Direct observation - Empirical - Links with theory - Detailed data - Holistic - Contrast and comparison - Actors’ perceptions - Self-awareness - Ecological validity ## Disadvantages of Ethnography - Tensions within the approach - Stand-alone descriptions - Story-telling - Reliability - Ethics - Access - Insider knowledge - Lengthy Process - Resources: - Denscombe, M. (2014). The good research guide: For small-scale social research projects (5. ed). Open University Press. - Howell, D. C. (2009). Statistical methods for Psychology. Cengage Learning. - Newbold, C. (2018). HOW TO DO ETHNOGRAPHY RESEARCH. https://thevisualcommunicationguv.com/2018/01/30/how-to-do-ethnography-research/ # 8. Ethnogra... ## Action Research - Action research is normally associated with 'hands-on', small-scale research projects. - In these areas, it has a particular niche among professionals who want to use research to improve their practices. - Action research, from the start, was involved with practical issues — the kind of issues and problems, concerns, and needs that arose as a routine part of activity 'in the real world'. - It is committed to a process of research in which the application of findings and an evaluation of their impact on practice become part of a cycle of research. ## General Characteristics of Action Research - **Practical nature** - It is aimed at dealing with real-world problems and issues, typically at work and in organizational settings. - **Change**- Both as a way of dealing with practical problems and as a means of discovering more about phenomena, change is regarded as an integral part of research. - **Cyclical process**- Research involves a feedback loop in which initial findings generate possibilities for change which are then implemented and evaluated as a prelude to further investigation. - **Participation**- Practitioners are the crucial people in the research process. Their participation is active, not passive. ## Action Research - Action research quite clearly is a strategy for social research rather than a specific method. It is concerned with the aims of research and the design of the research, but does not specify any constraints when it comes to the means for data collection that might be adopted by the action researcher. - Clearly, if the processes of research and action are integrated, then action research must involve ‘the practitioner’ very closely. And this provides a further meaning which can be added to the practical nature of action research: practitioner research. - Action research is wedded to the idea that change is good. Change, in this sense, is regarded as a valuable enhancer of knowledge in its own right, rather than something that is undertaken after the results of the research have been obtained. But, of course, the scale and the scope of changes introduced through action research will not be grand. ## Action Research - The scale of the research is constrained by the need for the action researchers to focus on aspects of their own practice as they engage in that practice. So change as envisaged by action research is not likely to be a wide-scale major alteration to an organization. - One of the most common kinds of change involved in action research is at the level of professional self-development. It is in keeping with the notion of professional self-development that a person should want to improve practices and that this should involve a continual quest for ways in which to change practice for the better. - It is important to recognize that reflection may be of itself insufficient to make the professional’s endeavor ‘action research’. The reflection needs to be systematic if it is to qualify as action research. Merely thinking about your own practice — though possibly a valuable basis for improving practice — is not the same as researching that action. ## Action Research - The crucial points about the cycle of enquiry in action research are that research feeds back directly into practice; and that the process is ongoing. - The critical reflection of the practitioner is not only directed to the identification of ‘problems’ worthy of investigation with a view to improving practice, but can also involve an evaluation of changes just instigated, which can, in their own right, prompt further research. - It is fair to point out, however, that this is something of an ideal and that, in reality, action research often limits itself to discrete, one-off pieces of research. - The participatory nature of action research is probably its most distinctive feature, since, in some ways, it goes straight to the heart of conventions associated with formal social research. ## FIGURE 7.1 The cyclical process in action research - **1 Professional practice** - Instigate 5 Action Change - **2 Critical reflection- Identify problem or evaluate changes** - **3 Research- Systematic and rigorous enquiry** - **4 Strategic planning -Translate findings into action plan** ## ACRCATVity and Ociicializarinity IT ALLIOTT Researc - Practitioners who engage in action research have a privileged insight into the way things operate in their particular ‘work-sites’. They have ‘insider knowledge’. This can be a genuine bonus for research. However, it can also pose problems. - The outsider — ‘the stranger’ — might be better placed to see the kind of thing which, to the insider, # 8. Ethnogra...is too mundane, too obvious, to register as an important factor. Because the practitioner cannot escape the web of meanings that the ‘insider’ knows, he or she is constrained by the web of meanings. - The outsider ‘expert’ may not have the ‘right’ answer, but can possibly offer an alternative perspective which can help the practitioner to gain new insights into the nature of the practical problem. - Given the constraints on the scope of action research projects, it might be argued that their findings will rarely contribute to broader insights. ## LETICS IN ACTION Restalcli Action researchers should respect the rights and sensitivities of colleagues and clients who become involved in the research. In practice, as Winter (1996: 17) suggests, this means: - Permission must be obtained before making observations or examining documents produced for other purposes. - The researcher must accept responsibility for maintaining confidentiality. - The development of the work must remain visible and open to suggestions from others. - Description of others’ work and points of view must be Negotiated with those concerned before being published. ## Advantages of Action Research - Participation. It involves participation in the research for practitioners. This can democratize the research process, depending on the nature of the partnership, and generally involves a greater appreciation of, and respect for, practitioner knowledge. - Professional development. It has personal benefits for the practitioner, as it contributes to professional self-development. - Practical. It addresses practical problems in a positive way, feeding the results of research directly back into practice. In the words of Somekh (1995: 340), ‘It directly addresses the knotty problem of the persistent failure of research in the social sciences to make a difference in terms of bringing about actual improvements in practice.’ - Continuous. It should entail a continuous cycle of development and change via on-site research in the workplace, which has benefits for the organization to the extent that it is geared to improving practice and resolving problems. - **Scope and scale**. The necessary involvement of the practitioner limits the scope and scale of research. The ‘work-site’ approach affects the representativeness of the findings and the extent to which generalizations can be made on the basis of the results. - **Control**. The integration of research with practice limits the feasibility of exercising controls over factors of relevance to the research. The setting for the research generally does not allow for the variables to be manipulated or for controls to be put in place, because the research is conducted not alongside routine activity but actually as part of that activity. - **Ownership**. The research process becomes contestable within the framework of the partnership relationship between practitioner and researcher. - **Work load**. Action research tends to involve an extra burden of work for the practitioners, particularly at the early stages before any benefits feed back into improved effectiveness. - **Impartiality**. The action researcher is unlikely to be detached and impartial in his or her approach to the research. In this respect, action research stands in marked contrast to positivistic approaches. It is clearly geared to resolving problems which confront people in their routine, everyday (work) activity, and these people therefore have a vested interest in the findings. They cannot be entirely detached or impartial in accord with the classic image of science. - **Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.** - **Denscombe, M. (2014). The good research guide: For small-scale social research projects (5. ed). Open University Press.** - **McAdams D (1993) The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. New York: Guilford Press.** - **Murray, M. (2000). Levels of narrative analysis in health psychology. Journal of Health Psychology, 5(3), 337-347. doi: 10.1177/135910530000500305** - **Murray M (2003) Narrative psychology. In: Smith J (ed.) Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods. London: SAGE, pp. 111-131.** - **Price, P., Jhangiani, R., & Chiang, I. (2015). Research Methods of Psychology - 2nd Canadian Edition. Victoria, B.C.: BCcampus. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/.** - **Sarbin T (1986) Narrative Psychology: The Storied Nature of Human Conduct. New York: Praeger.** - **Ussher, J., & Perz, J. (2014). Discourse Analysis. Exploring Social Worlds. Retrieved: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269575969_Discourse_Analysis/citations** - **Willig, C. (2021). Introducing qualitative research in Psychology.** # Grounded Theory - It is an approach dedicated to generating theories. In this sense it contrasts with approaches concerned with testing theories, and is different from research whose main purpose is to provide descriptive accounts of the subject matter. - It is an approach that emphasizes the importance of empirical fieldwork and the need to link any explanations very closely to what happens in practical situations in ‘the real world’. It is different, here, from approaches based on ‘armchair theorizing’ or explanations that are thought up in the abstract as a neat system of ideas, and then afterwards checked to see if they work in reality. - Grounded theory acknowledges its pragmatist philosophical heritage in insisting that a good theory is one that will be practically useful in the course of daily events, not only to the social scientists, but also to laymen. In a sense, a test of a good theory is whether or not it works ‘on the ground’ (Locke 2001: 59) ## Grounded Theory - **Theories should be ‘grounded’ in empirical research.** - **Theories should be generated by a systematic analysis of the data** - **The selection of instances to be included in the research reflects the developing nature of the theory and cannot be predicted at the start.** - **Researchers should start out with an ‘open mind’** - **Theories should be useful at a practical level and meaningful to those ‘on the ground’** - **There is not a particular method of data collection that is naimed to be unique to grounded theory.** ## Grounded Theory - The grounded theory approach does not purport to be the only proper way of conducting social research. It is but one approach among many. What it does claim, however, is that it offers an approach that is well suited to the needs of four kinds of research: - qualitative research - exploratory research - studies of human interaction - small-scale research. ## Initial ideas and concepts: the starting point - The approach expects the researcher to start research without any fixed ideas about the nature of the setting that is about to be investigated. The aim is to approach things 'with an open mind'. - This could imply that the researcher should approach the topic without being influenced by previous theories or other research relating to the area. Even a literature review on the subject might be prohibited. In practice, however, the adoption of a grounded theory approach has not actually involved such extremes and, indeed, it is quite clear in some of the writings of the originators of grounded theory that the extreme interpretation was not what they intended to mean. - The crucial point is that, whatever the source of ‘what we already know about the topic’, the existing knowledge and concepts are to be treated as ‘provisional’ and open to question. They are not fixed, they are not necessarily right. They are simply a tentative starting point from which to launch the investigation. ## Initial sites for fieldwork - Researchers who adopt the grounded theory approach need to start their investigation by concentrating on a particular situation, event or group. At the beginning, all that is required is that this site is ‘relevant’. - The criterion of ‘relevance’ means that the grounded theory approach takes a distinct position in its choice of the initial site for fieldwork. It differs from the case study approach in the sense that there is no need for researchers using the grounded theory approach to get overly concerned about locating their initial fieldwork in a setting that can be demonstrated as being ‘representative’, ‘typical’ or ‘extreme’ types. ## Subsequent sites for fieldwork: theoretical sampling - This form of sampling is a distinctive feature of the grounded theory approach and it involves three key features: - Sites to be included in the research are deliberately selected by the researcher for what they can contribute to the research. - Sites are selected because of their relevance to emerging categories and concepts. They are chosen to allow comparisons and contrast with previous sites and they allow the researcher to test out emerging concepts and verify the developing theory as the research goes along. - Researchers following the principles of grounded theory will not want to, or be able to, specify at the outset exactly what the sample will include. They will not be able to state exactly how large the sample will be nor exactly what sites (events or whatever) will be included because the sample emerges, reflecting the pursuit of generating theory. The process of research will involve the continued selection of units until the research arrives at the point of ‘theoretical saturation’ (see below). ## Analyzing the data - Analysis involves the separation of things into their component parts. More specifically, it involves the study of complex things in order to identify their basic elements. It calls on the researcher to discover the key components or general principles underlying a particular phenomenon so that these can be used to provide a clearer scrutiny of the data. - Careful scrutiny of the data (for example, an interview transcript) will allow the researcher to see that certain bits of the data have something in common. - Unlike codes used with quantitative data, in grounded theory, the codes are open to change and refinement as research progresses. Initially, the codes will be fairly descriptive and are likely to involve labelling chunks of data in terms of their content. ## Analyzing the data - **Coding in Grounded Theory** - **Open Coding**- Initially, the codes will be fairly descriptive and are likely to involve labelling chunks of data in terms of their content. - **Axial Coding**- look for relationships between the codes - links and associations that allow certain codes to be subsumed under broader headings and certain codes to be seen as more crucial than others. - **Selective Coding**- the researcher should be in a position to focus attention on just the key components, the most significant categories, and concentrate his or her efforts on these. - The aim of this process is to arrive at concepts that help to explain the phenomenon — basic ideas that encapsulate the way that the categories relate to each other in a single notion. These concepts then form the cornerstone for the generation of theories that provide an account of things and, in some sense or other, explain why things happen as they do. ## Analyzing the data - **Constant comparative method** - highlighting the similarities and differences that exist (promoting better categories and descriptions); - allowing researchers to integrate categories and codes under common headings (facilitating the reduction of complex phenomena to simpler elements); - allowing researchers to check out their developing theories as they emerge (incorporating a way to verify them or refute them at the stage of production rather than after the event). ## Completing the research (theoretical saturation) - Whereas survey researchers using quantitative data will know at the start how many items are to be collected, and will be able to plan the duration of the research project around this, those who opt for a grounded theory approach face the uncomfortable prospect of not knowing in advance how long the research will take or how much data they will need to collect. In principle, they will be expected to continue theoretical sampling to test and validate the developing codes, categories and concepts until reaching the point of theoretical saturation. - This point cannot be predicted accurately at the start of the research but the researcher will recognize when he or she has arrived there because, at this point, the collection of further bits of data ceases to contribute anything new to the properties of the codes, categories and concepts being developed. Additional field research will tend to confirm the concepts, codes, and categories that have been developed to date — serving only to confirm and verify the theory, not to refine it. - **Suited to small-scale research** - **Recognized rationale for qualitative research** - **Adaptable and Pragmatic** - **Systematic Way of Analyzing Qualitative Data** - **Data analysis can draw on computer software** - **Theory development** - **Explanations are grounded in reality** ## Disadvantages of Grounded Theory - Planning - Context - Open-mindedness - Complexity - Positivism - Empiricism - Generalizations - **Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.** - **Denscombe, M. (2014). The good research guide: For small-scale social research projects (5. ed). Open University Press.** - **McAdams D (1993) The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. New York: Guilford Press.** - **Murray, M. (2000). Levels of narrative analysis in health psychology. Journal of Health Psychology, 5(3), 337-347. doi: 10.1177/135910530000500305** - **Murray M (2003) Narrative psychology. In: Smith J (ed.) Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods. London: SAGE, pp. 111-131.** - **Price, P., Jhangiani, R., & Chiang, I. (2015). Research Methods of Psychology - 2nd Canadian Edition. Victoria, B.C.: BCcampus. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/.** - **Sarbin T (1986) Narrative Psychology: The Storied Nature of Human Conduct. New York: Praeger.** - **Ussher, J., & Perz, J. (2014). Discourse Analysis. Exploring Social Worlds. Retrieved: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269575969_Discourse_Analysis/citations** - **Willig, C. (2021). Introducing qualitative research in Psychology.** # 9. Experiment - An experiment is an empirical investigation under controlled conditions designed to examine the properties of, and relationship between, specific factors. It is the bedrock of research in the physical sciences and is regarded by many social researchers as a model of good practice. - The idea of an experiment tends to be linked with white-coated scientists working in a laboratory, possibly with the use of highly sophisticated equipment to measure things with extreme precision. But it isn't always the case in the social sciences. - The point of conducting an experiment is to isolate individual factors and observe their effect in detail. The purpose is to discover new relationships or properties associated with the materials being investigated, or to test existing theories. ## Three things lie at the heart of conducting an experiment: - **The identification of causal factors.** The introduction or exclusion of factors to or from the situation enables the researcher to pinpoint which factor actually causes the outcome to occur. - **Controls.** Experiments involve the manipulation of key variables. The researcher needs to identify factors that are significant and then introduce them to or exclude them from the situation so that their effect can be observed. - **Empirical observation and measurement.** Experiments rely on detailed empirical observation of changes that occur following the introduction of potentially relevant factors. They also involve the precise measurement of the changes that are observed. ## Control of Variables - When conducting an experiment the aim is to show that the dependent factor (DV) responds to changes in the independent factor (IV). To do this, the researcher needs to be sure it was definitely the IV that was responsible for the observed outcome in the DV and not some other factor that actually caused it. - This requires the experimenter to control variables. There are a number of ways in which experiments can be designed to achieve this each of which involves the use of controls: - Introduce a new factor and standardize the procedures. - Eliminate another factor from the experiment. - Hold the factors constant through exclusion/inclusion criteria. ## The Observer Effect - People are likely to alter their behavior when they become aware that they are being observed. Unlike atoms, people can become aware of being studied conscious of it — and then react in a way that is not usual. They can be embarrassed or disguise their normal practice/be defensive. - To overcome the effect, researchers are generally advised to spend time on site, so that the researcher becomes ‘part of the furniture’ and have minimal interaction with those being observed. ## Laboratory Experiments - The use of controls, the search for causes, and the emphasis on detailed observation and measurement are seen in their most extreme form in ‘laboratory experiments’. They are: - of relatively short duration; - located on site rather than ‘in the field’; - involve close control of variables to isolate causal factors; - involve meticulous observation and measurements. ## Field Experiments - It is not just that the data are generated under artificial conditions: they are actually shaped to some degree by those artificial conditions. Yet, if researchers move outside the laboratories in order to gather data in more natural settings, they are, of course, likely to pay a high price in terms of their ability to control the variables. - Beyond the laboratory, the social researcher has far less prospect of managing to manipulate things for the express purpose of a social experiment. Sociologists cannot control levels of incomes in order to conduct experiments on things like poverty. Nor can health educators manipulate levels of smoking among adolescent girls in order to study it. Economists cannot generate a recession in order to investigate its consequences. It is simply not possible to manipulate circumstances like these. It is not feasible, nor would it be ethical. ## VALIDITT IN CAPERIMENTS: - **Internal validity** refers to the degree of confidence that the causal relationship being tested is trustworthy and not influenced by other factors or variables. It focuses on the accuracy of the research design and the strength of the causal inference. - **External validity** refers to the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other populations, settings, or times. It examines the applicability of the findings beyond the specific research context. - Often, there is a trade-off between internal and external validity. Highly controlled experiments (e.g., laboratory experiments) tend to have strong internal validity but may lack external validity. Observational studies, on the other hand, may have stronger external validity but weaker internal validity. Researchers strive to balance these two types of validity by carefully designing their studies and considering the specific research question and target population. ## REMINDER! - In the case of social research, there are certain limitations to the extent to which circumstances can be manipulated. Basically, a researcher can do things to chemicals and plants that cannot be contemplated with fellow human beings. For the purposes of doing an experiment it may be neither feasible nor, indeed, ethical to manipulate people's lives in order to provide the controlled conditions necessary for a ‘social science experiment’. People have feelings, people have rights. ## ADVANTAGE OF EXPERIMENTS - Repeatable - Precision - Convenience - Credibility ## DISADVANTAGE OF EXPERIMENTS - Deception and ethics - Artificial settings - Representativeness of the research subjects - Control of the relevant variables - **Cowles, M. & Davis, C. (1982). On the Origins of the .05 Level of Statistical Significance. American Psychologist. 37. 553-558. 10.1037/0003-066X.37.5.553.** - **Datanovia. (2019). Independent T-Test Assumptions: The best tutorial to read - Datanovia. https://www.datanovia.com/en/lessons/t-test-assumptions/independent-t-test assumptions/ ** - **Denscombe, M. (2014). The good research guide: For small-scale social research projects (5. ed). Open University Press.** - **Howell, D. C. (2009). Statistical methods for Psychology. Cengage Learning.** # 13. Mixed Μ... ## Mixed Methodology - The term ‘mixed methods’ applies to research that combines alternative approaches within a single research project. It refers to a research strategy that crosses the boundaries of conventional paradigms of research by deliberately combining methods drawn from different traditions with different underlying assumptions. At its simplest, a mixed methods strategy is one that uses both qualitative and quantitative methods. - A number of different names have been given to mixed methods strategies. ‘Mixed methodology’, ‘multi-strategy research’, ‘integrated