Research Methods in Social Psychology - Research strategies

18 important questions on Research Methods in Social Psychology - Research strategies

What is a quasi-experiment?

Hint: setting; researcher

An experiment that takes place in a natural, everyday environment with no random assignment to conditions, which does not give the researcher complete control

EX: control group = non-depressed people, research group = depressed people
depression = independent variable, but it cannot be randomly assigned by the researcher 

What is a quasi-experiment?

Hint: setting; researcher

An experiment that takes place in a natural, everyday environment with no random assignment to conditions, which does not give the researcher complete control

EX: control group = non-depressed people, research group = depressed people
depression = independent variable, but it cannot be randomly assigned by the researcher 

What is the condition that determines whether the allocation of participants to groups/conditions is random allocation?

Allocation is random allocation when each participant has an equal chance of being allocated to whichever group/condition
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What is the condition that determines whether the allocation of participants to groups/conditions is random allocation?

Allocation is random allocation when each participant has an equal chance of being allocated to whichever group/condition

In which experiment is random allocation more likely to be possible, which is beneficial to the sample quality and thus the research quality -- the true randomized experiment or the quasi-experiment?

The true randomized experiment

Why is random allocation typically not possible in quasi-experiments?

The researcher has no control over who is exposed to the independent variable: instead of assigning random groups, the exposed groups are pre-existing

What is a true randomized experiment?

An experiment that typically takes place in an environment completely controlled by the researcher, as the researcher can manipulate independent variables and randomly distribute (allocate) participants

(Often involves a loss of realism)

What is a true randomized experiment?

An experiment that typically takes place in an environment completely controlled by the researcher, as the researcher can manipulate independent variables and randomly distribute (allocate) participants

(Often involves a loss of realism)

What is a field experiment?

An experiment that takes place in a natural environment, which attempts to combine the control of a true randomized experiment with the realism of a quasi-experiment

What is the research strategy called that is done by interviewing/questionnaire-ing a sample of participants that represent a population?

Survey research

Probability sampling is expensive and time-consuming, so non-probability sampling is frequently used. What is the name of the type of non-probability sample that selects a sample in which basic attributes of the population are reflected?

Quota sample

EX: the basic attributes to be reflected are age and sex, where the age and sex composition of the sample reflect that of the population

What are two disadvantages of quota sampling?

  1. The interviewer has to decide who to approach to fill the quota, which is not really random (can cause sampling bias)
  2. It's impossible to accurately estimate the sampling error in the research

What type of research methods is discourse analysis?

Analyzing talk and texts, with the goal of understanding how people make sense of their everyday worlds

What type of research methods is discourse analysis?

Analyzing talk and texts, with the goal of understanding how people make sense of their everyday worlds

What is the benefit of the approach of discourse analysis, which doesn't quantify the results but focuses on analyzing participants' talk and texts about how they perceive and interpret their world?

It enables the researcher to identify contradictions in a participant's response

EX: participants may adopt different attitudes about a certain topic during an interview, that may be inconsistent with each other but served the participants' specific ideological and strategic purposes at the point in the interview

Why did research methodologist Donald Campbell argue for the use of triangulation, where the researcher uses multiple methods and measures to research an issue?

Every method has its limitations and thus results can differ between them, as seen through the often different results from e.g. discourse analysis to quantitative/other qualitative research

How does survey research differ from experiments and quasi-experiments in terms of variables?

It measures existing levels of variables, instead of manipulating (controlling) them

How does survey research differ from experiments and quasi-experiments in terms of variables?

It measures existing levels of variables, instead of manipulating (controlling) them

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