Research Methods Activity Booklet
Research Methods Activity Booklet
Research Methods Activity Booklet
PSYA1
Research Methods
Activities
This booklet belongs to:
QUESTIONNAIRES
ACTIVITY 1.1
Identify whether each of the following questions are open or closed:
OPEN
CLOSED
ACTIVITY 1.2
Match each guideline for questionnaire construction with its example.
1. Avoid vagueness or ambiguity
2. Avoid double-barrelled questions
3. Avoid unnecessary jargon
4. Avoiding leading questions
Example
Do you take time off work? (please tick one)
Never Rarely Sometimes Often
Was the suspects shirt blue or green?
Do you think that life is more stressful than it was 30 years ago, or do people find that
modern technology reduces the stresses of life?
Do you favour affirmative action in employment practices?
Guideline #
ACTIVITY 1.3
Dominos want to undertake some market research to ensure their menu is attracting as many customers as
possible. They have asked you to create a questionnaire that they can give to their customers when they order.
In teams, write three open questions and three closed questions to find out whether the company could improve
anything about their recipes, prices or range. Remember to avoid vagueness/ambiguity, double-barrelled
questions, leading questions and overly complex phrases/technical jargon.
Their menu is printed on the next page to help you.
OPEN QUESTIONS
Q1.
Q2.
Q3.
CLOSED QUESTIONS
Q1.
Q2.
Q3.
ACTIVITY 1.4
Which were easier to write, the open or closed questions?
Which would provide the easiest to analyse answers, the open or closed questions?
Which would provide the richest detail/greatest amount of data, the open or closed questions?
INTERVIEWS
ACTIVITY 2.1
Look at the print interview examples below.
Identify which is the structured interview and which is the unstructured interview by ticking the relevant boxes.
Structured
JLS
Konnie Huq
Unstructured
CASE STUDIES
ACTIVITY 3.1
When compiling a case study a psychologist can draw on a huge range of sources of information, e.g.
1. WIRVTSIENE with the participant
2. DCEMLIA records
3. WIRVTSIENE with teachers/managers
4. UDETTTIA tests
5. Tests of IECLLITEGENN
6. Results of ALXEEMIRENTP tasks carried out by the participant
7. LIIOOSHCYPGLCA measures e.g. MRI scans, EEG traces
8. SSATIOOERVNB of the participant
9. Tests of CCIILLAN symptoms e.g. depression
10. WIRVTSIENE with parents/family members
11. OOHLSC records and reports
12. Tests of AEIOYTPRSNL
13. DIIEASR, TTEERLS or other biographical information
14. WIRVTSIENE with colleagues/co-workers
15. TNMMEEOPLY records
ACTIVITY 3.2
Which sources would be most relevant/useful in the following case studies?
Jamie is seven years old. When he first started school he seemed to enjoy it a lot.
He has recently become quiet and withdrawn in class however, and has stopped
making progress in his learning. His teachers have asked an educational
psychologist from the local authority to find out what the problem is.
Eva is a promising athlete and a potential Olympian. She has been a champion at
school and county level and is now starting to compete seriously at a national
level. Her coach has asked a sports psychologist to investigate how to give her
the edge on other competitors.
Reena is recovering from a car accident in which she sustained head injuries.
Surgeons had to operate on her brain and she spent several weeks in a coma.
She has now regained consciousness but it appears that her injuries have
affected her psychological functioning. An occupational psychologist has been
asked to help rehabilitate her.
Jeff was compulsorily detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act after
being arrested trying to break into a local zoo. The police became concerned by
the bizarre way he was talking and called for a clinical psychologist to try to find
an explanation for his behaviour.
OBSERVATIONS
ACTIVITY 4.1
Suggest three appropriate behavioural categories that researchers are likely to have on their behavioural
checklists in the following structured observations:
For example, an OFSTED inspector investigating learning behaviour in a lesson may look for:
Students writing
Teacher talking
Students reading
A
An investigation into gender differences in flirting behaviour in a nightclub.
B
An investigation into levels of stress in shoppers during sale periods compared to non-sale periods.
C
An investigation into aggression in car drivers.
ACTIVITY 4.2
In order to improve inter-rater reliability, researchers usually operationalize the items on their behaviour
checklist. Choose one item from each example above (A, B, C) and fully operationalize it below.
For example: Teacher talking could be operationalized as Teacher directly addressing the whole class for 30
seconds or more (otherwise different researchers may record when the teacher speaks to the whole class/a
group/an individual student/a colleague/themselves for any period of time, leading to low inter-rater reliability).
A) An investigation into gender differences in flirting behaviour in a nightclub.
B) An investigation into levels of stress in shoppers during sale periods compared to non-sale periods.
ACTIVITY 4.3
In pairs, conduct a structured observation to investigate greeting behaviour in sixth form students.
First, identify possible behaviour categories for your behavioural checklist:
An investigation into how sixth form students greet each other in a common room.
Next, fully operationalize the final six behaviour categories for your behavioural checklist:
Next, create a tally chart to collect your data (i.e. your finalised behavioural checklist):
Type of greeting
Frequency
Now collect your data over a 15 minute period during a breaktime/lunchtime you must sit in the same place in
the common room as your partner during the observation, but you must not compare notes.
Finally, complete the following table:
Type of greeting
My frequencies
My partners frequencies
CONTENT ANALYSIS
ACTIVITY 5.1
Below are witness statements from an imagined robbery.
Turn this qualitative data into quantitative data by counting frequencies using coding categories.
CATEGORIES
The bank robbers are male
The bank robbers wear some sort of disguise
The bank robbers wear dark clothes
The bank robbers demand money from the cashiers
The bank robbers have a getaway car waiting outside the bank
The getaway car has a driver sitting in it
FREQUENCIES
CORRELATIONAL ANALYSIS
ACTIVITY 6.1
Complete the following table with sketches to show the typical visual patterns of the three types of correlations:
POSITIVE
NEGATIVE
NO CORRELATION
ACTIVITY 6.2
Match the following correlations up with their correlation coefficients and their descriptions using the symbols.
+1.0
STRONG POSITIVE
+0.6
ZERO
-0.6
WEAK NEGATIVE
0.0
STRONG NEGATIVE
-1.0
WEAK POSITIVE
ACTIVITY 6.3
Explain the conclusion which can be drawn from each of the following scatter graphs.
ACTIVITY 6.4
Decide whether each of the following correlations is positive or negative:
POSITIVE
NEGATIVE
YES
NO
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
ACTIVITY 7.1
Decide whether each of the following is a LABORATORY, FIELD or NATURAL experiment.
Example
Experiment type
1. Dave the psychologist brought 40 professional athletes into a medical research
facility at his university and tested their physical stamina before and after taking a
course of multivitamins and minerals.
2. Dave the psychologist heard that there had been an earthquake in a village in a
remote part of the world, so he got on a plane and headed there to study the effect
of a natural disaster on primitive tribal society.
3. Dave the psychologist put up posters advertising for university undergraduates to
take part into a research study on reaction times. They had to press a button on a
keyboard when an x appeared on a screen.
4. Dave the psychologist went shopping in Liverpool One wearing an Everton football
shirt. He pretended to collapse on the pavement and counted whether more
Liverpool or Everton supporters came to help him.
5. Dave the psychologist visited the toilets of his local nightclub and conducted a
study where he invaded the personal space of other men at the urinals and noted
how long it took for them to start urinating.
6. Dave the psychologist conducted a study where he compared the self-perceptions
of patients suffering from anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and obesity.
ACTIVITY 7.2
A
You have heard that taking omega fish oil supplements can improve your brain function, aiding concentration,
memory and possibly even intelligence. In preparation for your AS Psychology examinations you decide to
undertake three experiments to investigate whether it is worth taking a course of omega oils.
What would the procedure for each of the following types of experiment consist of?
LABORATORY
FIELD
NATURAL
B
You have been approached by the government to investigate the aggressive tendencies of a new breed of dog,
the Chavadidas, to see whether it should be placed on the governments dangerous breeds list or not.
What would the procedure for each of the following types of experiment consist of?
LABORATORY
FIELD
NATURAL
METHODS: SUMMARY
ACTIVITY 8.1
In the grid below, draw pictures/symbols to help you remember each of the nine main research methods.
QUESTIONNAIRES
INTERVIEWS
CASE STUDIES
OBSERVATIONS
CONTENT ANALYSIS
CORRELATIONAL ANALYSIS
LABORATORY EXPERIMENT
FIELD EXPERIMENT
NATURAL EXPERIMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS
ACTIVITY 9.1
Each of the following sets of pictures represents an experimental design; each set has an experimental and a
control condition. Identify which is: INDEPENDENT GROUPS, REPEATED MEASURES, MATCHED PAIRS.
EXAMPLE
DESIGN
ACTIVITY 9.2
Read the details of each of the following studies and decide which design is being used.
EXAMPLE
A researcher presented participants with a list of 20 words. Participants were asked
to use either visual or auditory techniques to remember the words, depending on
which condition they were allocated to. On completion of the list participants were
asked to recall as many of the 20 words as they could.
The productivity of 20 factory workers from Sheffield is compared with 20 factory
workers from Glasgow. All attended inner city schools, have been working in
manufacturing for at least 15 years and have similar IQs.
A group of students are given a memory test. The next day they are given the same
test after having consumed alcoholic drinks. The difference between the number of
questions answered correctly in each condition is analysed.
A natural experiment was used to investigate the difference in social skills in five year
olds. Children in one condition had attended day care while children in the other
condition had been cared for at home.
20 students are given an IQ test and then re-tested a month later after they have
taken part in practice sessions, to see if these improve their score. The two sets of
results are compared.
A researcher was interested in the effects of a new teaching method on the
mathematical ability of Year 6 children. In one condition the children were exposed to
the new teaching method, in the other condition traditional teaching methods
continued to be used. He ranked children based on their mathematical ability and
then then allocated them in pairs one to the new method condition and one to the
traditional method.
An educational psychologist assessed the reading ability of a student with moderate
dyslexia. She then gave the student a selection of coloured plastic filters to place over
the text they were reading and assessed their ability again with each filter in turn,
until she found the filter that helped the student to read best.
In order to assess the effects of fatigue on reaction times, a researcher gave
participants a target detection test in which they pressed a button every time a dot
appeared on a screen. The time between the dot appearing and the button being
pressed was recorded. The participants did the test twice, once first thing in the
morning and once last thing at night.
The GCSE Maths grades of girls and boys attending the same school are compared.
In order to compare the effectiveness of two different types of therapy for depression,
depressed patients were assigned to receive either cognitive therapy or behaviour
therapy for a 12 week period. The researchers attempted to ensure that the patients
in the two groups had a similar severity of depressed symptoms by administering a
standardised test of depression to each participant, then coupling them according to
the severity of their symptoms.
DESIGN
ACTIVITY 9.3
Look at the pictures below and decide which design is being used each time. Indicate your choice by writing I
(independent groups), R (repeated measures) or M (matched participants) next to each picture. Draw a
suggestion of what the missing example would consist of.
ACTIVITY 9.4
Alton Towers have commissioned you to conduct research into which types of ride are most worth investing in.
Ideally, they want to know whether rollercoasters or water rides are more exciting for visitors.
Explain how you would carry out FIELD experiments using:
INDEPENDENT GROUPS
REPEATED MEASURES
MATCHED PAIRS
ACTIVITY 9.5
Imagine you are going to conduct an experiment to investigate whether males or females have a better memory
for faces. Explain why an independent groups design would be the only possible design you could use.
Imagine you are going to conduct an experiment to investigate whether adults or children have better
imaginations. Explain why an independent groups design would be the only possible design you could use.
AIMS
ACTIVITY 10.1
Write out the aim for each of the following studies:
1. A health psychologist compares a group of obese
children who watch more than 6 hours of television a
day with a group who watch less than one hour a day
and arent obese.
2. An organisational psychologist conducts a study on
behalf of a factory owner, where different types of
music are played across the loudspeaker system and
the workers productivity is measured.
3. A clinical psychologist conducts a study where the
depression levels of people living in the city are
compared with people living in the countryside.
HYPOTHESES
ACTIVITY 11.1
Are the following hypotheses directional or non-directional?
HYPOTHESIS
1. In a blind taste test, most Psychology teachers will prefer the taste of Coca-Cola to
the taste of Pepsi.
2. Taking fish oil supplements every day will have an effect on the concentration
levels of children when completing schoolwork.
3. There will be no difference between the amount of fear experienced when a
claustrophobic patient is trapped in a lift compared to a tent.
4. There will be no difference between the reaction times of children and adults when
engaged in competitive Lazer-Quest.
5. There will be a difference between the number of attempts needed to learn simple
maze by a group of five rats and by Westlife.
6. Women are more likely to wait for a green light to appear at a pedestrian crossing
before crossing than men are.
7. There will be a difference between the scores of males and females on a standard
IQ test.
8. Bulls will charge more often when presented with a red rag, than when presented
with a blue rag.
9. There will be a difference between the number of tomatoes produced by plants in
grow bags and plants in the ground.
TYPE
ACTIVITY 11.2
Which phrases seem to be used commonly in the wording of each hypothesis?
DIRECTIONAL
NON-DIRECTIONAL
NULL
ACTIVITY 11.3
A) Write a directional hypothesis for the following studies:
A study to investigate whether eating doughnuts causes obesity.
A study to investigate whether criminality increases with level of poverty.
VARIABLES: IV & DV
ACTIVITY 12.1
Identify which part of each research study is the IV and which part is the DV.
1) An investigation into whether severe acne is caused by eating chocolate or not.
2) An investigation into whether bleaching your hair lowers your I.Q. score or not.
3) An investigation into whether impulse buying is linked to the layout of shops or not.
4) An investigation into whether Viagra improves sexual performance or not.
5) An investigation into whether Vitamin C supplements improve the immune system or not.
6) An investigation into whether hangovers are caused by alcohol or not.
7) An investigation into whether men or women are ill more often.
8) An investigation into whether number of nightmares increases after watching horror films.
9) An investigation into whether people are more aggressive in summer or winter.
10) An investigation into whether people work better in quiet or noisy conditions.
11) An investigation into whether sparrows prefer to eat big or small bugs.
12) An investigation into whether people work quicker when alone or in a team.
ACTIVITY 12.2
Identify the hypotheses, independent variables and dependent variables; fill in the spaces.
HYPOTHESIS
IV
DV
Older people will be slower in
Reaction time in seconds
reacting to visual stimuli
Giving babies a lot of love teaches
them to trust
Level of performance
Vary the first impression to be
favourable, or unfavourable
VARIABLES: OPERATIONALISING
ACTIVITY 13.1
A) Dr Spock the psychologist is carrying out an investigation into the effect of eating nothing but McDonalds food
on mood after one month. He cant be bothered to collect his data, so he instructs five research assistants to do
it. How can he further operationalise the variable McDonalds, so that they all carry out the same procedure?
B) He also wants to carry out an investigation into the effect of wearing aftershave vs. not wearing aftershave on
the ability of men to attract women in a nightclub. He cant be bothered to collect his data again, so he instructs
his research students to do it. How can he further operationalise the variable aftershave, so that all of his
assistants carry out the same procedure?
ACTIVITY 13.2
Imagine each of the following are variables within pieces of research suggest could each be operationalized.
Cheddar cheese
Illness
Celebrity workout DVD
Memory
Facebook usage
Relaxation
VARIABLES: EXTRANEOUS
ACTIVITY 14.1
Which drink did you prefer M or Q? ___
Can you think of a possible extraneous variable in this study?
ACTIVITY 14.2
Identify three possible extraneous variables in each of the following studies.
Researchers wanted to look at how word length affected the capacity of short term memory. They tested one
group on words of one syllable and the other group on words of three syllables.
Researchers wanted to find out if older or younger people could remember the most text message abbreviations.
Both groups had to recall a list of ten abbreviations.
Researchers wanted to see how rewards affect learning. Rats were tested in a maze, some were rewarded every
time they finished the maze and others were rewarded randomly.
ACTIVITY 14.3
Are demand characteristics likely to occur in the following studies, or not? If yes, how will these be shown?
YES NO
The researcher tells participants that people of
greater intelligence tend to try harder at tasks
during experiments.
The researcher tells participants that only people
with poor sex lives will select orange as their
favourite colour in a colour preference task.
ACTIVITY 14.4
Interviews are conducted in a study comparing discrimination in 2011 with 1911. For each participant, identify
which scenario is most likely to elicit HONESTY and which is most likely to produce INVESTIGATOR EFFECTS.
Pamela is anxious about disability.
She is interviewed about whether
workplace discrimination against
disabled people is acceptable.
Barry is sexist.
He is interviewed about whether
workplace discrimination against
women is acceptable.
Jane is racist.
He is interviewed about whether
workplace discrimination based on
ethnicity is acceptable.
ACTIVITY 15.2
Complete this summary grid by matching up the details given in each column:
ETHICAL
DESCRIPTION
WAYS OF DEALING
GUIDELINE
OF GUIDELINE
WITH ISSUE
This means keeping information private. Participants
Debriefing should be used after the study to explain
PROTECTION
should feel confident that the studys report wont
the real aim and rationale for this, as well as to
FROM HARM
reveal information or data which makes it possible for
individual participants to be identified, or for their data
to be linked to them i.e. they should remain
anonymous.
INFORMED
CONSENT
DECEPTION
RIGHT TO
WITHDRAW
ACTIVITY 15.3
The BPS have commissioned you to design a set of logos to represent each of their ethical guidelines.
You must sum up the essence of each guideline in a clear, concise and symbolic way.
INFORMED
CONSENT
DECEPTION
RIGHT TO
WITHDRAW
PROTECTION
FROM HARM
CONFIDENTIALITY
ACTIVITY 16.4
Identify ways in which the samples below may be unrepresentative:
1) A psychologist advertises in a University bulletin for
2) A researcher wishes to survey young peoples
student participants for an experiment concerning the
attitudes to law and order. They visit a youth club on an
effects of alcohol consumption on appetite.
estate in Newcastle to interview participants.
ACTIVITY 17.1
Decide whether each of the following examples illustrates an issue of reliability or validity.
RESEARCH EXAMPLE
R OR V
Your bathroom scales say you are a different weight every time you stand on them.
Some people say that having a large head means you are more intelligent because
you must have a bigger brain.
You are interviewed by two researchers. One concludes that you are extroverted;
one concludes that you are introverted.
A study on the effect of horror films on the behaviour of children is carried out; the
researcher believes the films are scary but the children just find them funny.
The speedometer in your car says you are doing 30mph when you are in fact doing
31mph. You get caught by a speed camera.
A test designed to assess IQ really only tests how much general knowledge people
have.
A researcher concludes using natural daylight light bulbs increases productivity in a
factory, but doesnt realise the workers have just been given their annual pay rise.
You ask your friend if your bum looks big in your new jeans. They give you an answer
but you ask them again, just to be sure.
ACTIVITY 17.2
Decide whether each of the following examples illustrates an issue of ecological, population or temporal validity.
RESEARCH EXAMPLE
E, P or T
An educational psychologist worked with a group of students from a private school
in London to develop new revision techniques. She then went to teach the same
techniques to a group of students from a young offenders institution in Glasgow.
A study into gender stereotypes was conducted in the 1950s can it still be applied
to modern society?
A researcher was interested in the emotions experienced by lottery winners. He set
up an experiment where people were given a lottery ticket and were then asked to
watch as six numbers were chosen at random by a computer programme. The
programme was rigged so that on the third draw the participants numbers came up.
A neuropsychologist interested in sensation developed a tickling machine in order to
study the physical effect being tickled has on the brain, without having to touch
anyones feet.
A study into the level of stress in estate agents during the 2008/09 credit crunch
was conducted. Will it still be relevant in years to come?
A researcher used opportunity sampling for his investigation into drinking behaviour,
and tested 250 of his undergraduate students. He wants to apply his results to
middle aged men to try to explain their alcoholism.
TYPES OF DATA
ACTIVITY 18.1
Identify whether each piece of research would gather quantitative or qualitative data.
STUDY
QUAN
QUAL
Quantitative question
How likely is the customer to arrange a second date with the person they met up with?
Quantitative question
Qualitative question
Does the customer think the service they receive from match.com is worth the membership fee?
Quantitative question
Qualitative question
ACTIVITY 19.2
The table contains the data from an investigation into the
effect of caffeine on concentration.
The participants in condition 1 werent given any caffeine; the
participants in condition 2 drank five strong cups of coffee.
The scores show the number of maths problems each
participant correctly solved in10 minutes.
Participant
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Condition 1
5
4
3
2
7
3
4
5
4
6
Condition 2
9
3
1
1
7
5
1
9
2
7
ACTIVITY 19.3
Carefully deconstruct your cookies. Count the number of chocolate chips inside. Record your findings below.
COOKIE A
COOKIE B
COOKIE C
Record the findings from the rest of the class in the table below.
BRAND A (HIGHER COST)
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
ACTIVITY 20.1
Calculate the range for each of the following sets of data.
Q1) 1, 28, 29, 33, 76
Q2) 33, 34, 38, 52, 56, 57
Q3) 100, 192, 346, 643, 832
Q4) 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9
Q5) Using the data from the investigation into the effect
of caffeine on concentration, calculate the range for
each condition and use this to interpret the effect
caffeine had on concentration.
ACTIVITY 20.2
What conclusion can be drawn from each of the following studies, using the standard deviations?
A
Table to show the effect of time of day on performance in a simple memory test.
Group 1 (children tested in morning)
Group 2 (children tested in afternoon)
1.46
3.23
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
B
Table to show the number of attempts needed by a rat to learn the path through a maze.
Group 1 (rewarded every time)
Group 2 (rewarded every third time)
3.55
4.58
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
C
Table to show the effect on participant mood of TV news stories with different emotional content.
Group 1 ( positive news)
2.38
Group 2 (negative news)
1.26
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
ACTIVITY 22.2
Draw a HISTOGRAM to summarise how long people in our class can stand on one leg for:
Under 1 minute
More than 1 minute but less than 2 minutes
More than 2 minutes but less than 3 minutes
More than 3 minutes but less than 4 minutes
More than 4 minutes but less than 5 minutes
Over 5 minutes
ACTIVITY 22.3
Over a four week period, schoolchildren Tom and Lauren are observed working in their classroom. When Tom
behaves disruptively, he is told off; when Lauren behaves disruptively, she is ignored. Any instance of disruptive
behaviour by either pupil is recorded; findings are shown in the table. Draw a LINE GRAPH to summarise the
outcome of the investigation, to help the researchers conclude what the best way to improve behaviour is.
Tom (# of acts)
Lauren (# of acts)
Week 1
6
7
Week 2
7
4
Week 3
8
4
Week 4
11
3
ACTIVITY 22.4
Students scores in end of year Maths and English examinations were collected in order to see if there was any
correlation between the two. Draw a SCATTER GRAPH to summarise the findings in order to draw a conclusion.
Student
Maths
English
Student
Maths
English
Sally
20
30
Alex
32
38
Kath
71
80
Beth
47
40
Bill
60
65
Ken
90
87
Tom
52
50
Alan
49
55
Gita
80
81
Jo
80
70
Notes: