Chapter 2 Research Designs and Methods 

Steps in research : (CoCoMakeDogCatAReal) 

1. Choosing a research question 
2. Conducting a literature review 
3. Making a hypothesis 
4. Designing the study 
5. Conducting the study  
6. Analyzing the data 
7. Reporting the results 
 
Research Question 
 Psychologist aim to understand behaviour and mental process 
 Is solution to fulfill the aim 
 Have different goals 
 Explore and describe areas of human or animal, behaviour, experience 
 Make predictions about future behaviour 
 Explain and test theory to related phenomena  
*type of research question will influence the research design 
 Samples : 
1. What cause some children to be bullies? 
2. Does the amount of calcium in the diet of elementary school children effect the number of
cavities they have per year? 
3. How often do college-aged students use Twitter? 
4. What is the difference in caloric intake of high school girls and boys? 
 
Hypothesis 
 Samples: 
Question: Can music improve one's memory/ 
Hypothesis: Participants listened to classical music will score higher in the memory task than the
control group; participants listened to rock music will score lower than the control group. 
 
Research Design & Method  
 Research Design: Plans researcher used to answer the question. 
 Research Method: Techniques that researcher use to gather, analyze and interpret data related to
research questions or hypothesis. 
 Type of Research Design and what they focus on : 
1. Experimental / Quasi-experimental research : Identify causal explanations for behaviours
and events 
2. Correlational research : Identify relationship between variables 
3. Descriptive research : Exploring and understanding characteristics of large groups from
the population and for obtaining an in-depth understanding of a phenomenon in a small
group individuals. 
 
Experimental designs :  
 to identify causal link between variables (to know the cause and the consequence) 
 Focus on testing one explanation &  
 Follow a specific set of procedures that maximize control over the research environment. 
 Researcher manipulated and control independent variable and observe the effect it has on dependent
variable (the participants responses in a study) while keeping all the variables constant 
 Independent Variable (IV) – variables controlled or manipulated by the researchers 
 Dependent Variable (DV) – the participants responses in a study, variable that is measured by the
researchers 
 Samples:  
The effect of coffee on attention and level of alertness [IV] 
The effect of the classroom arrangement student's performances [DV] 
 Basic element : 
1. Presence of control group 
2. Random allocation of participants 
 3. Pre- and post-testing  
4. Hypothesis testing to see whether the treatment had an effect 
 Presence of control group 
 Experimental group: receive the treatment, IV is being manipulated 
 Control group:  
Does not receive the treatment, IV is not manipulated for control group 
As a basis for evaluating the performances of experimental group 
 In an experiment, data from an experimental group is compared with data from a control
group.  
 This two groups should be identical 相同 in every respect except the IV is changed in
experimental group while is constant in control group. 
 Examples : 
Question: Whether or nor plants need to be watered to live 
Control group : Plant are not watered 
Experimental group: Plant that receive water 
 Control Group no receive the treatment while experimental group will receive the
treatment. 
 Random allocation of participants 
 Participants have an equal chance of being allocated either the c.g. or e.g. 
 To have equivalent group:  
Two groups are as similar as possible  
Control of extraneous variable 
 Extraneous variable are factors that have potential to affects the dependent variable but
are not controlled for in the experiment. 
Participant(or subject) variable 
a. Individual characteristic that participants bring with them: gender, IQ,
personality, emotional state 
b. Can affect the way participants respond 
c. Random allocation can help to control this by ensuring that different groups
are similar  
Placebo Effect 
1. When participant's response is influenced by their expectation of what to do
or how to think, rather than by the specific procedure which is used to
produce the response 
2. It is important that participants do not know whether they are in which
group- single-blind procedure 
 Pre- and post-testing  
 DV is measured once before the treatment is implemented 实施的 and once after it is
implemented  
 
Quasi-Experimental Research  
 Some experiment that we cannot carry out as real experiment, we will use this method. Example,
physical punishment or non-physical punishment to child. We can't ask the parents to do punishment to
them according which group they are in. it is impossible and unethical. 
 It's like a true experiment except that the participants are not randomly allocated in e.g. 
 In true experiment, research participants have an equal chance of being assigned to any condition of the
independent variable (the one being manipulated by the researcher) that is involved in the study. 
 So, for instance,  
 if researcher was examining the effects of caffeine on reading comprehension, she might
randomly assign participants to one of three independent variable conditions: those who
drink one cup of soda, two cups of soda and no soda. 
 She might then assess each person's reading comprehension abilities following exposure
to the independent variable. 
  In a true experiment, each participant who volunteered would have an equal chance of
being assigned to any of the three groups. 
 Quasi-experiments are employed when the researcher is interested in independent
variables that cannot be randomly assigned.  
 Usually this happens when the independent variable in question is something that is an
innate characteristic of the participants involved. 
 
Correlational Design (non-experimental design) 
 To identify the degree and direction of a relationship between two variables (predictor & criterion). 
 No IV and DV. Nothing is being manipulated 
 Does not imply causation 
 Types of correlational relationship: 
 Positive correlation- Two variables increase together 
 Negative correlation- Two variables move in different directions; one increase, one
decrease 
 

 
Quantitative data & Qualitative data 
 Quantitative data- numerical data;  
[quantitative method/ research- usually involved data collection under conditions that are strictly task; caffeine
and attention level] 
 
 Qualitative data- data in the form of text;  
[qualitative method/ research- provide a richer and deeper understanding and description of participants and
their responses. Harder to control. Example, Life experience of illegal immigrants; women's experience in
giving birth] 
 
Descriptive/ Qualitative designs  
 Aim at an in-depth understanding of individuals' experience 
What are their feelings and experiences for having a eating disorder? 
Why do people engaged in smoking?  
 Observe and describe the individuals' experience and behaviour within the context of the environment 
The lifestyle and social circle of aboriginal  
 Types of descriptive research 
a. Naturalistic observation 
b. Case study  
c. Survey  
d. Focus group 
e. Delphi technique  
  Naturalistic Observation  
 In depth observation of behaviour in natural setting. 
 Their habitats/home? Why? 
 Behaviour to be observed are defined beforehand  
 People and animal tend to alter(change) their behaviors while being observed in
laboratory setting 
 Case Study 
 A single research participant, or several closely related cases, are examined in great depth
and detail. 
 What makes some people so successful and rich? 
 The clinical history of a patients and the family 
 Data gathered from different sources: interviews, observations, archives, written records,
diary 
 Survey/ Questionnaire/ Rating scales  
 Use interviews to ask people about their beliefs, attitudes, opinions and etc. 
 How do they think of the government? 
 A way to explore a phenomenon to identify key variables that could be examined more
closely in future research. 
 Self-report cannot be verifies, poorly worded questions  
 Can be either quantitative or qualitative  
 Focus Group 
 In-depth interviews on a small number of participants (6-12 people) 
 To find out more people's attitudes and opinions on a particular topic and observe the
interactions occurred within a group 
 Researcher/ facilitators leads the group discussion, an observer take notes (not in the
discussion group) 
 Participants work as a group, making comments and listening to the comments of others. 
 Delphi Technique 
 A method of gathering data from a small group of experts. 
 Different from focus group, this group does not need to be together and responses are
made in a written format (example: email) as experts are usually busy people. 
 Commonly used for complex problem solving where the aim is to obtain consensus of
opinion 意见共识 from the experts in that area. 
 Psychological services that may be required for people with specific
disability or mental health problem 
 Type of media advertising campaign that should be devised to help reduce
"binge drinking" among teens. 
 
*Psychological bias is the tendency to make decisions or take action in an unknowingly irrational way. 
 
Comparison  
 Experimental 
 Researcher manipulate and control the IV 
 Can investigate the cause and the effect relationship between IV and DV 
 Data collected usually quantitative data 
 Experimental, Quasi-Experimental design 
 
 Quatitative Obeservational  
 Researcher observes what happens to the variables(Criterion) 
 Investigate the relationship between variables 
 Data collected are usually quantitative data  
 Correlational, naturalistic observation, survey 
 Affective (reflect feelings and evaluations toward the attitude object) 
 Qualitative 
 Focus on answering general question rather than testing a specific hypothesis  
 Contents tend to be more in-depth 
 Results are usually in qualitative 
 Focus group, Survey interviews, Delphi techniques