RESEARCH METHODS LESSON 1: PLANNING AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION Lesson objective: To be able to select an appropriate research method for chosen

en research aims. To be able to design a study independently, addressing issues of sampling, controls, ethics.

STEP 1 AND 2: RESEARCH AIM AND RESEARCH METHOD What is the aim of your study? It should lead to specific research question and hypothesis. You can choose from variety of topics, but first decide on what research method you are going to employ: Is the aim of your research to collect !esc"i#tive data !i.e. people)s attitudes" or to investigate $in%s between two variables !i.e. effect of music on memory"?

Desc"i#tive *o you want to study the behaviour of &"o'#s or in!ivi!'($s?

Lin%s What sort of lin's + a "e$(tions)i# between variables of c('se (n! e**ect?

G"o'#s *o you want to get information by (s%in& for responses of by +(tc)in& behaviour? In!ivi!'($s Your method is a case study

Re$(tions)i# Your method is a correlation

C('s($ Your method is an e&periment

,(tc)in& be)(vio'" Your method is an observation STEP 3: H POTHESES

*o you need a $("&e sample or more !et(i$e! data from individuals? L("&e sc($e Det(i$s Your method is a questionnaire

ormulate you hypothesis !statement that is Your method is an testable". #ust be fully operationalised and defined. Is it interview directional or non$directional? %&plain why. #a'e sure your hypothesis reflects the aims of your study and the type of data you will collect !descriptive(e&ploratory data, cause and effect or a lin' between variables".

STEP -: VARIA.LES Identify your variables !cause and effect + I, and *,, relationship + two co$variables, observation + behavioural categories, self$report + questions". -perationalise your variables, they must always be e&pressed in a testable, strictly defined ways. STEP /: DESIGN .ow design your research. If your method is e&perimental $ independent groups, matched participants, repeated measures. If your method is an observation $ what type of observation is appropriate? .aturalistic or controlled? /articipant or non$participant observation? 0ave you designed your behavioural categories? What about sampling methods !time or event"? If you have decided on surveys or interviews, how are you going to design your questions? -pen or close ended? What data are you loo'ing for? 1uantitative or qualitative? 0ow are you going to avoid leading questions? 0ow will you deal with social desirability? If you are conducting a case study $ what is the nature of the case and the reason the study is being done? What details of this person)s life are you interested in? What research techniques are you going to use to collect your information? 2re you prepared for the longitudinal commitment? If your chosen method is a correlational analysis, how are you going to collect the data to be correlated? In other words, what is your research technique(method of data collection? You might need to conduct a questionnaire to gather the necessary information. In such case questionnaire is .-T a method, but simply a technique of data collection. Important part of your design is also to decide what materials will you need !room, paper, etc". STEP 0: SAMPLE: 3ocate your target population and select your sampling method !random, opportunity, volunteer, stratified". 4elect and describe your sample !0ow many? 5oys or girls? 0ow old?" STEP 1: CONTROLS 0ow are you going to deal with e&traneous variables !uncontrolled variables": demand characteristics, situational variables, participant variables, e&perimenter(investigator effect !direct or indirect", order effect, evaluation apprehension, social desirability bias, participant effects, 0awthorne effect, observer bias, interviewer bias? What about sample control? 6emember a truly representative sample is not 7ust 5I8. It is made up of individuals from the target population and shares all the main characteristics of the population despite its tiny si9e. %&traneous variables may also result from: 6andom error !things that cannot be predicted, such as participants) state of mind, bad weather" or constant error !affect the *, in a consistent way and may affect different conditions in different ways, such as failure to counterbalance, individual differences between participants". :ncontrolled constant error is 'nown as confounding variable. STEP 2: ETHICS ;onsider ethics and how are you going to deal with consent, debriefing, deception, protection from harm, right to withdraw, confidentiality and privacy. 6emember + under <=s need parental consent.

STEP 3: ,RITING THE STANDARDIES PROCED4RES AND STANDARDISED INSTR4CTIONS It might be that more than one researcher is needed to conduct this investigation. #a'e sure you all stic' to the same procedures and that each of your participants hears(reads the same, standardised set of instructions. -therwise the differences in those might act as confounding variables. STEP 3: PILOT /ilot your study $ 23W2Y4>>> $ To iron out all the problems. STEP 15: DATA COLLECTION 8o ahead and collect your data. #a'e sure you stic' to strict standardised procedures. 6ecord it clearly and neatly, or you will get yourself into a mess. STEP 11: DATA ANAL SIS 2nalyse your data using descriptive statistics !mean, median mode, range", present it visually. 4oon you will be able to run your inferential analysis. STEP 12: CONCL4SION ;onclude from you findings. What do they show? ;an you accept or re7ect your hypothesis? 2nswer your research question and prepare to write out your research paper. 8ive yourself pat on the bac' and start loo'ing for publishers to publish your contribution to the 'nowledge of psychology.

O4R TAS6: You need to complete the <?$step research plan for your chosen aim. Your plan will have <? sections with clear headings, e&plaining how you are going to deal with each step of the investigation.