IB Docs (2) Team
Research methods sociocultural
This page revises for the question: Discuss the use of research methods used in the sociocultural approach. This is a rather complex question. It is asking you to do quite a few things. First, you must be able to identify the method used in a specific study.
Secondly, the question is asking "how is the research method used?" This means that you have to be able to discuss the key characteristics of the research method and link those characteristics to the study that you have chosen.
Finally, the question is asking "why is this method used in this approach?" This is the most difficult of the aspects of the question. The question is asking why would a researcher use this method instead of another one? And why at this level of analysis?
Revision task 1: Which method was used?
For each study, identify the research method that was used.
1. Tajfel & Turner's (1971) Kandinsky & Klee study
Experiment
2. Festinger's study of the Doomsday Cult
Observation - to be more specific, a covert naturalistic participant observation
3. Asch's conformity study
Experiment
4. Bandura's Bashing Bobo study
Experiment
5. Rogers and Frantz's study of stereotyping in Rhodesia
A correlational study based on a questionnaire
Experimental method: how
First, a very brief overview of the issue of control.
When writing about the nature of experimental research, there are some key traits of the method that you should be able to discuss.
- Hypothesis testing - experiments propose a hypothesis and then create a situation in which to test whether or not that hypothesis can be supported.
- Variables - An experiment manipulates an independent variable and measures the effect on a dependent variable. Some experiments have more than one IV and DV. Other variables, called extraneous or confounding variables, are controlled - or at least there is an attempt at controlling them so that they do not affect the outcome of the experiment.
- Random allocation - it is important that participants are randomly allocated to conditions. When done in a large enough sample, random allocation is an effective way to reduce bias.
- A representative sample should be obtained. This means that the sample should be large enough and consist of participants who reflect the nature of the population being studied.
Experiments at the sociocultural level of analysis
- Social psychologists almost exclusively use humans for research. Although there is some research that looks at social behaviour in other animals, this is not the main focus of social psychologists.
- There is a higher tendency to do field experiments in social psychology than at the other levels of analysis. The goal is to have higher levels of ecological validity and lower levels of artificiality.
- Because of the nature of studying groups, sociocultural experiments requires more participants and are often difficult to replicate.
- One of the principles of the SCLOA is that our behaviour is influenced by others, even when we think that we are acting independently. Therefore, often confederates are used in order to see how a participant will respond to an individual or group.
Task 2: Thinking about how
Let's take a look at Asch's (1951) study on conformity. Try to answer each of the following questions in order to apply your knowledge of "how" an experiment is carried out to explain the decisions made by the researcher.
1. Which design was used by the researchers?
The researchers used an independent samples design. Even though only one person was tested at a time, the participants were allocated either to the control condition or the test condition.
2. What was the independent variable?
The independent variable was the level of unanimity of the group.
3. What were the dependent variables?
The dependent variable was whether or not the participant conformed to the incorrect answer with regard to which line was the same length as the other line.
4. What controls were established for this study?
One group was simply asked to match lines for length without being exposed to confederates giving incorrect answers. They carried out the same 18 trials that would be carried out by the test condition group. The control had less than a 1% error rate. This means that the task was definitely unambiguous and it was the manipulation of the independent variable which led to the incorrect responses by the participants.
5. Was the sample appropriate to the study?
Not really. In the original study, male university students were used. Students are problematic as participants. They are often used in university research because they are easily obtained. However, university students tend to have similar characteristics and do not necessarily represent the greater population. In addition, there is also a gender bias to the original study - although this has been addressed in later replications of the study.
Experimental method: why
There are several reasons why researchers use experiments. The most significant is the ability to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Since the testing conditions are tightly controlled, a strong argument can be made that the change in the IV led to the change in the DV. Experiments are used because we want to eliminate extraneous variables and focus on the role of the IV.
Experiments also are highly standardized and can be replicated. This makes it possible for other psychologists to replicate the study and hopefully support the findings by obtaining the same results under the same or similar conditions.
Experiments yield quantitative data which can be analyzed using inferential statistical tests. These tests permit statements to be made about how likely the results are to have occurred by chance.
Observations: how
In observations, the aim is to study a participant's behaviour either in a lab or in a natural setting, without manipulating an independent variable. The researcher simply observes and records what happens in the lab or natural environment. When observations are done under controlled lab conditions - for example, Ainsworth's classic "Strange Situation Test" in developmental psychology - the environment is meant to be as "natural" as possible.
When writing about the nature of experimental research, there are some key traits of the method that you should be able to discuss.
- Observational research generates hypotheses.
- Observation research does not manipulate an independent variable. However, often "situations" are set up to see how an individual will respond - as is the case in Ainsworth's study.
- Observations may be overt - where the participants know that they are being observed - or covert - where they are not aware that they are being observed.
- Observations may be participant observations where the researcher becomes part of the group that he/she is observing, or non-participant, where the researcher is observing from a distance.
- Data that is gathered is primarily qualitative in nature. It is not possible to test the significance of the data, nor is it possible to establish cause and effect. Some observations do produce quantitative data - usually regarding the frequency of a behaviour. In these cases, significance can be determined, but cause and effect cannot.
- It must be decided whether the observation will be deductive (where there is a list of behaviours that are being looked for and frequency noted) or inductive (where all behaviour is recorded and then trends emerge from the data).
- In order to make sure that observations are objective, it is important that more than researcher carry out the observation - or that the observation is recorded for others to analyze. Researchers should obtain similar data, leading to inter-rater reliability.
- Data may be obtained in one of three ways: point sampling, in which the behaviour of one member of a group is observed and then the next person in the group, etc - until all members have been observed. Event sampling - when behaviour is recorded when a specific behaviour occurs. For example - only when there is an act of aggression on the playground. And finally, there is time sampling - which is when the researcher records what is happening every minute - or whatever time s/he feels is most appropriate.
Here is a good tutorial on observations that may make all of this more clear.
Task 3: Thinking about how
Let's take a look at Festinger's (1951) study of the Doomsday cult. Try to answer each of the following questions in order to apply your knowledge of "how" an observation is carried out to explain the decisions made by the researcher.
1. What type of observation was this? Naturalistic or lab?
Naturalistic.
2. Overt or covert?
Covert.
3. Participant or non-participant?
Participant.
4. What types of behaviour were being observed?
In this case, Festinger was trying to find out how they prepared for the "final day." He wanted to know what steps they had already taken to dedicate themselves to the cult - and he wanted to see how they would cope when the world did not end. He was both recording their comments as well as their general behaviours.
5. What type of sampling was used?
This study used event sampling - in other words, whenever something relevant to the research occurred, the behaviours were recorded.
Observations: why
There are several reasons why social psychologists use observations.
For several of the topics that interest social psychologists, it would be difficult to create an experimental study that was not very artificial or unethical in nature. How could Festinger have created an experimental design to study what happens when people join cults?
In addition, social psychologists want to create an environment that is as naturalistic as possible so that the study has high ecological validity.
Very often the researcher carries out observations with the goal of applying the findings to the population in which the study takes place. Very often observations are carried out at schools with the goal of reducing bullying at the school, improving teacher effectiveness or figuring out how to help new students integrate better into the community. The goal is not to generalize to all schools. However, when several observations result in similar findings, then the observations may be more transferable to similar situations.
Observations try to eliminate the demand characteristics that can come from the experimental method. However, this is often countered by "reactivity" - which is when people behave differently, simply because they are being watched. This can, of course, be eliminated by carrying out a covert observation.
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