Research Methods 1

Not finished, Greer

What is a correlation?

A statistical measure that expresses the extent to which two co-variables are related

Positive Correlation

Co-variables change in the same direction

Negative correlation

Co-variables change in opposite directions

What is the correlation co-efficient?

Shows the strength and direction of the correlation. Must be above +.8 for the study to be considered reliable/valid

Evaluation of correlations

Strengths:

• May indicate connection

• Don’t require manipulation of variables

• High ecological validity

Weaknesses

• Don’t prove causal relationships

• Don’t reflect curvilinear relationships

Case studies

• In depth investigation, description and analysis of individuals, groups, or institutions

• Usually about something unusual

• Mostly qualitative data

• Happens over an extended period of time

Case Studies AO3

Strengths

• Rich, detailed, qualitative insights into behaviour

• Can e used to generate future hypothesises

Weaknesses

• Generalisability

• Subjective

• Researcher bias

• Low validity

Content analysis

• Indirect Study of behaviour by examining communications

• Observational

• Coding- Analysis of the communication, identifying instances of the chosen categories

• Thematic analysis- Identifying themes, implicit or explicit ideas within the data that are researched

Content analysis AO3

Strengths

• Informed consent- easy as data is pre-existing

• High external validity

Weaknesses

• Indirect study analysed outside of the context it occurred

• Bias risk- subjective

Reliability

A measure of consistency, if the experiment is repeated, you will get the same result