commonly used measures of psychological research - psychology chapter 2

measures

the tools and techniques used to assess thought or behavior

self-reports

• written or oral accounts of a person’s own thoughts, feelings, or actions

• in interviews, responses are often open-ended and not constrained by the researcher

• in questionnaires, response options are limited to the choices given, often on a numeric scale

• one problem with this measure is social desirability bias

social desirability bias

one problem with self-reports, in which people present themselves inaccurately for fear of looking bad

behavioral measures

• based on systematic observation of people’s actions

• either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting

• less susceptible to social desirability bias and provide more objective measurements

physiological measures

• measures of bodily responses to determine changes in psychological states

• for example: to determine the magnitude of a stress reaction

• measured responses may include heart rate, sweating, respiration, hormonal changes, and brain activity

• specialized training and expensive equipment is often involved