Test 1: Research Methodology Prompts

Evaluate the ethical considerations specific to a case study

Many ethical considerations between case studies and other research methods are in alignment such as the right to withdraw and an obligation to protect the participants, but a complicating ethical factor specific to case studies is the need to take extra steps to maintain anonymity.

To what extent is psychology scientific?

Psychology is highly scientific because of the method in which experiments are conducted and because of the elements of biology that are present in psychology, but this is complicated by how subjective psychological research can be.

Analyze how a psychologist can ensure a sample of a target population is appropriate for the experiment.

Researchers can ensure their sample is appropriate for the experiment by using sampling techniques such as random sampling and stratified sampling, but it becomes complicated due to the fact that certain target populations might not want to participate in the study.

To what extent should natural experiments be considered the gold standard of psychological research?

Natural experiments can provide useful information such as understanding how people and animals behave within their natural habitats, but aren’t necessarily the gold standard because although researchers can observe subjects in their natural environment and avoid participant bias, the issue arises with the researcher’s lack of control over extraneous variables.

Explain the role that variables play in a field study in psychology.

As with most experiments in psychology, there are independent, dependent, extraneous, and control variables. These variables play a minor part in field studies because researchers are observing for the most part and only controlling a small part of the experiment, making extraneous variables very present in these studies.