Psych review, chapter 2 - Research designs in child development

What are the 4 steps of the scientific method?

1) observe a problem, ask a question

2) Background research, hypothesis, and experiment

3) analyze data

4) communicate results

What are the types of research as it relates to child develpment?

1) longitudinal - subjects are studied across a long period of time

• pro: informative of the evolutionary trajectories of a determined variable

• costs time and resources

2) cross-sectional - data is collected once, on a group of subjects of different ages

• pros: cost effective

• cons: differences associate with age could be due to social, cultural, or economic factors rather than evolutionary trends

3) sequential - individuals of different age are repeated studied over long periods of time (MIX OF BOTH)

What are the different types of research design?

Correlational design: aims to verify if two or more variables have a correlation

• uses questionnaires

Experimental design: aims to verify if there is a cause-effect relationship between two or more variables.

• uses lab experiments, questionnaires

Descriptive design: aims to describe a specific phenomenon

• observation, interviews, focus groups

What are the instruments of investigation?

questionnaire - useful for evaluating a vast array of topics that demonstrate the perceptions and beliefs of subjects. Used with children over 8 years old

observation - observing a phenomenon systematically by following a set of regulations that limit subjectivity (who/what to observe, where, when, and how to record data). Different types of observation:

• contextual - natural vs. artificial (in lab)

• situational - structured (controlled variables) vs. non-structured