Case study for research methods

Study: Lab experiment

Ross, et al. (1977)

Game show, fundamental attribution error

Kendler, et al. (2006)

role of genetics playing in major depressive disorder (twin study)

Study: Correlational study

Study: self report interview and questionnaire

Buss (1989)

showing that male look for fertile females, females look for men that can support offspring

Study: Observation

Festinger (1954)
case study

covert participant field naturalistic

cognitive dissonance on doomsday

Study: Case study

Scoville & Milner (1957)

Corkin (1997)

HM

Aim of Ross et al.

test whether knowledge of allocated social roles in a quiz show would affect the participants’ judgments of expertise

hyp: questioners - more knowledgeable rating

ross et al - iv, dv

confounding variable

iv conditions

• experimental group: questions made

• control group: given

dv - rating scale for knowledge

confounding: participant variability - appearance, confidence level

results of Ross et al

situational advantage that questioners can make own q —> higher knowledge ratings (fundamental attribution error)

Evaluation of Ross et al

ethics

• P: control extraneous v - regulate communication

• replicable

• L: low ecological validity and mundane realism

• low population validity - sample = intro class at Stanford

• participant protection: mental stress

• deception/not fully informed of true aim

fundamental attribution error

when people overestimate personality traits (dispositional factors) in actors when explaining behavior and underestimate environmental influences (situational factors)

kendler - aim

kendler - sample

determine the role that genetics play in major depressive disorder 

purposive sampling of 40000+ twins including 15000+ complete pairs from Swedish national twin registry

kendler findings

concordance rate for depression

FF mz

MM mz

FF dz (sig diff between mz and dz)

kendler evaluation

P: confirms previous research (reliability)

very large sample size from single population

L: no causal relationship, self reported info about depression (differences between M and F), questionable validity of clinical diagnosis of depression (not very reliable)

buss aim

investigate 3 evolution-based assumptions ab human mate selection

1. men will favor youth and physical appearance (high reproductive value)

2. man with resources to support offspring

3. chastity valued

buss-sample

37 samples from 33 countries with 10,000+ participants with mean age of 23

diff sampling technique from each country

buss - finding

support 1 and 2

women valued good financial prospects more

men preferred younger mates in all samples (close to peak female fertility age)

f prefer older

buss - evaluation

P: survey format allowed large, cross cultural sample

easy to compare and analyze results (scale)

L: self report may not be fully truthful

interpretation of ratings may be diff

miss out on important details bc clsoed response

historical validity low (1989 - sociocultural)

construct validity difficulty due to cultural norms

results do not tell us why these preferences exist

festinger aim

understand the coping method of participants when apocalypse did not happen

festinger hypothesis,

key metrics

greater commitment, less likely to change behavior despite major disappointment

degree of belief, actions taken by members and future actions (level of commitment)

festinger finding

proposed his theory of cognitive dissonance which argues that when they realized that they had sacrificed so much - both personally and professionally - to join the cult, but that the predictions appear to have been wrong, this led to extreme anxiety.

—> alleviate = justify their behavior.

accepting Ms. Keech's automatically written message that they had saved this world

defies logic

to maintain self esteem

festinger evaluation

P: Provide insight into cognition / proposal of theory of cognitive dissonance

Rich data from actual response

C: Ethical concerns due to covert observation

Researcher influence in participant observation

Suspicions due to observers (did not quit jobs, frequently left meetings, sudden inc in members, etc)

Observer fatigue, reliance on memory / possible distortion

Lack of standardized measurement tool / potential low interobserver reliability

scoville & milner aim

in 1953, scoville performed surgery on 27 year old HM to cure him of epileptic seizure

scoville & milner procedure

removed medial temporal lobe tissue and hippocampus. Milner started cognitive studying of HM once extent of memory loss was realized

scoville & milner finding

Hm lost ability to form new memories (anterograde amnesia) and anterograde procedural memory

surgery to remove part of hippocampus, uncus, and amygdala resutled in total anterograde amnesia and partial retrograde amnesia

scoville & milner evaluation

P: method triangulation → indepth study, credibility

possible to investigate unethical or impractical cases

C: applicability low

transferability/generzability low

retrospective information cant be confirmed

high dose of anti epileptic drug he was taking before, memory loss

corkin aim

investigate the extent of the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe damage to HM brain and to determine whether this could be sufficient to have resulted in drastic memory loss suffered by HM

corkin procedure

one MRI scan conducted on HM in 1992 and 1993. before 1992 scan HM completed IQ test and memory test. IQ test showed that he had normal intelligence but memory test showed he had severe amnesia

corkin finding

Study demonstrates the importance of the hippocampus and the temporal medial lobe area for memory.

corkin evaluation

P: took care to ensure MRI did not cause trouble despite HM’s three non magnetic clips in brain

ethically: milner gave permission for MRI scans for HM instead of legal guardian