1. Scientific Inquiry Skills

Interviews:

Structured - the researcher follows a strict script that is not deviated from

Unstructured - general questions that allow the participant to talk about what is of interest to them

Semi-Structured - some consistent questions, but follow up questions can be asked depending on responses provided

Content Analysis in a Focus Group: (OINTA)

1. Organise the data (read it, then read it again)

2. Identify core themes

3. Name the themes

4. Track the themes

5. Analyse the content of the themes

Strength of Focus Groups

• Richness and complexity of the data

• Inexpensive to carry out

• Easy to organise

Weaknesses of Focus Groups

• Subjective data is hard to interpret

• Discomfort in revealing experiences due to the presence of others

• Less confidentiality than one on one interview

Delphi Technique: A series of self-administered questionnaires & feedback to obtain the opinion of experts across an area to reach a consensus of opinions

Process: (ERRS)

1. Experts are asked their opinion on the topic based on level of agreement on the opinion

2. The questionnaire, including a summary of the experts’ opinions, is redistributed

3. Participants are asked to re-rank their agreement

4. Summary of findings is produced when there is an acceptable level of consensus

Strengths of Delphi Technique:

• Inexpensive contact with experts over large geographical areas

• Exposure to different points of view

• Less domination than could occur by one individual or subgroup in group discussion

Weaknesses of Delphi Technique:

• Forces consensus with the pressure exerted by expertise

• Lack of discussion may weaken agreed upon opinions

Types of Observational Designs:

• Naturalistic: Observing subjects in their natural environment without any interference from the observer (no manipulation of variables)

  → Helpful as a hypothesis-generating approach, because the rich information gathered can inspire further research.

  → E.G A researcher sitting in a park, unobserved, watching interactions between parents and children.

• Correlational: Investigating if there is a relationship between two variables (no manipulation of variables).

  → E.G Finding the relationship between stress and mental health: as stress increases, it can be observed that mental health decreases. This is a negative correlation: as one variable(stress) increases, the other variable (mental health) decreases.

• Longitudinal: Study the same people over a long period of time to observe changes in development, personality, education, socio-economic status, relationships etc (no manipulation of variables)

  → E.G ‘The Secret life of 4 Year Olds’ & ‘Three Identical Strangers’

• Cross-sectional: Comparing different groups of people at one point in time (no manipulation of variables)

  → E.G Comparing the verbal fluency of 10 and 15 year old children.

• Sequential: A combination of longitudinal and cross sectional observations.

Types of Experimental Designs:

• Independent Group: The presence of experimental & control groups

  → The experimental group is exposed to the experimental condition so the IV is present.

  → The control group is NOT exposed to the experimental condition so the IV is absent. 

• Repeated Measures: One group that is exposed to both the experimental & control condition at different times.

• Matched Participants: Allocates participants with similar characteristics to the control and experimental groups.

  → E.G participants may need to do a pretest to rank their memory ability so they can be paired on ability as they are allocated to the control or experimental group.

Placebo Effect: When a subject’s response is influenced by their expectations rather than the actual procedure being used to produce that response.

→ Placebo: a treatment or substance that has no known effect. e.g. sugar pill.

Single Blind Trials: Where the subjects are not aware whether they are in the control or experimental group, help to manage the placebo effect.

Double Blind Trials: Where the subjects nor the experimenter are not aware whether they are in the control or experimental group, help to manage the placebo effect. An outside person from the experiment is in charge of allocation of participants into groups