AP Psychology Unit 1.2 Study Guide

1.2 RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY

Methods of Research Ways to Do Research

  • Surveys - Cross Sectional

  • Naturalistic Observation - Longitudinal

  • Case Study

  • Experiments

Survey

Gathering data on what people think and have done. Data is raw and needs to be processed to make it into a useful info.

Strength: Can gather large amounts of data very quickly, easily. Allows for anonymity.

Weakness: Participants can lie, misunderstand. Wording effect, questions can effect answers.

Case Study

Kind-of the opposite of surveys. Deep data is gathered about a specific individual/group.

Strength: Full picture of what happened, chronological data, different views.

Weakness: Time consuming, focuses on one person in a detailed way, not generalizable.

Naturalistic Observation

Researchers need to go to people’s environments to observe them as they are.

Strengths: Authentic data, allows real treatment.

Weakness: Ethics of informed consent, lack of control, not explanations just descriptions.

Ways to do these methods:

Cross Sectional Studies

  • compares different groups

  • gathers data at one point in time

  • doesn’t give history

Longitudinal Studies

  • follows one group

  • gathers data over a long time

  • may not be generalized

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