PS101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Meta-Analysis, Canadian Psychological Association, Social Desirability Bias
Document Summary
In some situations, psychologists cannot exert experimental control over the variables they want to study, for either ethical or practical reasons. In such situations, investigators must rely on descriptive/correlational research methods observation, case studies, and surveys. The lack of control means that these methods cannot be used to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships between variables. Descriptive/correlational methods permit investigators to only describe patterns of behaviour and discover links or associations between variables. In naturalistic observation a research engages in careful observation of behaviour without intervening directly with the research subjects or participants. Behaviour is to unfold in its natural environment. Naturalistic observation allows researchers to study behaviour under conditions that are less artificial than in experiments. Often, researchers have trouble making their observations unobtrusively so they don"t affect their participants" behaviour. Reactivity occurs when a subject"s behavior is altered by the presence of an observer. It is often difficult to translate naturalistic observations into numerical data that permit precise statistical analyses.
