HOW PSYCHOLOGISTS ANSWER THE“WHY” OF ANIMAL AND HUMAN

BEHAVIOR

METHODS OF RESEARCH

DEFINITION:

secret observation of the subjects-animal or human-in daily activity, recording their behavior.

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION

ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGES

Creatures will behave Since researchers normally because they can’t talk to don’t know anyone is subject they maywatching them. misinterpret

behavior.

EXAMPLE OF NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION

Jane Goodall’s research with the

Gorillas.

Charles Darwin-sea journey

INTERVIEWS

Definition: Research method for studying people face to face and asking questions.

Advantages:

Researcher can obtain personal, detailed information.

Disadvantages

Researcher biases can influence behavior.—how? All of us have our own prejudices against certain types of people, certain age groups, etc. These factors could influence our questions as well as our interpretations of the answers

Subject’s responses may not be completely honest.

CASE STUDY METHOD

Definition: Research that collects lengthy, detailed information about a person’s background, usually for psychological treatment.

CASE STUDY METHOD**The goal is to find

out as much as possible about how the individual’s personality has evolved from early years in order to shed light on their present-day problems. (This is an advantage to this method)

Disadvantage:

Subject may not be honest.

Researcher bias can influence behavior

**Caution: You can’t generalize from your findings—it may not be true of others.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS:.

Definition: objective methods for observation and measurement of subjects in various areas, such as IQ or personality

PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS

Advantages: Accurate, objective information-little chance of distorting the results.

Disadvantages: Tests are limited in the amount of info. they can obtain.

Definition: a method of research that studies the same group of people over an extended period of time. ( years)

Advantages: good for certain types of research like studies on development

Disadvantages: expensive and time-consuming

(representative sample)

Definition: method of research that looks at different age groups at the same time in order to understand changes that occur during lifetime.

CROSS-SECTIONAL METHOD

Example: Does intelligence notably decline with age? Researchers took samples from each age group and compared them.

Advantages: Samples used are usually representative of population as a whole.

Less expensive and time- consuming than longitudinal

Disadvantages: Not appropriate for some types of research.