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Class -11
Chapter 2
Methods of Enquiry in Psychology?
Table of Contents
Introduction:
We understood that Psychologists use different procedure to study the mental processes, behaviour & experiences. This procedure of research is “the methods of enquiry in Psychology”.
Why do we need a Psychological Enquiry? – The answer is in Goals of Psychological Enquiry:-
Goals of Psychological Enquiry
Any Scientific research, psychological enquiry has the following goals:-
1. Description:- Describing a behaviour or phenomenon as accurately as possible
2. Prediction:- If we can describe the form of behaviour, we should be able to predict that under certain conditions this particular behaviour may occur within a certain margin of error.
3. Explanation:- The third goal is to know the causal factors or determinants of behaviour & to explain those factors accordingly.
4. Control of behaviour:- If you are able to explain why a particular behaviour occurs, you can control that behaviour by making changes in its antecedent conditions.
5. Application of knowledge:- The final goal of the scientific enquiry is to bring out positive changes in the lives of people.
Once we know why we are doing the research & what are the goals, it’s time to find out the characteristics of how we are going to conduct those research, which includes 2 steps:-
Steps in Conducting Scientific Research
There are only two characteristics that we look while conducting a scientific research:
Objectivity & Systematic approach of research.
a. Objectivity: - Objectivity refers to the fact that if two or more persons independently study particular event, both of them, to a great extent, should arrive at the same conclusions.
b. Systematic:- This is a step by step process of conducting a research
1) Conceptualising a Problem: The research starts with the problem or topic a researcher wants to study about.
2) Collecting Data: After identifying the problem, It’s time to collect relevant data, Data collection method is of 6 types
Some Important Methods in Psychology
i. Observational Method
ii. Experimental Method
iii. Correlational Research
iv. Survey Research
v. Psychological Testing
vi. Case Study
i. Observational Method:
On a daily basis, we see a lot of things but observe only some. This is one of the amazing ways to collect the behavioural data.
A Scientific observation differs from day to day observation in many ways. These are:-
a. Selection – Psychologists do not observe all the behaviour that they encounter. Rather, they select a particular behaviour for observation.
b. Recording – Then they record the data to remember & for others to take reference from these data.
c. Analysis of Data – And finally they analyse the data as per their understanding, finding & requirements.
Types of Observation
i. Naturalistic vs Controlled Observation – if the environment of observation is not manipulated it is Naturalistic Observation, If the environment is manipulated as per to adjust the observation under controlled condition it is controlled observation.
ii. Non-Participant vs Participant Observation – if you are observing a person and he/she knows it, it is participant observation. If he/she doesn’t know that they are being observed, it is non-participant observation.
ii. Experimental Method:-
Experiments are generally conducted to establish cause-effect relationship between two sets of events or variables in a controlled setting. It is a carefully regulated procedure in which changes are made in one factor, while its effect is studied on another factor, while keeping other related factors constant.
The concept of Variable
What is Variable – Any event or stimulus which varies, that is, it takes on different values (or changes) and can be measured is a Variable.
Variables are of two kinds:- Independent Variable & Dependent Variable
a. Independent Variable: It is that variable which is manipulated or altered or its strength varied by the researcher in the experiment.
b. Dependent Variable: The variable on which the effect of independent variable is observed is called dependent variable.
Thus, the independent variable is the cause, and dependent variable is the effect in any experimental situation.
Experimental & Control Groups
a. Experimental Groups: An experimental group is a group in which members of the group are exposed to independent variable manipulation.
b. Control Groups: The control group is a comparison group that is treated in every way like the experimental group except that the manipulated variable is absent in it.
Control Techniques for relevant variables:-
1. Since the goal of an experiment is to minimise extraneous variables, the best way to handle this problem is to eliminate them from the experimental setting.
2. Elimination is not always possible. In such cases, effort should be made to hold them constant
3. In this procedure the relevant variables in the two groups are equated or are held constant by taking matched pairs across conditions of the experiment
4. Counter-balancing technique is used to minimise the sequence effect. Suppose there are two tasks to be given in an experiment. Rather than giving the two tasks in the same sequence the experimenter may interchange the order of the tasks.
5. Random assignment of participants to different groups eliminates any potential systematic differences between groups.
Limitations of Experimental Method:-
1. The experiments have low external validity means it may produce results that do not generalise well, or apply to real situations.
2. It is not always feasible to study a particular problem experimentally.
3. It is difficult to know and control all the relevant variables
Field Experiments & Quasi Experiments
If a researcher wants to have high generalisability or to conduct studies which are not possible in laboratory settings, s/he may go to the field or the natural setting where the particular phenomenon actually exists. In other words, s/he may conduct a Field Experiment.
In the situation where many variables cannot be manipulated in the laboratory settings. Like Earthquake effect on children, Quasi Experimentation is adopted.
iii. Correlational Research
In psychological research, we often wish to determine the relationship between two variables for prediction purposes. For example, you may be interested in knowing whether “the amount of study time” is related to the “student’s academic achievement”. The strength and direction of the relationship between the two variables is represented by a number, known as correlation coefficient. Its value can range from +1.0 through 0.0 to –1.0.
Agar ladki / ladka pat gai / gaya to Positive Correlation, agar nahi pati to Negative Correlation aur agar use samajh hi nahi aaya ki tum patane ki koshish kar rahe ho to Zero Correlation.
We often wish to determine the relationship between two variables for prediction purposes. Here we try to find out the relationship between the two variables to determine whether they are associated, covary or not.
The strength & direction of the relationship between the two variables is represented by number known as Correlation coefficient. Its value ranges from +1.0 through 0.0 to -1.0.
Correlation could be of three types: Positive, Negative & Zero.
Positive Correlation: It indicates that as the value of one variable (X) increases, the value of the other variable (Y) will also increase & vice versa. X Y
Negative Correlation: It indicates that as the value of one variable (X) increases, the value of the other variable (Y) will decrease & vice versa. X Y
Zero Correlation: It is possible that sometimes no correlation may exist between the two variables, this is called Zero Correlation. This indicates that no significant relationship exists between two variables or the two variables are unrelated.
iv. Survey Research
A survey research is basically a method of collecting data through various means of survey like Personal Interviews, Questionnaires & Telephonic Surveys.
Let’s understand these methods in detail.
a. Personal Interviews:-
A personal Interview is a method of asking questions from Individual or group to obtain the relevant data. Generally one person sit across other person either face to face or through video call& one person (generally called interviewer) asks certain questions to another person (interviewee or respondent)
There can be two broad types of interviews -
i. Structured or Standardised: A structured interview is one where the questions in the schedule are written clearly in a particular sequence. The interviewer has little or no liberty to make changes in the wordings of the questions or the order in which they are to be asked.
Type of Questions asked – Close ended questions (like MCQ’s or Yes/No)
ii. Unstructured or non-standardised: in an unstructured interview the interviewer has the flexibility to take decisions about the questions to be asked, the wording of the questions, and the sequence in which questions are to be asked.
Type of Questions asked – Open ended questions (like Subjective questions)
An interview may have the following combinations of participants in an interview situation are-
i. Individual to Individual: One Interviewer interviews another person
ii. Individual to group: One interviewer interviews a group of persons.
iii. Group to Individuals: One group of interviewers interview one person.
iv. Group to Group: One group of interviewers interviews another group of interviewees.
Interviewing is a skill which requires proper training. A good interviewer knows how to make the respondent at ease and get the optimal answer. S/he remains sensitive to the way a person responds and, if needed, probes for more information. If the respondent gives vague answers, the interviewer may try to get specific and concrete answers.
Benefits of Personal Interviews:-
i. The interview method helps in obtaining in-depth information.
ii. It is flexible & adaptable to individual situations, and can often be used when no other method is possible or adequate.
iii. It can be used even with children, and non-literate persons.
iv. An interviewer can know whether the respondent understands the questions, and can repeat or paraphrase questions.
Limitations of Personal Interviews:-
i. Interviews require time. Often getting information from one person may take an hour or more which is not cost effective.
b. Questionnaires:-
· The questionnaire is the most common, simple, versatile, and low-cost self-report method of collecting information.
· It consists of a predetermined set of questions.
· The respondent has to read the questions and mark the answers on paper rather than respond verbally to the interviewer.
· They are in some ways like highly structured interviews.
· Generally there are two types of questions used in questionnaire: Open-ended & Closed-ended.
· With Open-ended questions, the respondent is free to write whatever answers s/he considers appropriate.
· In Closed-ended type, the questions and their probable answers are given & the respondent is required to select the correct answer.
· Closed-ended questions responses are like yes/No, True/False, multiple choice or rating scales (3 point, 5 point, 7 point, 11 point, etc).
· Questionnaires can be filled either in pen & paper or through E-mail like Google forms.
c. Telephone Surveys:-
· Surveys are conducted through telephone, via mobile phones SMS, apps, etc.
Benefits of Telephone Surveys:-
i. The telephone survey helps in reducing time.
Limitations of Telephone Surveys:-
i. The respondents don’t know the interviewer; the technique is fraught with uncooperativeness, reluctance, and superficial answers by the respondents.
ii. Clear data of respondents is not available in terms of age, gender, income levels, education levels, etc.
Advantages of Survey Method:
i. Information can be gathered quickly and efficiently from thousands of persons.
ii. Since surveys can be conducted quickly, public opinions on new issues can be obtained almost as soon as the issues arise.
Limitations of Survey Method:
i. People may give inaccurate information because of memory lapses or they may not want to let the researcher know what they really believe about a particular issue.
ii. People sometimes offer responses they think the researcher wants to hear.
v. Psychological Testing
· Assessment of individual differences has remained one of the important concerns of psychology from the very beginning.
· Psychologists have constructed different types of tests for assessment of various human characteristics, such as intelligence, aptitude, personality, interest, attitudes, values, educational achievement, etc.
· These tests are used for various purposes, such as personnel selection, placement, training, guidance, diagnosis, etc., in multiple contexts including educational institutions, guidance clinics, industries, defence establishments, and so forth.
· A Psychological test is a standardised and objective instrument which is used to assess an individual’s standing in relation to others on some mental or behavioural characteristics.
· Objectivity - Objectivity refers to the fact that if two or more researchers administer a psychological test on the same group of people, both of them would come up with more or less the same values for each person in the group.
· Standardised - The construction of a test is a systematic & standard process and involves certain steps. It involves detailed analysis of items, and estimating reliability, validity, and norms of the whole test.
o Reliability -. Reliability of the test refers to the consistency of scores obtained by an individual on the same test on two different occasions.
§ Test-retest reliability – It is computed by finding out co-efficient of correlation between the two sets of scores on the same set of persons.
§ Split-half reliability – It gives an indication about the degree of internal consistency of the test.
o Validity - Validity refers to the question: “Does the test measure what it claims to measure”?
o Norms - norm is the normal or average performance of the group. This helps us in comparing the performance of an individual student with others of the same group.
· Types of Tests – Tests are classified on three basis – Language, mode of administration & difficulty level.
o Language – Verbal, Non-Verbal & Performance test
§ Verbal – Literacy is required for taking verbal tests as the items have to be written in some language.
§ NonVerbal Tests – In this items are made of symbols or pictures.
§ Performance Tests – It require movement of objects from the respective places in a particular order.
o Mode of Administration – Psychological tests are divided into individual or group tests.
§ Individual Test – An individual test is administered by the researcher to one person at a time.
§ Group Test – A group tests cab be administered to large number of persons at the same time.
o Difficulty level – Psychological tests are also classified into speed & power tests
§ Speed test – There is a time limit within which the test taker is required to answer all the items.
§ Power test – It assesses the underlying ability of the individuals by allowing them sufficient time. i.e; these test don’t have any time limit. It is generally observed or arranged in increasing order of difficulty.
·
vi. Case Study:
In this method, the emphasis is given on in-depth study of a particular case.
The case can be an
i. Individual
ii. a small group of individuals having some commonality among them (Like Rabindra nath Tagore),
iii. Institutions (poorly or successfully functioning school or a corporate office)
iv. Specific Events (Children exposed to devastation by tsunami, war or pollution)
· A case study employs multiple methods for collecting information, such as interview, observation & psychological tests from a variety of respondents who in some way or the other might be associated with the case & can provide useful information.
· A case study is a valuable research tool in the field of clinical psychology and human development.
· Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory or Piaget cognitive development theory was emerged from case study method.
· Things to be cautious of:-
o The problem of validity in a single case study is quite challenging.
o It is recommended that the information should be collected using multiple strategies from different sources of information by a number of investigators.
o Careful planning of data collection is also very necessary.
3) Analysis of Data:
Once we have identified the problem & collected the data through different methods stated above, not is the time to analyse these data through 2 different methods: Quantitative & Qualitative
Quantitative Method:-
Any data which can be quantified in numbers or in scaled form is Quantitative method (like 1, 2, 3.. or total of all numbers or mean, median, & mode)
Qualitative Method:
Any data which cannot be quantified in numbers & are in descriptive form is Qualitative data like interviews, taped/video recorded, informal talks, etc. These type of data cannot be converted into scores or subjected to statistical analysis.
Limitations of Psychological Enquiry
1. Lack of true Zero Point
2. Relative nature of Psychological Tools
3. Subjective Interpretation of Qualitative Data
Ethical Issues
1. Respect for persons’ privacy
2. Choice to participate in the study, beneficence
3. Protecting the participants in the study from any harm & justice
4. Sharing the benefits of research with all participants.
Some of the important aspects of these ethical principles are described as follows
a. Voluntary Participation:
b. Informed consent
c. Debriefing
d. Sharing the results of the study
e. Confidentiality of Data Source
Please refer YouTube Videos for this.
Channel Link - https://www.youtube.com/c/LearnPsychologywithVishalPandey
Playlist link for Class 11 Psychology – Chapter 2 – Methods of Enquiry in Psychology - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6-r-i_e9BafZjYQ8pgU5S6RYe_oR07Pe
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