Psychology Investigations OCR Advantages and Disadvantages

Psychology Investigations OCR Advantages and Disadvantages

1. Self-Report

   • Advantages
     • Questionnaires are a quick and cheap way of gathering lots of data, especially quantitative
     • Can access people's thoughts and feelings (which observation cannot)
   • Disadvantages
     • Demand Characteristics: social desirability (lowers validity)
     • People may lie, they therefore lack validity
   • Interviews
     • Advantages
       • Over questionnaires, In an unstructured interview further questions can be asked, there is flexibility
       • Gives rise to rich qualitative data
     • Disadvantages
       • Compared to questionnaires, they are not as easy to analyse
       • Experimenter effect (a demand characteristic) which lowers validity
       • Unstructured interviews require trained interviewers, expensive

2. Observations

   • Disadvantages
     • Lack of control, therefore not reliable
     • Demand characteristics (if overt)
     • Ethical issues if covert
   • Advantages
     • High in ecological validity
     • No demand characteristics (if covert)

3. Experiments

   • Advantages
     • Standardised procedure therefore replicable
     • High level of control over extraneous variables
     • Can establish cause and effect by controlling extraneous variables
   • Disadvantages
     • Lack of ecological validity
     • Demand characteristics as situation is artificial, affecting validity
     • Ethical issues of deception (especially in social psychology)
     • Tend to be snapshot studies therefore reductionist

4. Field Studies

   • Advantages
     • High in ecological validity
     • Low in demand characteristics (if covert)
   • Disadvantages
     • Ethical issues (if covert)
     • High in demand characteristics (if overt)
     • Lack of control lowers validity

5. Case Studies

   • Advantages
     • Give rise to rich qualitative data
     • Although unscientific, just one case study can be used to disprove a theory
     • See development over time
   • Disadvantages
     • Cannot generalise as only one participant
     • Subjectivity may become a problem over time
     • Ethical issues with long term and intense involvement
     • Lack of control. Cannot be replicated

6. Quasi Experiments

   • Disadvantages
     • Lack of control makes it more difficult to establish cause and effect
     • Presence of extraneous variables may lower validity
     • May be difficult to obtain a large enough sample
   • Advantages
     • Ecologically valid as variables are naturally occuring
     • Ethical issues with manipulation are aviod

7. Longitudinal Studies

   • Advantages
     • Can see development over time
     • Often case studies so plenty of rich qualitative data
     • Contributes to nurture side of nature/nurture debate
     • ecologically valid
   • Disadvantages
     • Lack of control over variables lowers validity
     • lack of control lowers replicability
     • Subject attrition: subjects may drop out
     • Ethical Issues with long term involvement

8. Repeated Measures

   • Advantages
     • Controls for individual differences
     • Need fewer participants
   • Disadvantages
     • Demand characteristics/ transparency lowers validity
     • Order effects: fatigue, boredom, practice lower validity
     • Can't use exactly the same test so need to find one of same difficulty

9. Correlations

   • Advantages
     • Investigates if there is a link between 2 variables, can act as pilot study
     • Avoids ethical and practical issues with manipulation
     • Ecologically valid
   • Disadvantages
     • Cannot establish cause and effect
     • Cannot control extraneous variables which may affect correlation

10. Deception

    • Disadvantages
      • Unethical
      • May discourage people from participating in research
    • Advantages
      • Can increase validity
        • Can increase ecological validity