PS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Percentile, Central Tendency, Social Desirability Bias
Document Summary
Researcher engages in careful observation of behaviour without intervening directly with the research subjects or participants. A major strength of naturalistic observation is that it allows researchers to study behaviour under conditions that are less artificial than in experiments. Reactivity: occurs when a subject"s behaviour is altered by the presence of an observer. They work particularly well for investigating certain phenomena such as disorders. The main problem with case studies is that they can be highly subjective. Researchers may focus on information that fits with their expectations and its relatively easy for them to see what they expect to see in case study research. Broadens the scope of phenomena that psychologists are able to study. A disadvantage is that investigators cannot control events to isolate cause and effect. Example: how growing up in rural communities affects your values. Descriptive statistics: used to organize and summarize data using things like mean, median, mode etc.
