PSYCO105 Lecture : Jan 13 - methods continued.docx

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCO105
• Professor: Jennifer Passey

Document Summary

Describe behaviour without systemically investigating relationships between specific variables. May involve numbers; ex: prevalence of psychological disorders in a community. May not involve numbers; ex, sequence of courtship behaviours in mallard ducks. Of extensive descriptive study: jane goodall"s research on wild chimpanzees in africa. Laboratory study: study in which the subjects are brought to a designated area set up to facilitate researchers control over conditions. Field study: study conducted in a setting other than a lab. Advantage of laboratory over field: allows the researcher to collect data under more uniform, controlled conditions. Disadvantage of the laboratory over the field: strangeness or artificiality of the laboratory may induce behaviours that obscure those that the researcher wants study. Greater confidence when findings emerge in both settings. Experiments not necessarily conducted in the lab; correlational and descriptive studies not necessarily carried out in the field.