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1、Edited by GLYNIS M. BREAKWELL Doing Social PSYCHOLOGY Research Social Doing Social Psychology Research To Professor Halla Beloff who encourages diversity Edited by GLYNIS M. BREAKWELL Doing Social PSYCHOLOGY Research Social 2004 by The British Psychological Society and Blackwell Publishing Ltd excep
2、t for editorial material and organization 2004 by Glynis M. Breakwell 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Glynis M. Breakwell to be identifi ed as the Author of the Editorial Material in t
3、his Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
4、except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2004 by The British Psychological Society and Blackwell Publishing Ltd Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Doing social psychology research / edited b
5、y Glynis M. Breakwell. 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-4051-0811-8 (alk. paper) ISBN 1-4051-0812-6 (pbk : alk. paper) 1. Social psychology Research Methodology. I. Breakwell, Glynis M. (Glynis Marie) HM1019.D65 2004 302dc222003015768 A catalogue record for this t
6、itle is available from the British Library. Set in 10/12pt Meridien by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by MPG Books, Bodmin, Cornwall For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: http:/ CONTENTS List of Contributorsvii 1Introduction: Appr
7、oaches to Data Collection and Data Analysis1 Glynis M. Breakwell 2Experimental Research Designs10 Lorne Hulbert 3Measuring Optimistic Bias54 Chris Fife-Schaw there are many routes to achieving a good understanding of a research method. Most chapters include three broad structural elements: Descripti
8、on of the method and its applications a succinct outline of the generic features of the method (what it is, how to do it, what it can be used for, its strengths and weaknesses), its links to particular theoretical models and exemplars of classic studies that have used it to good effect. Specifi c ex
9、ercise a description of a training exercise that can be pursued by the individual students or as part of a methods course; identifying a research question and showing how the method can be used to address it. It identifi es step by step what needs to be done in order to utilize the method. The forms
10、 of analysis that might be used with the information collected are explained (if the 4Glynis M. Breakwell analytical approach is not already obvious because it is intrinsic to the method). Notes for course leaders a brief description for course tutors who might wish to use the exercise of the assump
11、tions it makes about the level of experience of the student, the time it takes, the materials needed, the preparatory reading required and so on. While this element of the chapters is directed at course leaders, it may be valuable for students as well, allowing them to locate the method within a mat
12、rix of real constraints. However, each chapter takes on a unique shape and style. There is no excessive standardization of format across chapters since this can be boring and sometimes undermines the very real differences in approach included. Some chapters address fundamentally the same technique (
13、e.g. interviewing) but they do so from quite different perspectives or with different emphases. This is a valuable element of a contributed book on methods. The subtle differences between contributors in their rep- resentation of a technique highlight the need for students critically to evaluate ass
14、ertions that are made about the characteristics of any method. Some chapters are targeted at students who have had little previous research methods training. Others are more appropriate for students who have already been introduced to the basic techniques. Chapters are clearly categorized as introdu
15、ctory or more advanced so that the reader or course leader using them can be selective. The book is intended to be a useful resource throughout undergraduate studies. It could be used as the basis for developing expertise in social psycho- logy research methods in short bursts but in a cumulative fa
16、shion throughout the full period of an undergraduate course. Equally, it could be used as the framework for a single intensive injection of methods within a brief but cohesive programme focused on social psychology. Data Collection Methods: Elicitation and Recording Data collection is in reality abo
17、ut two intimately connected activities: data elicitation and data recording. Data elicitation is about accessing the information, opening it up for examination. Data recording is about codifying the discovered information in a way that allows the research question to be addressed. Introduction5 What
18、 is a data elicitation method? It is a way of getting informa- tion. So you could gain information by observing what people do (observation). For example, you could stand on a busy road with a machine that measures the speed of the motor cars that pass in order to determine the number of speeding of
19、fences on that road. Altern- atively, you could gain information by asking people questions about what they do, think or feel (self-report). To extend the earlier example, you could ask people who drive along the particular stretch of road whether they ever exceed the speed limit on it and how often
20、. Those questions could be asked verbally through some form of an interview or they could be asked in written form through some form of a questionnaire. The answers people are allowed to give could be open-ended (without any constraint imposed by you) or they could be structured to varying degrees (
21、limited in format by you in advance e.g. through the use of rating scales). Some methods of data collection involve no direct contact with the object of the research. These rely essentially upon archives (i.e. records) or artefacts as sources of data (archival). So, for instance, you might fi nd out
22、 what people who are long dead were doing in the nineteenth century by examining archives refl ecting their behaviour. For ex- ample, in order to understand something about family structures, you might look at parish records to determine how old people were when they married in the nineteenth centur
23、y. To continue with the earlier example in the context of the use of archives, you could use criminal records of automobile speeding fi nes on the target stretch of road to quantify the level of compliance with road use restrictions. Observation, self-report and archival methods of data elicitation
24、dominate in social psychology. Most others are merely variants of these three prime types. They are essentially different ways of struc- turing the observation, shaping self-report or accessing the archive. For instance, face-to-face interviews rely on self-report but so too do self-completion quest
25、ionnaires. Equally, the use of focus groups as a method of discovery relies upon observation but the measurement of physiological variation is also a type of observation. The data that observation, self-report and archival methods reveal can then be recorded in many different ways. All three can be
26、used to generate either qualitative or quantitative data records (and sometimes both at the same time). The form of the data is not intrins- ically dictated by the method of data elicitation used. When you use observation you can choose to give a qualitative account of what happens or you can decide
27、 to report a quantifi ed breakdown of what happens. For instance, you could observe the meeting of 6Glynis M. Breakwell two people in a railway station in terms of their demeanour, their movement to a table in a caf, what they order to drink, whether they look happy when they part. Alternatively, yo
28、u could decide to report how many times they touch each other and the interval of time between each such contact. The object in both cases may be to understand how people behave in public places and in both cases the data elicitation method is observation. However, one approach to recording the data
29、 is clearly qualitative and the other obviously quantitative. The dichotomy between qualitative and quantitative methods is not a division in the approach to data elicitation at the macro-level but a distinction in the way data are recorded and then subsequently analysed. Crucially, the way data are
30、 recorded matters. This is not simply because the way they are recorded will radically infl uence the way they can be subsequently treated (i.e. analysed, and this does not simply involve statistical analysis). It is also because the way data are recorded refl ects the underlying theoretical and epi
31、stemological beliefs of the researcher. Differences in data elicitation methods are less revealing of these distinctions in belief than differences in data recording. Both Popperian hypothesis testers and social construction- ists may use observation within the context of an interview but they are e
32、xceedingly unlikely to do the same things with the data thus collected. In learning about a method, it is always important to examine how data elicitation and recording may be related. All data elicitation techniques allow for a variety of recording methods. Choosing the best recording method is as
33、important for the question you are addressing as choosing the most appropriate data elicitation method. Research Designs When learning about research methods it is also worth remembering that the same data elicitation method can be used in many different types of research design. Essentially, the la
34、bel research design is simply shorthand for the overall structure of the study to be under- taken. It specifi es the components that comprise the study. It should identify the logical relationships between those components. The researcher should be able to explain how each component in the research
35、design is necessitated by the research question that is being addressed. The chapters in this book describe how research designs are built up from a research question. The various approaches to Introduction7 developing the research design that are included here illustrate that the key to a good stud
36、y is a very systematic unpicking of each aspect of the research question. A thorough understanding of what it is you really want to ask or actually want to know is the vital basis for good research. Ambiguity or under-specifi cation in the research question leads to poor research because it can resu
37、lt in the wrong data being elicited or data being recorded ineffectively or data analysis being misdirected. Getting the specifi cation of the research question correct is the prime precursor of effective research. It should already be evident that experimental and non- experimental research designs
38、 are not distinguishable on the basis of the data elicitation and recording methods they may employ. The logical distinctions between experimental, quasi-experimental and non-experimental research designs are explained in various chapters in this book. Suffi ce it to say here that the distinction hi
39、nges not upon the method of data elicitation or recording but upon the extent to which the researcher can and chooses to introduce structured manipulation of the participants in the study. Experimental designs involve systematic manipulation. Non-experimental designs involve no manipulation. Manipul
40、ation essentially comprises an intentional intervention on the part of the researcher that is designed to affect the participants in the study and lead to recordable outcomes. Manipulation is deemed to be intentional. It should not be confused with the unintended effects that the researcher might ha
41、ve upon study participants simply by attempting to elicit data. The chapters in this book illustrate a range of approaches to manipulation and their relationships to the research designs that can be used. Figure 1.1 summarizes the various levels that coexist and can be described in piece of research
42、. The fi gure can be used as an aide memoir when thinking about how to describe the methodological components of any study. Each of the chapters in this book can be characterized in terms of the fi rst three levels described in Figure 1.1. Table 1.1 provides that summary. Table 1.1 can be used in or
43、der for the reader to make a quick selection of a chapter that provides information relevant to particular forms of research activity. It can be used by a course leader to map out the sequence in which chapters might be included in a methods course. The table illustrates that chapters overlap in the
44、 research skills that they depict. It is consequently useful in planning comparisons between different approaches to one research tool (e.g. alternative ways of using self-report data from interviews or quasi- experimental designs). 8Glynis M. Breakwell Level 4: Data treatment and analysis Data may
45、be analysed using qualitative or quantitative techniques. The same data can often be analysed using both types of technique. Level 1: Research design ExperimentalNon-experimental Level 2: Data elicitation ObservationSelf-reportArchival Each can be done through many media (e.g. written, audio, visual
46、, artefactual). Each may involve varying degrees of interaction between the researcher and the subject of the research. Technological developments (e.g. closed circuit televisual recording, computer-assisted questionnaire administration or online web-based techniques) are dramatically modifying the
47、nature of the interaction between researcher and researched. Level 3: Data recording Data recording can be structured prior to initiating data elicitation or can have structure imposed post hoc. Some structuring prior to analysis is inevitable if the research is to involve more than direct descripti
48、on. The structure imposed can take many forms. It might be unitary (e.g. indicating presence or absence of the entity), or frequency-based, or intensity-based (e.g. rating or scaling approaches) or thematic (i.e. identifying patterns in the information collected). Quasi-experimental Figure 1.1Method
49、ological levels of a research study Introduction9 Table 1.1Chapter coverage ChapterResearch designData elicitationData recording ObservationSelf-reportArchivalPre-structuredPost-structured Chapter 2ExperimentalXX Chapter 3ExperimentalXXX Chapter 4Quasi-experimentalXX Chapter 5Quasi-experimentalXXXXX Chapter 6Quasi-experimentalXX Chapter 7Non-experimentalXX Chapter 8Non-experimentalXXX Chapter 9Quasi-experimentalXXXX Chapter 10Non-experimentalXXX Chapter 11Non-experimentalXX Chapter 12Non-experimentalXX Chapter 13Non-experimentalXXX Chap