in research studies psychologists rely heavily upon

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Anthropologists Gerontologists Psychologists Sociologists Summary

Natural scientists and some behavioral scientists rely heavily on classic experimentation as the primary tool for scientific research. The power of the experimental method is that scientists tightly control the conditions under which a phenomenon is observed so that they can minimize the likelihood that observations are due to chance or error. In so doing, researchers can determine "causality"—that is, they can conclude that a change in one variable causes a change in another.

Classic experimentation is not always possible in the social sciences. Social scientists study complex phenomena such as cultures, social norms, and behavior that are dynamic and are affected by multiple factors; therefore, it is not always possible to conduct true experiments because it is impossible to allow for every influential factor.

So, how do social scientists conduct research? Do anthropologists tend to use different methods than psychologists, for example? If so, what are the methods typically used by each discipline? Do social scientists ever "borrow" methods used by other disciplines to answer their research questions?

To introduce this topic, let’s look at the ways that different social science disciplines might investigate the life stage known as "retirement." Try to predict research questions that might be posed by different disciplines and the methods that they might use to answer them before you click on the lenses on the left side of the graphic.

Figure 4.18 Retirement, Through a Social Sciences Lens

Anthropologists

Anthropologists have a varied toolkit available to them to answer their research questions. They are well-known for their qualitative research approach, although they also use quantitative methods. Human beings are complex biological and cultural organisms, so anthropologists will integrate quantitative and qualitative approaches in their work.

Here’s an example to illustrate this: People must drink and eat to survive. How would an anthropologist study this behavior? An anthropologist may use a quantitative research approach to examine how food is apportioned differently between men and women in diverse settings. The anthropologist may ask the research question—are men allotted more high-protein food than women in certain cultures, and if so, what are the health outcomes of this difference? An anthropologist also may seek to understand and represent the ways men and women feel about these differences in food apportionment; this is a qualitative research question.

The two research methods that are thought to distinguish anthropology from other social science disciplines are ethnography and participant observation .

Ethnography is a research method that employs personal observations of a living culture. In their fieldwork, anthropologists ask open-ended questions that allow people to respond as they wish. Anthropologists call the people they study informants or consultants to emphasize the expertise of the people and the fact that the people are the experts rather the "subjects" of experiments or "respondents" to a survey with forced-choice questions.

To construct an ethnography, anthropologists ask informants to detail their life histories, draw pictures and maps, tell stories, demonstrate how they make their art and artifacts, or cook their food. In other words, they ask informants to show and tell what it means to live their particular lives. They use statistical procedures or qualitative analyses to make sense of their data.

Anthropologists are interested in uncovering both emic and etic points of view―that is, they try to identify the point of view of the people being studied ("emic") as well as other "outside" perspectives ("etic"). For example, surveys often ask demographic questions that divide people into groups according to age, education, income, marital status, religion, and ethnic group or race. These are standard "etic" categories, typically agreed upon by Western researchers as important markers of difference. On the other hand, people may or may not identify themselves according to these categories, and they may also have other "emic" categories for grouping people, such as clan, political group, or musical style. Indeed, they may not think in terms of differences among people at all.

To better understand the "emic" and "etic" perspectives for the people they are studying, cultural anthropologists use participant observation . In this way, they experience a culture from the "inside" and the "outside." Participant observation is a fieldwork method in which a researcher lives in and participates in a culture. At the same time, he or she observes everyday life and learns how the society actually works.

Gerontologists

Gerontologists are interdisciplinary by training, so they rely on a variety of research methods to answer important scientific questions about aging. They may use surveys to gather information about attitudes and feelings. They may use unstructured interviews and observations to better understand the experience of aging from the perspective of an older adult. Gerontologists interested in health outcomes may collect physical and behavioral measurements.

Because gerontologists are interested in the process of aging, they rely heavily on research designs that follow participants through time. Two such examples are:

longitudinal studies (also known as " panel studies ") that collect data repeatedly from the same participants over an extended period of time.

cohort sequential design , a longitudinal design that follows multiple cohorts across time and allows researchers to differentiate among age, period, and cohort effects (described below). The primary disadvantage of this type of research is that it is expensive, labor-intensive, and takes a long time to complete.

The challenge for gerontologists is to determine whether changes are due to cohort effects , period effects , or age effects .

Cohort effects = Differences between age groups due to the time period in which people are born and raised.

For example, the experience of an African American person born in 1930 (prior to the Civil Rights movement) is very different from that of an African American person born in 1980.

Period effects = Differences between age groups attributable to an historic event or time period.

As an example, if we notice that US alcohol consumption in people 50 and older increases dramatically between 1930 and 1940, we might draw the conclusion that as people get older, they drink more; however, if we remember that Prohibition ended in 1933, we might draw a very different conclusion. That is, the reason people seemed to drink more as they got older is that the ban on alcohol ended during the time period of interest.

Age effects = Physiological, psychosocial, and behavioral changes that are attributable to getting older.

For example, nearly all of us will have some degree of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) as we get older, but what are the psychosocial and behavioral changes that are attributable to the aging process? One example of a true aging effect is that of criminal behavior. Across many generations and time periods, it has been shown that criminality is higher among teens and young adults. As people age, they are less likely to commit crimes (Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1983).

When gerontologists are not interested in "process"(change over time), they may choose a cross-sectional study design. Cross-sectional studies gather data across groups at a single point in time. They tell researchers little about whether differences in age groups can be attributed to age, period, or cohort effects. For example, a gerontologist may compare the eating habits of two groups of 75-year-old men—one group that lives at home, and another in an assisted living environment.

Gerontologists often use their research to advocate for changes in policy and legislation that directly impact older Americans. They are at the forefront when it comes to decisions on Social Security, retirement, Medicare, transportation, and other issues.

Psychologists

Modern psychology is defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes and how they are affected by an organism's physical state, mental state, and external environment (Tavris & Wade, 1995).

Let's break down the definition. Behavior refers to any action that can be observed and measured. For example, smiling at a friend, crying at a movie, or blinking your eyes in response to a bright light are examples of behaviors. Mental processes refer to internal aspects of our lives, including thinking, feeling, and perceiving. Thus, calculating 7 + 9, recalling your 16th birthday, and experiencing happiness are mental processes. Our behavior and mental experiences can influence or be influenced by genetics, physical health, level of intelligence, economic situation, culture, ethnicity, and other aspects of our environment.

An important element of psychological research is empiricism , the reliance on information from direct observation and measurement. Experimental psychologists test their hypotheses on laboratory animals in controlled environments, while clinical psychologists conduct their research on human subjects in their natural surroundings.

Psychologists rely heavily on the following research designs:

Correlational research that examines the relationship between variables. Correlational research does not yield cause-and-effect conclusions.

Descriptive research that describes the characteristics of a population or phenomenon of interest. Through the use of descriptive statistics such as averages, frequencies, and ranges, researchers can make observations about the prevalence of certain variables and can make comparisons among groups.

Because psychologists are interested in the measurement of behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs, they are skilled in the development and use of instruments that capture those constructs. Sophisticated statistical tools allow them to analyze and interpret correlational and descriptive research data.

Sociologists

Sociologists seek to uncover the social factors that affect behavior. The goal of sociologists is to obtain data that test assumptions about the social world. The sociological perspective requires us to look beyond our common sense (which can be faulty), our experience (which can be limited), and our values (which are bound in time and culture) to gain new understandings of the social world.

Sociologists may use quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods in their research. The methods used for a sociological study depend upon the research questions being asked.

Quantitative research in sociology employs methods such as surveys (developed to answer specific research questions) and secondary data analysis (research using existing data sets gathered for general purposes). A quantitative design attempts to amass information from large numbers of people. It often requires respondents to answer prepared (close-ended) questions. Close-ended questions are limiting in that they do not allow respondents to describe how they see or experience their world.

Qualitative research employs some of the methods already discussed for other social sciences. Qualitative methods include interviews (asking people open-ended questions), content analysis (research to study content to uncover the explicit and implicit or hidden meanings), and participant observation (observation of, and involvement in, the social interaction patterns of groups). In qualitative studies, sociologists may ask subjects why they act in certain ways or what rules and assumptions govern their behavior. Questions in qualitative research instruments are more open-ended.

The following are limitations of qualitative methods:

• greater potential for bias (because researchers themselves can be influenced by their subjects)
• difficulty in generalizing findings to larger groups, given the small sample size in studies

What sets the social science disciplines apart from each other? Anthropologists, gerontologists, psychologists, and sociologists all select their research designs and methods based on clearly articulated research hypotheses and questions. Their designs and methods can be either qualitative, quantitative, or mixed. What truly sets the disciplines apart are the principles and theories that guide their research and interpretation of data.

For more information on those principles and theories, check out the Social Science Perspectives module.

2 simple charts show everything that's wrong with psychology studies

When we talk about what new scientific research says, we want to say something understandable and digestible, especially when a finding is particularly shocking:  people who don't believe in free will are more likely to cheat on their partner , for example.

But accurate science isn't usually that shocking. It's an iterative process that chips away at the truth through many studies over time. Single studies can only show researchers getting a little closer to something true.

Researchers will sometimes practice bias (often without knowing it ) and focus on data that shows what they were looking for — findings that are only true if they look at information in a certain way .

This doesn't mean their results are necessarily wrong, but it almost certainly means that a "shocking new study" is not as it seems, especially if it's the first one of its kind.

Such problems are so rampant in psychology that scientists have started to call it a potential " replicability crisis " — if studies are repeated, they may lead to different results.

A huge project from University of Virginia psychologist Brian Nosek, working with 270 other psychologists, just put this to the test by repeating 100 studies published in three of the top psychology journals in the world.

They published their findings in the journal Science on August 27 , and what they found wasn't pretty.

Originally, 97% of the studies were statistically significant — meaning that researchers said their findings showed a less than 5% chance that they could have gotten the same results even if their data was false.

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The chart below shows how the significance of the studies changed when they were repeated. Only 36% of the studies, just over a third, were still significant when repeated — these are the ones below the dashed line in the chart. The others were no longer significant.

Since the statistical significance of studies is only one way to evaluate them, and some argue that the 5% cutoff that defines "significance" isn't helpful , they also looked at how much of an effect there was in the study.

As The Atlantic's Ed Yong puts it , the effect values "measure the strength of a phenomenon; if your experiment shows that red lights make people angry, the effect size tells you how much angrier they get."

The chart below shows how the effect size changed when the studies were repeated. The closer the number gets to 1.00, the bigger the effect. You can see that the median effect size for most studies, as represented by the white dot, dropped far closer to zero when the studies were repeated. 

In some cases, they even found a negative effect , with results opposite the original study.

As researchers who worked on the Reproducibility Project explain, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't believe psychology . It's just that science takes time, and finding something that's true often requires repeating work to make sure that a finding is real.

"This doesn’t mean the originals are wrong or false positives. There may be other reasons why they didn’t replicate, but this does mean that we don’t understand those reasons as well as we think we do. We can’t ignore that. We have data that says: We can do better," Nosek told The Atlantic .

Nosek's Center for Open Science will be examining other fields in the future , taking a look at everything from cancer biology to computer science.

In the meantime, maintain a healthy skepticism any time you hear "a study found" or "science says" — especially if there's only one study that supports that shocking new thing.

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In research studies, psychologists rely heavily upon: empirical evidence. opinions from other researchers. individual case descriptions. their own personal experiences.

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In Their Research Studies Contemporary Psychologists Rely Heavily Upon

24 In their research studies contemporary psychologists rely heavily upon. Psychology is a growing field worth considering for your career path but the route you take will play a big role in your success.

Modern psychologists rely heavily on empirical evidence which means evidence that is derived from observation experimentation or measurement.

. For example there are studies of cognition from early childhood to older adulthood that attempt to trace developmental changes in specific operations such as memory attention and. In other cases the conceptual variables represent more complex ideas such as anxiety cognitive development learning self-esteem or sexism. Many teachers struggle with motivating students to learn.

Skeem Golding 1998. Ryba Cooper. Treating all theories as equally valid.

A well-known example is Harlows work on emotional development and maternal deprivation in rhesus monkeys Harlow et al 1965. Harlow Suomi 1971. Although cognitive psychologists rely most heavily on college students as their target sample there is an increasing interest in studying cognitive operations across quite distinct populations.

In their research studies contemporary psychologists rely heavily upon. Question 11 Critical thinking requires. However certain occupations within the field of psychology have a faster than.

Ryba Cooper. Psychologists continue to rely heavily on traditional measures in forensic evalu-ations Archer Buffington-Vollum Stredny. Psychology is a constantly evolving field of study.

But dramatic changes came during the 1800s with the help of the first two research psychologists. Overall the future of psychology will likely rely more heavily on advanced technology with educated psychologists building evidence to prove the value of up-and-coming clinical procedures. This article advocates the use of technology in social studies as a means to motivate students by engaging students in the learning process.

Research into psychological development has relied greatly upon the use of animals particularly primates. Case studies rely heavily on the interpretations of the observer while self-report methods depend on the memory of the individual of interest. Insights inferred from anecdotes.

Three traditional measures most commonly researched in the. Modern psychologists rely heavily on empirical evidence. Anecdotes from personal experience.

28 A manuscript on human nature is discovered and scientists confirm that it is the work of an ancient scholar. Skeem Golding 1998. Borum.

This means that many or even most of the subjects are teenagers. This discipline building upon and providing deeper theoretical grounding for existing instruction in experimental design 146 and research methods 147 should include 1 the history of scientific epistemology. The Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS predicts 3 job growth between 2019 and 2029 for careers in psychology which is about on par with the average for all industries.

25 In contrast to modern psychologists. Insights inferred from anecdotes. Because of this these methods tend to be highly subjective and it.

Shaughnessy Haladyana 1985. Borum. In contrast to other methods that people use to understand the behavior of others such as intuition and personal experience the hallmark of scientific research is that there is evidence to.

Sometimes the conceptual variables are rather simple for instance age gender or weight. Conceptual variables are abstract ideas that form the basis of research hypotheses. Nicholson.

In contrast to modern psychologists ancient scholars explored human nature primarily through _____. Case studies and self-report methods involve the in-depth analysis of an individual as well as information provided by the individual. The German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt 1832-1920 who developed a psychology laboratory in Leipzig Germany and the American psychologist William James 1842-1910 who founded a psychology laboratory at Harvard University.

Psychologists continue to rely heavily on traditional measures in forensic evalu-ations Archer Buf ngton-Vollum Stredny. And this has big consequences for behavior. This is especially prevalent in social studies classrooms in which students perceive social studies as boring Schug Todd.

Therefore brain stimulation is expected to become far more precise and effective in the future. Nicholson. Psychologists focus their attention on understanding behavior as well as the cognitive mental and physiological body processes that underlie behavior.

Sixty-seven percent of American psychology studies use college students for example. Three traditional measures most commonly researched in the. 149 3 the theoretical underpinnings of statistics emphasizing its.

148 2 the theory of complex systems which by their nature cannot easily be modeled. Who in the ancient world asserted that all knowledge is gained through our senses. Creativity for creating alternative explanations.

In their research studies contemporary psychologists rely heavily upon empirical evidence.

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