Sample Chapter - Psychology Research Methods, Heath (2018)

Psychology Research Methods Connecting Research to Students’ Lives

Wendy Heath

Sample Content

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Brief Table of Contents

List of Figures page vi List of Tables xv Preface xvi

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Appendix A Appendix B Index 382

Introduction to Research Methodology 1 Developing Research Ideas and Hypotheses 31 Ethics 55 Defining and Measuring Variables 83 Descriptive Research Methods 109 Correlational Research 134 Survey Research 157 Experimentation with One Independent Variable 183 Factorial Designs: Experiments with More than One Independent Variable 211 Quasi-Experimental Designs 241 Small-N Designs 263 External Validity 283 Online Research 305 Writing About and Presenting Your Research 337 A Sample Manuscript 370 Table of Random Numbers 381

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chapters begin with clearly defined learning objectives.

7 Survey Research Survey Questions

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Demographic Questions Topical Questions Open-Ended Questions Closed-Ended Questions

• Describe the different types of survey questions.

Question-Writing Guidelines Administering the Survey Face-to-Face Interviews Telephone Surveys Internet Surveys Mail Surveys

Response Biases Non-response Bias Sampling from a Population Probability Sampling Nonprobability Sampling

Generalizing from the Sample to the Population Sample Size Summary Glossary Review Questions Articles as Illustration Suggested Activities

It may not surprise you to learn that researchers have recently reported that a substantial percentage of college students do not sleep well. How do we know this? Lund, Reider, Whiting, and Prichard (2010) conducted a survey; they asked over a thousand students at a midwestern university questions about their sleep habits.

• Identify six question-writing guidelines.

• Describe different ways of administering a survey.

• Describe the three response biases.

• Explain why a non-response bias is a concern for researchers.

• Differentiate between probability and nonprobability sampling.

• Explain what influences whether you can generalize from a sample to a population.

• Describe ways to select the appropriate sample size.

When you conduct a survey, you are attempting to estimate the opinions, characteristics, and/ or behaviors of a particular population by asking a sample to respond to questions. A population (sometimes called a target population or a population of interest) is a defined group of individuals, and it can be very large (such as all 157

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Survey Questions

Would you be surprised to learn that males and females answered this question differently?

Females chose a romantic scene significantly more often (56%) than males did (40%). In addition, 21% of the males said they would like to imagine themselves in a sex scene, while only 3% of females felt this way. Collecting demographic data – in this case, the gender of the study participants – allowed the researchers to make these comparisons.

Topical Questions A survey generally needs more than just demographic questions; you have to include items that relate to your topic of interest. So if you’re interested in predicting who will win an upcoming election, you would make sure to include at least one item in your questionnaire to specifically measure people’s candidate preferences.

Topical questions can address a lot of different goals. For example, you can ask people questions about what they believe, what they would do, what they have done, and how they feel. Let’s look at a specific survey example.

Sheldon and Bryant (2016) were interested in investigating college students’ use of Instagram, a social network site that allows users to modify and then share photos and videos. Specifically, Sheldon and Bryant wanted to identify students’ motives for using Instagram and how their feelings about their lives, their social activities, and any narcissistic tendencies they have influence that use. So Sheldon and Bryant asked their respondents a series of questions regarding their life satisfaction (for example, “I am very content and satisfied with my life”), social activities (such as “I often travel, vacation, or take trips with others”), and interpersonal interactions (for example, “I get to see my friends as often as I would like”) (p. 91). Each of these questions was

examples throughout are directly relevant to students’ lives, helping to sustain interest and excitement

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answered using a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).

To assess the presence of narcissism in their study participants Sheldon and Bryant asked participants to indicate their level of agreement (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree) with items such as “I can become entirely absorbed in thinking about my personal affairs, my health, my cares, or my relations to others” (p. 91). They also asked participants to indicate how much they have used Instagram (number of hours/minutes per day) and to rate how often terms they used Instagram (1 = never,Key 5 = always) for aare series of presented reasons (such as “to depict my in introduced life through photos” p. 92). Through the use of these boldface and and other topical questions, Sheldon and Bryant defined in a determined that, for example, the more active stuglossary at the end dents were socially, the more they used Instagram of those thewho chapter to document their lives. In addition, were rated higher in narcissism were more likely to use Instagram to “appear cool” (p. 93).

Open-Ended Questions Let’s talk about the different types of question formats. One type is the open-ended question format, which does not have fixed answers but allows the respondent to answer in any way. Think of it like an essay question on an exam. For example, “What do you like best about college?” is an open-ended question.

An advantage to asking an open-ended question is that respondents may give you important information you had not considered before. It may show you a new way of understanding the issue being investigated. A drawback is that respondents may not understand what you’re looking for and give you an answer that really isn’t helpful given your research goals. For example, if you ask people what they like best about college and anticipate answers like academics, sports, and social life experiences,

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Sampling from a Population 80

% of those who drank

70

5 drinks

Amount of alcohol consumption

66

12+ drinks

60 50

45

46

43

40

69

5 –11 drinks

37

33

33

30 20

19

21

20

15

22

20

FIGURE 7.14 Reported alcohol consumption for a previous Saturday night for ecstasy users, cannabis users or those who had not used either in the past year (alcohol only). McKetin et al., (2014) found that those who took Ecstacy, not marijuana, were more likely to binge drink.

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the author’s conversational 0 Alcohol-only No cannabis Used cannabis No stimulants Used stimulants tone and touches group on on on on Saturday night Saturday night Saturday night Saturday night of humor helps Cannabis users Ecstasy users to bring the subject alive with needed? They worked with a market research panel Figure 7.14). As you can see, McKetin et al. needed eloquence and in Australia that had study participants available for study participants with specific characteristics to clarity 10

research opportunities. Once they got access to this panel, they used quota sampling. To be eligible, participants had to be between the ages of 18 and 30 and to have used alcohol within the last year. But there was more. Let’s look at how McKetin et al. explained their sampling procedure: Quota sampling was used to recruit equal numbers of men and women who had either: (i) used ecstasy in the past year (ecstasy users); (ii) used cannabis but not ecstasy in the past year (cannabis users); or (iii) who had not used either cannabis or ecstasy in the past year (alcohol only). Recruitment was discontinued when the number of completed surveys reached 400 for men and 400 for women in each of these categories, or when the number of new recruits fell to below five per week.(p. 437) Once they had obtained their sample, McKetin et al. asked participants to report what drugs they had taken the previous Saturday night. Ultimately they determined that those who took stimulants, not marijuana, were more likely to binge drink (see

answer their research question, and quota sampling was a good way to get the sample they needed.

I was almost a part of a quota sample once. I was with a friend at a train station in Washington, DC, and a researcher approached my friend wanting to assess her thoughts about the trailer for an upcoming Charlie Sheen movie called The Chase (yes, that Charlie Sheen) (see Figure 7.15). My friend watched the trailer and provided her ratings while I excitedly waited my turn. (I probably get more excited about surveys than most people, but it is part of what I do for a living, and I like to see the questions other researchers use.) But when my friend had completed the survey, the researcher began to walk away.

I called after her, “Wait, don’t you want responses from me?”

“No,” she said, “I’ve filled my quota of females.”

And that’s how I was almost in a quota sample.

Clearly, this researcher was getting a convenience sample (just walking up to people who were available at the train station) with quotas for participant gender. It is likely the movie studio was anticipating an equal proportion of males and females 173

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Articles as Illustration

Adolescent Health, 35, 58–61. doi:http://dx.doi .org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2003.08.012

REVIEW QUESTIONS 1

Differentiate between demographic and topical survey questions. Provide examples of each.

2 Explain the difference between open- and closed-ended questions. Provide an example of an open-ended question as well as an example of a question that uses a Likert scale and a question that uses a semantic differential scale.

3 Identify six question-writing guidelines.

4 Describe different ways of administering a survey.

5 Explain the three different response biases.

6 Summarize what a non-response bias is and state why it is a concern for researchers.

7 Differentiate between probability and nonprobability sampling.

8 Describe simple random sampling, stratified sampling, and cluster sampling.

9 Differentiate between convenience sampling and quota sampling.

10 Explain what influences whether you can generalize from a sample to a population.

11 Explain how the following concepts relate to a survey’s sample size: variability, margin of error.

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Herold, E. S., & Milhausen, R. R. (1999). Dating preferences of university women: An analysis of the nice guy stereotype. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 25, 333–343. doi:http:// dx.doi.org/10.1080/00926239908404010

ARTICLES AS ILLUSTRATION The following cited articles provide examples of survey research. For each, obtain the article and answer the questions provided to learn more about how survey research is conducted.

1 Armstrong, Roberts, Owen, & Koch (2004) surveyed students with and without body piercing and then summarized the differences between them.

Armstrong, M. L., Roberts, A. E., Owen, D. C., & Koch, J. R. (2004). Contemporary college students and body piercing. Journal of

a. Describe the details of Armstrong et al.’s sample. b. What kinds of questions (demographic, open-ended, closed-ended) did Armstrong et al. use in their research? List the types of questions used, and for each type provide an example. c. What were Armstrong et al.’s major findings? d. Comment on the generalizability of Armstrong et al.’s results in light of what we know about their sample.

Herold and Milhausen (1999) investigated college women’s views of “nice guys.” Do undergraduate women want to date nice guys?

Are nice guys viewed as more or less sexually Review Questions and Articles successful than guys who are less nice?

What as Illustration help students to do you think? See Herold and Milhausen’s review material learned, along with article for results from both closed- and openChapter Summaries, Glossaries ended questions designed to determine what and Suggested Activities university women think of nice guys.

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a. What did Herold and Milhausen learn from their closed-ended questions? b. Describe the results of Herold and Milhausen’s content analysis. c. Do you think “nice guys” are likely to be pleased or not pleased with the results of Herold and Milhausen’s work? Explain your answer.

Lambert, Kahn, and Apple (2003) describe a study in which college students answer questions regarding “hooking up” (engaging

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A Sample Manuscript TIPPING BEHAVIOR

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How “Thank You” and a Smiley Face on Checks Affect Tipping Behavior Many United States (US) employers pay less than minimum wage to employees who receive tips for services they provide (US Department of Labor, 2016); the tips are expected to compensate for the lowered wage. Thus, tipped employees such as restaurantt workers k are lik likely l motivated to discover how to increase the tips that they receive. Many books have offered advice on the topic ic (such as Sanchez, Sanch 2013), and researchers have been seeking answers as well.

Some researchers have found that changes to servers’ appearance can affect tip percentages. For example, Jacob, Guéguen, Boulbry and Ardiccioni (2010) found that male, but nott female, ffemal fem e patrons gave more p (foundation, (fo founda favorable tips to female servers wearing makeup eye eup. Similarly, imilarl makeup, and lipstick) than to those not wearing makeup. cted tipping t ing Guéguen (2012) found that a female server’s hair color affected ips behavior. In this case, male patrons (but not females) gave larger tips to a blonde server than to a server with black hair, brown hair, or red hair (wigs were used to create the hair color variation).

Other researchers have found that what the food server says while providing service can increase tipping behavior. For example, Garrity and Degelman (1990) found that when the food server provided d mor her name when she first approached the patrons, they tipped more in than when she did not. Seiter (2007) investigated how an interaction trodu between patron and server beyond the initial introduction could affect o complimented com tipping. He found that female servers who patrons on their dinner choices received largerr tip percentages than those who did

The title of the paper is placed at the top of the introduction.

The introduction starts on a new page.

See section 2.05 of the Publication Manual for information on writing the introduction.

This reference citation is “tacked on” as opposed to being an integral part of the sentence.

This is a very general introduction to the concept of tipping. The second sentence gets slightly more specific by introducing the topic of restaurant workers as a type of tipped employee.

The first sentence of the paragraph provides an introduction to the content of the paragraph.

“For example” is a transition statement that connects the first sentence to the later information.

Use past tense when discussing previous research.

“Similarly” is another transition phrase.

Notice how each research study can be summarized in 1-2 sentences.

not offer such compliments.

Writing messages on the check has also been shown to have an effect on tipping behavior. For instance, Rind and Bordia (1995) varied whether servers wrote “thank you,” “thank you” and the server’s name, or nothing at all on the back of the check. They found that the largest average tip percentage was obtained when the server wrote “thank you” on the back of the check. Writing “thank you” led to significantly larger tips than writing nothing or writing “thank you” plus the server’s name. In a later study, Rind and Bordia (1996) tested whether drawing a smiley face on the back of a check would increase

Appendices include a complete sample 373 manuscript, annotated with information from the APA Publication Manual and tips for writing.

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Comprehensive, engaging, and punctuated with humor, this undergraduate textbook provides an interesting introduction to research methodology. Psychology Research Methods allows students to become familiar with the material through examples and research relevant to their lives. With engaging research examples, a conversational tone, and activities in every chapter, the text encourages participation beyond reading. The textbook covers every major research approach in the psychology field, including contemporary topics such as online research. Students will learn how to critically evaluate various types of research, as well as how to conduct their own.

FEATURES

• Written in an engaging and conversational writing style to provide an accessible yet comprehensive introduction to research methodology.

• Pedagogical features include interesting research examples, suggested activities and articles as illustrations throughout the book to keep the students engaged.

• Includes a thorough chapter on online research, and a sample annotated research paper.

Wendy Heath is a professor of psychology at Rider University.

Online Resources www.cambridge.org/heath Test banks PowerPoint slides All figures from the book

Paperback | 9781107461116

For more information, and to order, visit: www.cambridge.org/9781107461116 To find your rep, visit: www.cambridge.org/us/academic/higher-education-textbook-sales-representatives

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